Pattisson was born in Campbeltown, Argyll, Scotland, where his father was posted as an airman during World War II. His family left Scotland just two months after Rodney's birth, and he has never lived in Scotland since then. Both his parents were English, and he identifies himself as English, not Scottish, despite commonly being referred to as Scottish in public sources. He went to school at Pangbourne College, which was founded in 1917 as the Nautical College Pangbourne. The College prepared boys to be officers in the Merchant Navy although many students joined the Royal Navy, a tradition he followed on leaving the college. He later teamed up with the London solicitorIain MacDonald-Smith and won the 1968 Olympic trials. They travelled to Mexico two months before the start of the Olympics in order to acclimatise themselves to the local conditions. In 1968 Pattisson and MacDonald-Smith won the gold medal in the Flying Dutchman class in the Olympic Games on their boat Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, which was shortened by race officials to Superdocious. Notes from the race indicate that its dominating length of lead mirrored the length of name. The boat is now in the collection of the National Maritime Museum Cornwall. At the time it was noted that in winning the gold, Pattisson became the first "Scot" to win an Olympic medal in sailing. Both Pattisson and MacDonald-Smith went on to win the FD World Championship in 1969 and 1970. After his Olympic victory in 1968, Pattisson resigned his commission in the Royal Navy so as to give himself more time for training. As Lieutenant Rodney Stuart Pattisson, he was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire in the 1969 New Year Honours for his services to yachting. He won another World Championship in 1971, but this time it was with Julian Brooke-Houghton. A second Olympic gold medal followed in 1972 with Christopher Davies and in 1976 Pattisson took the silver medal again with Julian Brooke-Houghton. Pattisson was honoured by being the flag-bearer at the opening ceremony of the 1976 Montreal Olympics. Pattisson then retired from the Olympics and later co-skippered the Victory 83, the Peter de Savary entry in the America's Cup in 1983. He was later elected to the Sailing Hall of Fame.
