Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

JANUARY COLM BARRINGTON Image The first Sailor of the Month in 2007 was Colm Barrington, with his overall win in the IRC Division in the Key West Regatta in Florida. Barrington’s Magic Glove was profiled as the boat to beat in this high-powered American event, and he kept ahead of the challenge from the two newest TP 52s in the US by just one crucial point in a hectic series. FEBRUARY CARMEL WINKELMAN Image Carmel Winkelmann of Dun Laoghaire personifies the spirit of voluntary effort which is the backbone of Irish sailing, and in 2006 she was one of only eight voluntary workers in all Irish sport whose contribution to national life was recognised with a government award. Currently the ISA Volunteer of the Year, Carmel’s dedication in all areas of sailing is incalculable. MARCH PAT & OLIVIA MURPHY Image The continuing round-the-world cruise of Pat and Olivia Murphy saw this remarkable couple celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary early in 2007 at sea on board their 41ft Aldebaran, voyaging from the Indian Ocean towards Oman. They then successfully transited the Red Sea, where sailing is “like trying to climb up the flames of a blowlamp which is turned off at irregular intervals”, and then the Suez Canal to reach the Eastern Mediterranean. APRIL DAVID HARTE Image Schull in West Cork took centre stage in Irish sailing during April when teams from Schull Community College captured two of the top three places in the Irish Sailing Association National Team Championship in Dun Laoghaire. It brought deserved praise for all involved, and none more so than Schull’s own multi-talented David Harte, who coached the developing ability of his neighbourhood to this outstanding success. MAY CONOR PHELAN Image Conor Phelan and the crew of Jump Juice, the Ker 37, won the Scottish Series Trophy in late May, getting the benefit of the closest decision the regatta has seen for many years. The former national, European and world champion had a stressful final day when he learned his sister had sustained a head injury while racing on another Class 1 boat. Both Blondie III and Jump Juice won all three races which were sailed in perfect conditions on Loch Fyne. With the north easterly breeze never dropping below 12 knots, it was a fitting climax to a memorable four days. JUNE THE TYRELLS JOHN TWOMEY Image June’s award was shared between John Twomey and his team from Kinsale, and the Tyrrell family of Arklow. The Tyrrells work the sea, and sail it for sport. In four days in June, their J/109 Aquelina won Class 1 at the annual Lambay Race (it was also celebrating 150 years of Howth Regatta) and then went on to win overall in the biennial Dun Laoghaire to Dingle race. Days later, at the annual ICRA Championship at Crosshaven, followed by the Sovereign’s Cup series at Kinsale, John Twomey of Kinsale was absolutely flying with his 23-footer Shillelagh. The boat has been modified to his own designs to accommodate Twomey’s disablement, the result of a cycle-racing accident in his teens. He won his class in the Nationals at Crosshaven and went on to clinch the overall title in the Sovereign’s on the final race. JULY TED KEELAN FERGUS O’SULLIVAN VINCENT GAFFNEY Image In July, immaculately prepared classic boats from Cruisers 3 racked up the trophies. Vincent Gaffney from Howth took his Albin Express Alliance across to the West of Ireland Championship at Clifden, and won the overall prize. Meanwhile, Ted Keelan of Dun Laoghaire was readying his Impala 28 Whistlin’ Dixie for the four-day Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta, in which Cruisers 3 provided a turnout of 38 boats, and some of the best class racing. The Keelan team was right on form, winning the class and the overall trophy. The Cruisers 3 East Coast Championship at Dun Laoghaire MYC on the last weekend of July was of hyper-interest, as time constraints meant Vincent Gaffney had elected not to do the Dun Laoghaire Regatta. Right in the groove, the Alliance crew won the Cruisers 3 championship. But despite post-regatta exhaustion, Whistlin’ Dixie was runner-up. AUGUST GER O’ROURKE ERIC LISSON Image Cork Dry Gin ‘Sailor of the Year’ for 2006, Ger O’Rourke of Limerick had an even better year in 2007, and in August he crowned it with overall and clear-cut victory in the Fastnet Race with his superbly-campaigned Cookson 50 Chieftain whose crew of shipmates continue to sail with all the dogged determination and sheer style we have come to expect. Eric Lisson of Cork’s Noray 38 Cavatina had already won the Azores & Back Race in June 2007 when she set off in the Fastnet, in which she had placed second overall in 2005. This time round, the rugged conditions meant that the dice was loaded against Class 3 boats, but Cavatina kept at it to win Class 3 – and she beat nearly all of Class 2 and much of Class I as well. SEPTEMBER MICHAEL COLEMAN NICHOLAS O’LEARY EAMON CONNEELY Image Captain Michael Coleman of Cobh was formerly a Cork Harbour Pilot who built his own steel Roberts 45 cutter Stella Maris, which he cruised extensively in the 1990s, including a voyage to Murmansk and Iceland. He has since qualified in square rig, and has skippered several tall ships. In recent years he has been in command of the Jeanie Johnston on many varied voyages, and in September 2007 he played a key role in tracing the Flight of the Earls from Donegal to France. Nicholas O’Leary of Crosshaven became the first Irish Laser SB3 National Champion from a fleet of 58 boats, and subsequently was the skipper of the Cork Institute of Technology crew which was runner up in the Student Yachting Worlds in France. Eamonn Conneely of Galway brought his new TP 52 Patches 07 from the builders in China for a race against time to tune in for his defence of the world title in the rapidly developing TP 52 class. Patches still had potential to fulfil when the championship was staged in September, and her second place was a significant achievement. OCTOBER STEFAN HYDE Image Crosshaven sailor Stefan Hyde accelerated his already remarkable year in 2007 as the season drew to a close. Having rounded out 2006 with victory in the Student Worlds in France, he was the top European skipper in the college series in America in August, and then in September he added the Irish J/24 nationals to the list, racing on Lough Neagh. Came October, and he transferred smoothly to the ISA’s new flotilla of J/80s for the All-Ireland Helmsman’s Championship in Dun Laoghaire. Crewed by Dec MacManus and Daz O’Reilly, he clinched the supreme title in the final race. NOVEMBER CON MURPHY CATHY MACALEAVEY Image The National Yacht Club in Dun Laoghaire has had the good fortune to be led by one of the ablest duos in Irish sailing as the club develops to meet the needs of Irish sailing today. Con Murphy and Cathy MacAleavey are in effect the joint CEOs of a formidable organisation whose waterfront headquarters are both a local community asset and a national and international sailing centre. Con and Cathy bring to this an effective and quietly determined management style, and successful personal sailing experience which has included being key members of Steve Fossett’s crew when they established the trimaran Lakota’s enduring Round Ireland Open Sailing Record back in 1993. DECEMBER RON HOLLAND Image In 2007, Ron Holland marked 33 years as a leading international yacht designer based in Ireland. His own sailing experience is enormously varied and successful, and he is the active sailors’ favourite designer. The international trophies which his designs have won since 1973 say everything, and the creative skills which he has nurtured in his offices in Currabinny and Kinsale have contributed greatly to the local communities, and to global sailing and the international marine industry. In honouring Ron Holland we salute Ireland’s favourite New Zealander, and we honour too the memory of his Girl Friday, Michelle Dunne, who sadly passed away in 2007. INTERNATIONAL AWARD CARSTEN HVID Image Carsten Hvid of Denmark was skipper of the magnificent 100ft re-creation of the Viking longship Sea Stallion of Glendalough as that most elegant of craft swept into Dublin under sail through the gap in the Eastlink Bridge on August 14th. She was returning to the ancestral home 965 years after the original Sea Stallion was crafted by master builders (for she is undoubtedly a masterpiece) on the banks of the Liffey, and Carsten Hvid was the cool commander who brought her in, having been in command of the 65-strong crew for the voyage from Roskilde in Denmark.