The overall winner of the Silvers Marine Scottish Series 2016 at Tarbert on Loch Fyne has been confirmed as Dara O’Malley (40), who hailed originally from Westport in County Mayo, but has carved out an increasingly successful sailing career on Scotland’s East Coast writes W M Nixon.
Following school in Ireland, around 1994 he went to University in Aberdeen to specialise in chemicals, and has since stayed on and worked in that sector in Scotland, based in the Edinburgh area. His interest in sailing grew over the years, and he is now a leading member of the Port Edgar Yacht Club on the Firth of Forth, where he races his Hunter 707 Seaword.
The O’Malley equipe has been steadily moving up the local and national rankings in recent years, but the Scottish Series 2016 – which concluded yesterday – has seen their performance level moving onto a new plane, with a wellnigh perfect scoreline.
It continues a tradition of Irish links to the main prize in the Scottish series, as past winners have included Anthony O’Leary of Cork with Antix, while the winner in 2015 was Rob McConnell from Dunmore East with the A35 Fool’s Gold. Other successes in the 2016 series have included John Hall of the National YC with his J/109 Something Else taking a class win, while Stephen Quinn of Howth took second in class with his J/97 Lambay Rules.
