Irish Sailing Conference Cancelled: Message from Harry Hermon, Chief Executive of Irish Sailing

13th March 2020

Irish Sailing acknowledges that we are not in a position to give expert advice in respect of the Covid 19 threat and that as a minimum, the advice of the HSE should be followed.

The current advice issued today by An Taoiseach effective until 29th March, is for indoor mass gatherings of more than 100 people and outdoor mass gatherings of more than 500 people should be cancelled. Irish Sailing has agreed some precautionary measures for our own events that we feel appropriate, to minimise the risk of infection of those involved in our activities.

In the event that the advice from the Government changes, these measures may be amended accordingly. Irish Sailing organisations are advised to keep themselves updated also. An Taoiseach’s full statement may be read here.

Conference, Awards & AGM
The Race Event Management & Support Conf will be rescheduled for the autumn or early 2021. As a result of Irish Sailing postponing this event, the qualifications of those race officials who require revalidation this year will automatically be revalidated.

The Club Symposium is cancelled and will not be rescheduled this year.
The Training Conf for this year is cancelled, however, the Checklick Webinar as was planned during the conference will go ahead as normal. Please register here if you have not already done so.
For the AGM we need a quorum of 5 Clubs present. In view of the fact there is no vote of the members to be taken at the AGM and as such is an administrative exercise, Irish Sailing’s AGM will go ahead as planned.
The Irish Sailing Awards will be run virtually: shots with prize winners and VIP presenters, and then posting these at the scheduled time of the Awards through a series of Social media/news articles. The rest of the prizes will be sent by post.
Other Public meetings and onshore training events
In light of the need for people to congregate in potentially confined spaces, Irish Sailing is cancelling its current scheduled Safeguarding, Race Official & Inclusion Training Courses until the 29th March.

Sailing events organised by Irish Sailing
The following are precautions being taken by Irish Sailing in the organisation of our own events which may be used to inform other event organisers on their decisions as they feel appropriate.

We are fortunate in Sailing that we are a sport that takes part in outdoor spaces on the water, where there is no contact between competitors and there are no spectators or crowds to consider. For this reason, the risk of infection while participating in sailing activities is minimal. It will be up to competitors to decide whether they participate.

We will, however, need to consider how we organise race management and activities ashore during events (social events, briefings, changing, prizegiving’s etc).

This position will be reviewed again on Sunday 29th March, unless direct advice from HSE is issued in the meantime necessitating a change.

Senior Instructor Courses
Senior Instructor Courses currently scheduled will continue to run on the basis that much of the training takes place on the water with the advice that people should attend if:

they feel comfortable,
know and/or trust the others on the course to declare if they are at risk or have come from an affected area
the shore-based sessions are conducted with separation between the pupils
other personal sanitary precautions to protect against the virus are applied.
We would hope that other instructor courses scheduled will continue to be run on the same basis.

As a result of limitations on the availability of first aid courses, the requirement for first aid training for newly qualified, revalidations and upskilling instructors in 2020 is waived, however this must be rectified for 2021 if the qualification is to remain valid.

Irish Sailing Office/Services
Irish Sailing’s offices in Park road will remain fully operational and services available online, by phone and email. In order to minimise the risk of staff becoming infected - with the exception of deliveries, the office will be closed to visits from the public with effect 16/03/20.

We apologise for any inconvenience caused and hope that with everyone’s cooperation the threat will be contained soon, so we can all enjoy the summers sailing this year.

Harry Hermon
Chief Executive
Irish Sailing
12 March 2020

Published in ISA

About The Author

Afloat.ie Team

Email The Author

Afloat.ie is Ireland's dedicated marine journalism team.

Have you got a story for our reporters? Email us here.

We've got a favour to ask

More people are reading Afloat.ie than ever thanks to the power of the internet but we're in stormy seas because advertising revenues across the media are falling fast. Unlike many news sites, we haven’t put up a paywall because we want to keep our marine journalism open.

Afloat.ie is Ireland's only full–time marine journalism team and it takes time, money and hard work to produce our content.

So you can see why we need to ask for your help.

If everyone chipped in, we can enhance our coverage and our future would be more secure. You can help us through a small donation. Thank you.

Irish Sailing

The Irish Sailing Association, also known as Irish Sailing, is the national governing body for sailing, powerboating and windsurfing in Ireland.

Founded in 1945 as the Irish Dinghy Racing Association, it became the Irish Yachting Association in 1964 and the Irish Sailing Association in 1992.

Irish Sailing is a Member National Authority (MNA) of World Sailing and a member of the Olympic Federation of Ireland.

The Association is governed by a volunteer board, elected by the member clubs. Policy Groups provide the link with members and stakeholders while advising the Board on specialist areas. There is a professional administration and performance staff, based at the headquarters in Dun Laoghaire, Co. Dublin.

Core functions include the regulation of sailing education, administering racing and selection of Irish sailors for international competition. It is the body recognised by the Olympic Federation of Ireland for nominating Irish qualified sailors to be considered for selection to represent Ireland at the Olympic Games. Irish sailors have medalled twice at the Olympics – David Wilkins and Jamie Wikinson at the 1980 games, and Annalise Murphy at the 2016 games.

The Association, through its network of clubs and centres, offers curriculum-based training in the various sailing, windsurfing and powerboating disciplines. Irish Sailing qualifications are recognised by Irish and European Authorities. Most prominent of these are the Yachtmaster and the International Certificate of Competency.

It runs the annual All-Ireland Championships (formerly the Helmsman’s Championship) for senior and junior sailors.

The Association has been led by leading lights in the sailing and business communities. These include Douglas Heard, Clayton Love Junior, John Burke and Robert Dix.

Close to 100 sailors have represented Ireland at the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Membership of Irish Sailing is either by direct application or through membership of an affiliated organisation. The annual membership fee ranges from €75 for families, down to €20 for Seniors and Juniors.