Irish Sailor of the Year

Q: Who are the past winners of the Irish Sailors of the Year Award?

1996 Mark Lyttle 1997 Tom Roche 1998 Tom Fitzpatrick & David McHugh 1999 Mark Mansfield 2000 David Burrows 2001 Maria Coleman 2002 Eric Lisson 2003 Noel Butler & Stephen Campion 2004 Eamonn Crosbie 2005 Paddy Barry & Jarlath Cunnane 2006 Justin Slattery 2007 Ger O'Rourke 2008 Damian Foxall 2009 Mark Mills 2010 Anthony O'Leary 2011 George Kenefick 2012 Annalise Murphy 2013 David Kenefick 2014 Anthony O'Leary 2015 Liam Shanahan 2016 Annalise Murphy 2017 Conor Fogerty 2018 Robert Dickson & Sean Waddilove 2019 Paul O'Higgins

Irish Sailor of the Year

Storming along to the big win in Tangier. Eve McMahon was to show grace under pressure in maintaining a very clear lead in the ILCA U21 Worlds in Tangier

Irish Sailor of the Year Eve McMahon is Spirit of the Age

22nd March 2024 W M Nixon

Friday evening’s announcement of the Irish Sailor of the Year 2023 title for 19-year-old Eve McMahon at her sailing home of Howth Yacht Club well captures the zeitgeist of mid-2020s Ireland, not least in the fact that the title holder…

Class of 2023 - The Irish Sailors of the Year of 2023 (clockwise from top left): Adrienne Cahalane, Paul O'Higgins, Chris Bateman, Pamela Lee, Robert Dickson and Sean Waddilove, Lucia Cullen and Alana Twomey, Cian McCarthy and Sam Hunt, Niall and Ronan O'Briain, Rocco Wright, Anthony O'Leary, Ben O’Shaughnessy and Ethan Spain, Justin Slattery, Tiernan Roe, Clementine and Nathan Van Steenberg, Tom Nolan, Nigel Young and Will Byrne, Andy Thompson, Duncan Sclare, Barry Cunningham, Jame and David Dwyer, Eve McMahon, Ron O'Hanley, Gary McMahon, Cillian Dickson, John Minnis, Sienna Wright, Aongus O Cualain, David Beattie, Cian Guilfoyle, Russell Bolger, Jack Fahy and UCD team, Rory Whyte, Tom Higgins, Micheal O'Suilleabhain, Ann Kirwan, Johnny Murphy, Don O'Dowd, Harry Dunne, Finn Lynch, Lawrie Smith, Dave O'Shea, Seamus O’Connor, Tom Dolan and Dave Kenefick

Irish Sailor of the Year Award to be Announced at 2023 Irish Sailing Awards in Howth

13th March 2024 Sailor of the Year

The Irish Sailor of the Year Award will be presented on Friday, March 22nd, at the Irish Sailing Awards in Howth Yacht Club, Co. Dublin. One of the highlights of the evening will be the announcement of the 2023 winner, chosen…

Who is Your Irish Sailor of the Year for 2023?

15th January 2024 Sailor of the Year

Who gets your vote for the Irish Sailor of the Year 2023? Over 40 Afloat Sailors of the Month in 2023 demonstrate the strength and diversity of the sport of sailing in Ireland. Afloat's review of individual sailors, pairings and…

“We’re on our way….” Eve McMahon after clinching Gold in mid-July 2022 in the Youth Worlds at the Hague in The Netherlands

Eve McMahon is 'Irish Sailor of the Year 2022'

11th February 2023 W M Nixon

Eve McMahon is “Irish Sailor of the Year 2022”, making it into the top national position for the second successive year after the ILCA 6 sailor’s international performance was of such a standard that she even managed to better her…

Class of 2022 - The Irish Sailors of the Year (clockwise from top left) Jim Schofield, Paul Kehoe, Justin Slattery, Karen Weekes, Shane Diviney, Harry Durcan, Eve McMahon, Hal Sisk, Philip Mayne, Lucia Cullen, Cian McCarthy, Sam Hunt, Pat Kelly, John Maybury, Dermot Skehan, Ross McDonald, Frank Guy, Chris Moore, Naomi Alego, Alana Twomey, Rocco Wright, Hannes Louet-Feisser, Simon O’Keeffe, Fiachra Geraghty-McDonnell, Patrick Boardman, Laura Dillon, Andy Thompson, Caoilinn Geraghty-McDonnell, Sean Craig, Richie Evans, Micheal O’Suilleabhain, Vicky Cox and Peter Dunlop, Nick Cats, Colman Grimes, Melanie Morris, Ger Owens, Tom Dolan, Conor Doyle, Robbie English, Damian Browne, Peter Crowley, Bill O’Hara, Con Murphy, David Lovegrove, Lee Condell, Pat O’Neill Mike Evans and Aoife English.

'Irish Sailor Of The Year 2022' To Be Announced On Saturday From Record Nomination List

9th February 2023 Sailor of the Year

It was the Year of Years. 2022 was the extended and invigorated season in which sailing in Ireland finally and fully emerged from the very complete set of pandemic-imposed restrictions. At home and abroad, our hugely varied individuals, groups and…

Who is Your Irish Sailor of the Year for 2022?

17th January 2023 Sailor of the Year

Who gets your vote for the Irish Sailor of the Year 2022? 50 Afloat Sailors of the Month in 2022 (double that awarded in 2021) demonstrate the strength and diversity of the sport of sailing in Ireland. Afloat's review of…

New “Sailor of the Year” Eve McMahon finding her way at speed through the spray of Lake Garda in July, en route to the World Title

Eve McMahon is Irish Sailor of the Year 2021

5th February 2022 W M Nixon

Eve McMahon of Howth Yacht Club, the Golden Girl of the international ILCA Classes, is Afloat.ie “Irish Sailor of the Year” for 2021, deservedly following an honoured track set over many years by Ireland’s legends in the sport. Such elevation…

Irish Sailor of the Year 2021 To Be Announced on Saturday

2nd February 2022 Sailor of the Year

Many thanks to the multitude of Afloat.ie followers who have made an input into the voting - concluded on Sunday (January 30th) - which is an integral part of the selection process for the annual Afloat.ie "Irish Sailor of the…

Last Call To Honour Irish Sailing Stars of 2021 Who Inspired Us Through Pandemic

22nd January 2022 W M Nixon

Sailing and boating sports were more frustrated than many other activities during the highly-restricted peaks of the pandemic. For although it was universally agreed that there was nowhere more healthy and infection-free than aboard a boat out on the water…

Who is Your 2021 Irish Sailor of the Year?

3rd January 2022 Sailor of the Month

Who gets your vote for Afloat Irish Sailor of the Year 2021? Afloat Sailors of the Month in 2021 kept our sport going through adversity is the view of Winkie Nixon in his review of 24 individual sailors, pairings and crews (below)…

A short season maybe, but all their stars were in alignment in 2020 - Tom Dolan on his Figaro 3 Smurfit Kappa

Tom Dolan: Ireland's 25th 'Sailor of the Year' Provides a Heartening Story for Our Time

13th February 2021 W M Nixon

The Figaro Solo was arguably the peak in sailing competition – both inshore and offshore – in Europe during 2020. In a truncated and contorted season, somehow the crème de la creme of international solo sailing were guided into a…

Irish Sailor of the Year 2020 - Tom Dolan brought his Figaro 3 Smurfit Kappa firmly into the frame in 2020

Solo Sailor Tom Dolan is Named Irish Sailor of the Year for 2020

12th February 2021 Tom Dolan

Irish solo sailor Tom Dolan has been named Afloat Irish Sailor of the Year for 2020 in recognition of his fifth overall and best ever Irish result in the year's La Solitaire du Figaro Race, amid another landmark 12 months…

The class of 2020 - Irish sailors of the year

"And the Sailor of the Year 2020 is....." Winner to be Announced at Irish Sailing Awards Tonight

11th February 2021 Sailor of the Year

Tonight from 7 pm, Irish Sailing in an 'online ceremony' will reveal the 2020 winner of the Irish Sailor of the Year award. Selected from a shortlist of sailors who have already earned monthly awards, the Afloat Irish Sailor of the…

At the double. Anthony O'Leary of Crosshaven and Annalise Murphy of Dun Laoghaire are the only contenders to be Afloat.ie "Sailors of the Year" twice – himself in 2010 and 2014, and herself in 2012 and 2016

Afloat.ie's "Sailor of the Year" Celebrates Twenty-Five Years

5th February 2021 W M Nixon

In these long-lived times, a Silver Jubilee is not what it used to be in an era when Golden Jubilees, Centenaries, Tricentenaries and whatever you're having yourself are cascading around us in an almost continuous nostalgia-fest. Nevertheless the healthy Quarter…

Who is Your Irish Sailor of the Year 2020?

11th January 2021 Sailor of the Month

Who gets your vote as Afloat Sailor of the Year 2020? Afloat Sailors of the Month 2020 kept our sport going through adversity is the view of Winkie Nixon in his review of a line up of 26 individual sailors and pairings who…

Irish sailing in 2020 involved carefully monitored events with limited numbers. Deprived of properly celebrating their Quarter Millennium as long planned, Lough Ree YC ran a special regatta in late August which – despite numbers in the club compound being limited to 200 with strict social distancing in the clubhouse – produced excellent racing, with one of the stars being Ben Graf, who went on to become September's Junior Sailor of the Month. Here, there's crisp action at the weather mark for the leading Shannon One Designs, which in 2022 will be celebrating their Centenary

Afloat Sailors of the Month 2020 Kept Our Sport Going Through Adversity

9th January 2021 W M Nixon

For sure, the pandemic-plagued year of 2020 - with its stop-start framework of activity afloat and ashore - was something beyond most sailors' experience. Yet ours is nothing if not a can-do sport. And while some sailing enthusiasts – particularly…

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Ireland's Sailor of the Year Awards

Created in 1996, the Afloat Sailor of the Year Awards represent all that is praiseworthy, innovative and groundbreaking in the Irish sailing scene.

Since it began 25 years ago, the awards have recognised over 500 monthly award winners in the pages of Ireland's sailing magazine Afloat, and these have been made to both amateur and professional sailors. The first-ever Sailor of the Year was dinghy sailor Mark Lyttle, a race winner at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.

And since then it's gone on to read like a who's who of Irish sailing.

The national award is specially designed to salute the achievements of Ireland's sailing's elite. After two decades the awards has developed into a premier awards ceremony for water sports.

The overall national award will be announced each January to the person who, in the judges' opinion, achieved the most notable results in, or made the most significant contribution to, Irish sailing in the previous year.

A review of the first 25 years of the Irish Sailor the Year Awards is here

Irish Sailor of the Year Award FAQs

What is the Irish Sailor of the Year Award?

The Irish Sailor of the Year Awards is a scheme designed by Afloat magazine to represent all that is praiseworthy, innovative and groundbreaking in the Irish sailing scene..

When did the Irish Sailor of the Year Awards begin?

The Irish Sailor of the Year Awards began in 1996.

Who runs the Irish Sailor of the Year Awards?

The awards are administered by Afloat, Ireland's boating magazine.

Who are the past winners of the Irish Sailors of the Year Award?

Is there a public vote in the Sailor of the Year Awards?

Yes. The boating public and maritime community can have their say to help guide judges in deciding who should be crowned Ireland's Sailor of the Year by using an Afloat online poll). The judges welcome the traditional huge level of public interest in helping them make their decision but firmly retain their right to make the ultimate decision for the final choice while taking voting trends into account. By voting for your favourite nominee, you are creating additional awareness of their nomination and highlighting their success.