Anthony O’Neill has been sailing Dragons for twenty years. In September he would have been racing in the Dragons’ major international event, the Gold Cup, which had been scheduled for Kinsale. The pandemic stopped that. Now he has been appointed to a new role as the Director of Kinsale Yacht Club’s premier event, the Sovereigns Cup, which it runs every two years.
His first task has been to secure sponsorship which has come from the company run by a man who has won the event a few times – Anthony O’Leary. Major events need such support and the many cancellations forced on the sport this year due to COVID 19 have had their impact as companies review commitments. However, with O’Leary Insurances aboard, the new Director is now busy on two fronts.
In his on-the-water competitive role, he’ll be taking part in the Dragon Week which the Kinsale club will run from September 5-12, replacing the Gold Cup.
“That will be interesting and enjoyable. We were well keyed-up for the Gold Cup, but we’ll have our competitive week and get in some good sailing. They’re a great boat and there’s a lot of members of the class just wanting to get into the competition and enjoyment of the week ahead in September after the disappointment of the cancellation.”
In his directorial role for the Sovereigns Cup, he is already working on the Notice of Race for the event next June. That will be issued by December and entries will open in the New Year.
Anthony O’Neill is my Podcast guest this week. He is hopeful that there will be a carry-over to next year from the disappointments of this year’s sailing event which will bring more people onto the water in competitive events. The target for the Sovereigns Cup is 100 entries and work towards that is already underway he tells me.
Listen to this week’s Podcast below
