Mary Bailey of Galway is the Irish Independent/Afloat.ie “Sailor of the Month” for February. From a well-known Connemara seafaring family, during February she has become the face of traditional boat sailing in the west and nationally through her presentation of the attractive series A project of this scale and success involves mighty team effort by the film crew, and the enthusiastic and understanding involvement of those sailing the boats. Thus there were dozens – indeed, hundreds - of people making a dedicated contribution. So the adjudicators hope that in high-lighting Mary Bailey’s role, it is clear that it is the voluntary effort which goes into making the Galway Hooker Association’s annual fixtures list such a hit.
The commentary by John Darba O Flatharta and Johnny Sheamus O Conghaile perfectly captures the flavour of the racing itself, and the superb camera work – with the magic Connemara light captured for all time – includes some of the best sailing sequences you’ll ever see.
So this month we salute the sailors of the west and their spokesperson Mary Bailey. An Bharr na dTonn does Ireland and sailing a great service.
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