The Northern Ireland sailing community enjoyed a celebratory evening at Riddel Hall in Belfast last Friday (19 April) as people came together for the RYA Northern Ireland Annual Awards.
The evening was “the perfect opportunity to recognise the achievements of everyone involved in Northern Irish sailing, from a grassroots level of volunteering, to elite performance level sailors who have been successful on the world stage”, RYANI said.
The awards, which are nominated by RYANI members, also took place one year on from the launch of RYANI’s five-year strategy, Navigating The Future, “and it was fantastic to see how sailing has developed in Northern Ireland over the last 12 months”.
Speaking on the evening, RYANI vice-chair Gavin Watson said: “We all think of the RYA supporting performance sailors — the RYA is much more than just performance. It’s all about the environment, the older generations that go cruising and the clubs that want to create sailing for their members that are in the community.”