The Annual Dinner of the Irish Cruising Club in Cork on Saturday night was outstanding for many reasons, with the most important being the first awarding of the Friendship Cup. This was presented to the ICC last year at the 2023 Annual Dinner in Sligo by then Cruising Club of America Commodore Chris Otorowski as an inter-club gesture, to be used to honour the ICC member who had contributed most to goodwill and co-operation among cruising people and their various areas and organisations.
When you reflect on the sheer breadth of this categorization, it’s an award which is by no means as simple as it sounds. But for its first time out, the Irish club were lucky in that their member Peter Haden - of Ballyvaughan in the southwest corner of Galway Bay - has long been cruising his sensible 35ft Westerly Seahawk Papageno in Galicia in northwest Spain, and while doing so has perfectly illustrated what the Friendship Cup is all about.
SPECIAL HOSPITALITY EXPERIENCE
For he is well qualified to know what is needed in giving and receiving hospitality in cruising as in other areas, as for years he and his wife Moira were mine hosts at the unique Gregan’s Castle Hotel in the valley above Ballyvaughan, in a prime site at the gateway to the Burren.
Gregan’s Castle Hotel is now run by their son Simon and his wife Frederieke (known to everyone as Freddie), and this change of the watch has enabled Papageno’s skipper to devote more time to his cruising while further developing friendships and co-operations along this part of the Spanish coast, with its very attractive Galician rias.
PETER HADEN’S UNIQUE CONTACTS IN GALICIA
As a result of this, Peter Haden is the go-to source for inside info and contacts on this very special cruising area. As well, he is the ready and willing organiser of ICC rallies in Galicia, to such an extent that they are a regular part of the club’s programme, even if they’re a mixed blessing in that some boats, having voyaged out from Ireland across the Bay of Biscay to take part, then decide – like Papageno and her skipper – to stay on.
Nick Chavasse, Commodore Royal Cruising Club (right), giving the main speech at the ICC Annual Dinner in Cork on Saturday. Photo: ICC
But happily the ICC fleet in Ireland is of sufficient strength to maintain several healthy centres at home while keeping others going abroad. Thus the very numerous attendance at the Dinner enthusiastically applauded this new honour, with the cup being presented by the Cruising Club of America’s Bob Medland, while the main speaker was Nick Chavasse, Commodore of the 1880-founded Royal Cruising Club.
Central to this very special event was the ICC’s new Commodore, Alan Markey of Howth, quietly and strongly supported by his wife Helen. They were successfully demonstrating that he could maintain the remarkable pace set by his predecessor, David Beattie of Lough Ree and Dublin Bay, who gallantly soldiered on in the top role with his supportive wife Aoife through a double period as Commodore – four years instead of the usual two – in very skillfully guiding the ICC through the pandemic with the special back-up of Vice Commodore Derek White of Strangford Lough and his wife Viv.
CENTENARY ON THE HORIZON
Now we’re into a new era, with the Irish Cruising Club’s Centenary in 2029 rapidly rising on the agenda. Meanwhile, a new first has been established. Among those attending at February’s ICC AGM in Howth YC was senior sailor Jimmy Markey, who was celebrating forty years of membership, as he joined the Cruising Club in 1984.
AN ICC “FIRST”
Alan Markey, who cruises the Lombard-designed Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 36i Altaria from Howth, is the son of Jimmy and Marie Markey. Thus February’s 2024 AGM is thought to have been the first time that a long-standing Irish Cruising Club member has been present when his own son became Commodore. And the international success of the gathering which Jimmy’s son presided over in Cork – organized by ICC Rear Commodore (South) Seamus O’Connor and his local committee – spoke volumes for the voluntary work which has the ICC in such good health as its hundred year celebrations approach.
Alan Markey, Commodore ICC, is believed to be the first in the role whose own father was attending the AGM as a member when he was elected in February. Photo: ICC
