Alas, it’s true. Our very own Gordon Maguire is now officially Australian writes W M Nixon. He probably has been for years. His World Sailing Number is AUSGM1, which couldn’t be more clearcut. And that’s why, when we asked the obliging Trish Jenkins recently at the RORC Press Office in Antigua for a list of Irish sailors in the up-coming RORC Caribbean 600 Race, she quickly came up with an astonishingly large total spread across many boats, but The Maguire aboard defending champion Proteus failed to show on the radar. Thus we failed miserably to highlight the forthcoming battle between the ex-Pat titans, himself on Proteus and Ian Moore on Bella Mente.
Yet they still reckon The Maguire is Irish out in Australia. Here’s an interview he did at the end of January which happens to be of particular interest in view of the IRC/ECHO discussions anticipated at the ICRA Conference in Limerick on Saturday, a minefield into which former Howth Yacht Club Commodore Brian Turvey has already waded in here on Afloat.ie.
However, compared to some of the more erudite Gordon Maguire interviews, that’s all fairly simple stuff. Its when AUSGM1 gets into much more arcane areas that the ideas really light up. Our favourite interview, still as valid today as it was in 2010 is here