The Irish Cruiser Racing Association (ICRA) held its first meeting of 2019 in Portlaoise on Wednesday, 16th January.
The Committee wasted no time in the new year to get together to finalise objectives for the year and discuss new initiatives to increase participation in cruiser racing nationally. New members of the Committee were welcomed by Commodore Richard Colwell, including Johanna Murphy, GISC, Liam Lynch, TBSC and David Cullen, HYC. Retiring members Colin Morehead, RCYC, Finbarr O’Regan, KYC and Rob McConnell, WSC, were thanked for all their help over the last number of years.
The Committee worked through a list of initiatives and activities that will be actioned during 2019 and beyond to support cruiser racing in Ireland. Commodore Richard Colwell commented “The ICRA Committee is dedicated to building and supporting yacht racing for all. It is our intention to put a renewed focus on training and development of younger sailors to encourage them into cruiser racing, to deliver to the needs of current cruiser racers and to improve communications and transparency to all our members. We intend to publicise several new initiatives in the coming weeks, and have put a great deal of effort already into drawing up strict criteria and guidelines to deliver the annual National Championships of the highest quality”.
The Irish Cruiser Racing Association (ICRA) has the job of bringing together the various aspects of Irish handicap racing in order to promote its interests. Since its inaugural meeting a decade ago, ICRA has built a solid core of interests among 7,000 cruiser racer enthusiasts and built one of the strongest sailing events in the country, attracting over 100 boats.