Royal Cork Yacht Club's Denis Byrne has been elected Commodore of the Irish Cruiser Racing Association at today's national cruiser conference and AGM and will lead the national cruiser-racer body for the next two years.
Byrne takes over from Howth Yacht Club's Dave Cullen, who has held the post since March 2022.
As Afloat reported earlier, Byrne also serves as Vice-Admiral of the Royal Cork Yacht Club.
Upon taking office, Byrne's first action was to commend his predecessor for skillfully steering the association away from COVID-related challenges. This resulted in a boost in IRC certificates issued to 332 boats in 2023.
At the Dun Laoghaire-hosted AGM, Byrne was elected along with a new 13-person executive committee that now includes John Minnis from Royal Ulster Yacht Club, representing Northern Ireland's Belfast Lough. It means ICRA is now represented on all four coasts of Ireland as well as on its inland waters.
Also elected for the first time were Sam Hunt from Kinsale Yacht Club and Brian Jones from Royal Cork Yacht Club.
The new 2024 executive (pictured above) are:
- Dave Cullen (Howth YC)
- John Leech (Lough Derg YC & Galway Bay SC)
- Alice Shanahan (National YC)
- Saoirse Reynolds (National YC)
- Peter Ryan (National YC)
- Liam Lynch (Tralee Bay SC)
- Brian Raftery (Sligo YC)
- Mark Mills (Wicklow SC)
- Daragh Connolly (Royal Cork YC)
- Sam Hunt (Kinsale YC)
- Brian Jones (Royal Cork YC)
- John Minnis (RUYC/RNIYC)
- Denis Byrne (Royal Cork YC)
Byrne takes over the tiller when recruiting new sailors into the national fleet, including under-25 and female participation, is at the top of ICRA's agenda.