Winners Crowned in Online Irish Sailing Awards Ceremony

21st March 2020

Afloat.ie Team

The Rockabill VI crew at the Fastnet Rock. (left to right) Mark Pettit, Ian O’Meara, Rees Kavanagh, Conor O’Higgins, Peter Wilson, Ian Heffernan and sailor of the year, Paul O’Higgins Credit: Will Byrne

Royal Irish Yacht Club skipper Paul O’Higgins has won the Irish Sailing and Afloat.ie Sailor of the Year Award for his outstanding cruiser-racer season at an online awards ceremony tonight.

Dublin Bay skipper O’Higgins was the first double-winner of the Volvo Dun Laoghaire to Dingle race. Racing his JPK 1080 “Rockabill VI”, he also showed consistent form with a series of wins throughout the year, including a class victory at the ICRA National Championships in June, Calves Week in August, and the ISORA title in September.

Read a full profile of the winner and his record-breaking season by W M Nixon here

Eve McMahon of Howth Yacht Club, a trialist for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, was awarded the Youth Sailor of the Year for her performance internationally in the Laser Radial class.

The Irish Sailing President’s Award was given to Gary MacMahon of the Ilen project from Limerick and West Cork. Gary spearheaded the project to repatriate and restore the historic wooden ketch, which is now used for community-based sailing and educational projects.

ketch ilen1 The ketch Ilen

The Sustainability Award was won by two clubs – Bray Sailing Club (Co. Wicklow) and the National Yacht Club in Dun Laoghaire for their environmental work. The Inclusion Award was won by Jon Hynes and his team at Kinsale Outdoor Education Centre.

The Irish Sailing Senior Instructor of the Year Award went to Sam Hennessy of Wicklow Sailing Club.

Malahide Yacht Club took home the popular Irish Sailing Training Centre of the Year award, having been nominated as winners of the Eastern Region. The two other nominees were Galway Bay Sailing Club (West Region winners) and the Oysterhaven Centre (winner of the South Region).

The Irish Sailing Awards are supported by Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council.

In line with social distancing measures in force for the COVID-19 emergency, Irish Sailing announced the winners online.

Published in Irish Sailing

Tagged under

About The Author

Afloat.ie Team

Email The Author

Afloat.ie is Ireland's dedicated marine journalism team.

Have you got a story for our reporters? Email us here.

We've got a favour to ask

More people are reading Afloat.ie than ever thanks to the power of the internet but we're in stormy seas because advertising revenues across the media are falling fast. Unlike many news sites, we haven't put up a paywall because we want to keep our marine journalism open.

Afloat.ie is Ireland's only full-time marine journalism team and it takes time, money and hard work to produce our content.

So you can see why we need to ask for your help.

If everyone chipped in, we can enhance our coverage and our future would be more secure. You can help us through a small donation. Thank you.

You might also want to read...

Irish Sailing

The Irish Sailing Association, also known as Irish Sailing, is the national governing body for sailing, powerboating and windsurfing in Ireland.

Founded in 1945 as the Irish Dinghy Racing Association, it became the Irish Yachting Association in 1964 and the Irish Sailing Association in 1992.

Irish Sailing is a Member National Authority (MNA) of World Sailing and a member of the Olympic Federation of Ireland.

The Association is governed by a volunteer board, elected by the member clubs. Policy Groups provide the link with members and stakeholders while advising the Board on specialist areas. There is a professional administration and performance staff, based at the headquarters in Dun Laoghaire, Co. Dublin.

Core functions include the regulation of sailing education, administering racing and selection of Irish sailors for international competition. It is the body recognised by the Olympic Federation of Ireland for nominating Irish qualified sailors to be considered for selection to represent Ireland at the Olympic Games. Irish sailors have medalled twice at the Olympics – David Wilkins and Jamie Wikinson at the 1980 games, and Annalise Murphy at the 2016 games.

The Association, through its network of clubs and centres, offers curriculum-based training in the various sailing, windsurfing and powerboating disciplines. Irish Sailing qualifications are recognised by Irish and European Authorities. Most prominent of these are the Yachtmaster and the International Certificate of Competency.

It runs the annual All-Ireland Championships (formerly the Helmsman’s Championship) for senior and junior sailors.

The Association has been led by leading lights in the sailing and business communities. These include Douglas Heard, Clayton Love Junior, John Burke and Robert Dix.

Close to 100 sailors have represented Ireland at the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Membership of Irish Sailing is either by direct application or through membership of an affiliated organisation. The annual membership fee ranges from €75 for families, down to €20 for Seniors and Juniors.