On this St Patrick’s Day, we remember with fondness and respect the pioneering former Irish Sailing Association President Patrick K O’Neill, known to all as Paddy, who has died aged 86 following a short illness at the end of a life imbued at every level with enthusiasm, much of which he devoted to sailing and its administration and development.

Although his parents had the family home in the handsomely tree-lined Griffith Avenue in Drumcondra, like many North Dublin families of similar background they also had a well-used holiday house in Skerries, and it was there that the young boy took his first steps afloat.

SKERRIES LEAD THE WAY

Skerries Sailing Club were junior sailing trailblazers, as one of their own, Skerries-resident BIM naval architect Brian Dunphy, had anticipated the International Optimist dinghy with a boxy little one-sail “junior junior” boat that he named the Measle, for in those days every child was going to have the Measles sooner or later.

The sailing nursery – with a “junior junior” class called the Measle, annual family holidays in Skerries meant that starting to sail was inevitable

Graduating up to real working life with an expanding role as “their man in Ireland” for the Swedish specialist steel company Uddeholm - for which his technical interest and aptitude was well suited – Paddy’s rapidly-growing sailing interests and developing skills saw him much involved with the briefly-lived but brightly-lit sliding-seat Hornet Class at Clontarf Yacht & Boat Club and along the coast at Kilbarrack SC.

With an International Canoe-style sliding seat to optimise the crew’s hiking leverage, the Hornet had a brief but glorious life at Clontarf and Kilbarrack

NEVILLE MAGUIRE

This brought him directly into sailing competition with such formidable talents as Roy Dickson and Jackie O’Reilly. But it was what was to become a lifelong friendship with another sailor at Clontarf, Neville Maguire who was then king of the Mermaid Class, that led to his next sailing experience.

This was to be crewing out of Howth with Neville Maguire and his boat partner Ossie Johnston in the International Dragon Scampi. With Neville’s exceptional skills in tuning, maintenance, and racing, Scampi was able to punch well above her weight in a national and international class, which otherwise tended to attract the comment of “Chequebook Sailing”.

MARRIAGE AND MALAHIDE

But with marriage to Marie Devereux and their new forever home in Malahide, his sailing took a fresh direction with the rapidly-expanding Enterprise Dinghy class, which soon became the largest fleet at the fabled Whitsun Regatta on Broadmeadow Water west of the railway at Malahide, and just down the road from their new house.

These days, an Enterprise dinghy is something of a collector’s item, but in the days when Paddy & Marie O’Neill were successfully racing Easy Rider, the class could muster the biggest fleets in Ireland. Photo: HYC

He and Marie called their new Enterprise Easy Rider, but their success at home and nationally made everyone realise that the name was a blindsider. Meanwhile, they’d been members of Malahide SC (now Malahide YC) since 1973, and the future path of Paddy’s career in sailing and its administration had been indicated by the fact that within three weeks of joining the club, he was a member of its General Committee.

ROLE IN NATIONAL AUTHORITY

As what was then the Irish Yachting Association was looking to beef itself up with more broadly-based representation, he was soon appointed as Malahide’s delegate to the Association’s Inshore Committee, and as sure as night follows day, he became its Chairman.

He took these roles seriously and provided them with an imaginative agenda implemented with vision. Thus he ensured that his influential committee made a point of having a reasonable proportion of its meetings at clubs away from the Cork Harbour-Dublin Bay axis.

FORMIDABLE LOGISTICAL EXERCISE

With a young and growing family (many of whom were to take up sailing) this was a formidable logistical exercise, and his sailing son Brian can remember the entire family being up-rooted for a weekend in the northwest or some such place, as Dad had arranged the Inshore Committee’s next meeting would be in Sligo YC at Rosses Point.

“The Squib With A Lid” – the small-but-perfectly-formed Hunter 19 was Paddy O’Neill’s first cruiser-racer.

But if anything his devotion to Malahide sailing increased with the years. Yet there was only so far one could go with an Enterprise and a growing family, so his first keelboat was a Hunter 19, the “Squib With A Lid”, which moved his sailing focus seawards from the Broadmeadow own to the tidal Malahide Estuary, and enabled him to encourage a new wave of relative beginners to keelboat sailing, one of them being the noted James Hynes, aka Heinzy.

POPULAR CREW

Equally, Paddy’s own skills as an able and agreeable shipmate meant he was popular as crew on other bigger boats, and Joe McPeake – subsequently a Commodore at Howth Yacht Club – fondly recalls an expedition with Paddy on the strength to the Scottish Series on Loch Fyne with noted Race Officer Jock Smith on his J/30 Joggernaut, one of those boats that had limped into an Irish port to escape the 1979 Fastnet Storm, and had stayed on to find an interesting new life in Celtic waters.

PRESIDENT OF THE NATIONAL AUTHORITY

Almost inevitably, Paddy’s quiet yet determined way of getting things done saw him emerging naturally as the President of the Irish Sailing Association in 1988, the first from Malahide. But in order to see through the major developments that he favoured, he had to be prepared to stay in the role for five years, a marathon spell of duty that would be unthinkable nowadays.

Yet having been so much of an equal team with Marie on the Enterprise and other boats, he had no time whatever for hidebound male chauvinism in sailing, and at an early stage he saw to it that the formidable Carmel Winklemann became one of his Vice Presidents.

INTERNATIONAL OFFSHORE RACING CAMPAIGNS

But equally, he was the right man at the time as an increasingly prosperous Ireland began to spread its wings offshore, and was much involved as Howth hosted the Half Ton Worlds in 1990, with local crew of Gordon Maguire and Marcus Hutchinson taking the title.

Half Ton Worlds Victory in 1990 at Howth with (left to right, back row) Andy Knowles (Commodore HYC), Joan Knowles, Reginald Pressard (owner of winning boat sailed by Gordon Maguire and Marcus Hutchinson), Bill Browne of sponsors Heineken, and Irish Sailing President Paddy O’Neill, (front row) Garrett Connolly, Marcus Hutchinson and Garrett Buckley. Photo: HYC

Then in the fabulous year of 1991, he was right behind the sending of an Irish team to the Southern Cross series in Australia with its successful culmination every which way, with the Harold Cudmore-skippered, Gordon Maguire-helmed Atara winning the Sydney-Hobart Race overall, and Ireland winning the team trophy.

John Storey’s Farr 43 Atara spearheaded Ireland’s conquest of the Southern Cross Series in 1991

WATERFRONT DEVELOPMENTS

This expansion was reflected on the waterfronts, with clubs and their premises and boat-berthing facilities developing into what was unknown territory for rates and taxing matters. As national President, Paddy O’Neill had put much effort into ensuring that his organisation, as the national authority, was able to put forward a strong case for reasonable treatment for Howth Yacht Club with its completely new situation in Howth’s totally-re-developed harbour.

New territory. The creation of this marina/clubhouse complex in Howth in what had previously been part of the sea created new legal dilemmas, and Paddy O’Neill’s input on behalf of the National Authority has since become the template for solving problems with similar situations. Photo: HYC

With other clubs facing similar situations, the Howth ruling became the established precedent, and it was soon being quoted as the National Yacht Club in Dun Laoghaire and other clubs sought to clarify their situation.

FIVE ONEROUS YEARS

After five onerous yet exciting years with his Council – now the Board – becoming accustomed to being a moveable feast for their meetings, Paddy O’Neill stood down as President, to be succeeded by Barry Rose of Cork in 1992.

By this time Paddy had up-graded his boat to the Impala 28 Wild Mustard. But although the nucleus of a class had formed at Howth, he still felt most at home with his boat moored in Malahide, and it wasn’t until Wild Mustard was moved into the ownership of his son Brian that Howth Marina became her home port.

Throughout his long life, although well able to take an all-Ireland overview, Paddy O’Neill remained closely connected to the sailing clubs of the Greater Dublin area. He was a valued member of Malahide Yacht Club and Howth Yacht Club, and in recent years enjoyed spending time at the National Yacht Club in Dún Laoghaire with family and friends, as the thriving O’Neill-Devereux clan has spread south of the Liffey.

Bound for success. President O’Neill (left) with members of the Southern Cross team and supporters, including John Storey, Bronwyn Mitchell, Kieran Jameson, Geoff Whelan (Commodore Royal Alfred YC), Marie O’Neill and Dan O’Grady. Photo: HYC

CLUB LIFE

His enduring connection to club life reflected his belief that sailing’s greatest strength lies in its community. Those who knew Paddy remember a gentleman of warmth, generosity and quiet determination. He gave freely of his time and wisdom, encouraging sailors and volunteers alike, and his presence at regattas and club gatherings was always warmly welcomed.

He leaves many tangible memorials in the way that sailing in Ireland is organised and enjoyed today. But more importantly, he leaves us all with the inspiration of a life well lived. Our condolences are with his family and very many friends and shipmates.

WMN