Cork's Marcus Spillane Resigns as NACRA 17 President & is Replaced By Australian Gold Medalist

4th November 2020

Afloat.ie Team

Olympic Gold medalist Nathan Outteridge Credit: Beau Outteridge

Olympic Gold medalist Nathan Outteridge of Australia becomes the interim president of the International Nacra 17 Class Association, taking over from Ireland's Marcus Spillane from Cork Harbour.

Spillane was recently elected as Vice President of World Sailing, and, according to the NACRA 17 class, to avoid any 'real or perceived conflicts of interest' Spillane resigned as president of the Nacra 17 Class effective November 1, 2020.

Nathan is one of the most celebrated sailors of all time, as a multiple youth World Champion, 49er Class Gold and Silver medalist, Moth Class World champion, America’s Cup helmsman, and current helmsman of SailGP Team Japan. Nathan also campaigned for the Tokyo Olympics in the Nacra 17, twice finishing second at the World Championships but was not selected to the Tokyo Olympic team by Australia.

“The biggest challenge of the Nacra 17 class has been that every critical decision of the class has been almost 50-50 in terms of opinion,” said Spillane. “With such a large and diverse fleet, deep in every continent, broad in age ranges, and of course mixed in gender, there are no shortages of opinions and many varying backgrounds and perspective in the fleet. It has been a wonderful challenge to be a part of stabilizing and improving the class. While I must step down as president of the class earlier than I had planned for, I do so knowing that Nathan is more than able for the role.

The Nacra 17 class and sailors have issued a thank you to Spillane for his time as President and wish him continued success in his new leadership role with World Sailing.

Published in World Sailing

Tagged under

Marcus Spillane

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World Sailing Information

World Sailing is the world governing body for the sport of sailing, officially recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the International Paralympic Committee (IPC).

Founded in 1907, World Sailing's vision is for a world in which millions more people fall in love with sailing; inspired by the unique relationship between sport, technology and the forces of nature; we all work to protect the waters of the world.

World Sailing is made up of 144 Member National Authorities, the national governing bodies for sailing around the world and 117 World Sailing Class Associations.