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World Sailing Champion Eve McMahon Honoured at Irish Sailing Awards in Howth

22nd March 2024
Howth Yacht Club sailor Eve McMahon has been crowned Irish Sailor of the Year at the Irish Sailing Awards in Howth
Howth Yacht Club sailor Eve McMahon has been crowned Irish Sailor of the Year at the Irish Sailing Awards in Howth Credit: Thom Touw

Howth sailor Eve McMahon won the prestigious Irish Sailor of the Year, presented by Afloat Magazine this evening, Friday 22 March, at the Irish Sailing Awards in Howth Yacht Club, Co. Dublin.

Former Irish Sailing Youth Sailor Awardee Eve was nominated following a phenomenal 2023, which saw her progress from junior to senior competition, and she won the under-21 World Championships in Tangiers, Morocco.

Eve McMahon will join Finn Lynch at the 2024 Paris Olympics this summer, with the 49er team still to be decided.

The Irish Sailing Youth Sailor of the Year Award went to Ben O’Shaughnessy and Ethan Spain of the Royal Cork Yacht Club and the National Yacht Club, Dun Laoghaire, respectively. Ben and Ethan are current 29er European champions and secured the bronze medal at the Youth Sailing World Championships. They are also the Irish National champions and brought home a silver medal at the British Nationals.

CEO of Irish Sailing, Tim Bourke, said, “We are thrilled to have such a wealth of talent represented and celebrated here tonight. Sailor of the Year Eve McMahon’s hugely successful progression from youth to adult sailor is an encouraging reflection of Irish Sailing athlete development and, when you couple that with the amazing achievements of Youth Sailors Ben and Ethan, it gives us a lot to be hopeful about for both this summer and the future of Irish Sailing on the international stage. We are also delighted to have another ten awards representing commitment and success across the many activities of our sport and the recognition of all nominees from the sailing community in these awards is something we can all be proud of.”

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

Catherine O’Brien of Dungarvan Harbour Sailing Club won the Irish Sailing Cruise of the Year for her inspirational approach to taking up the sport of sailing.

Leonie Conway from Sailing into Wellness won the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Award for her work on programmes that catered nationwide to those with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

Volunteer of the Year went to Aisling Gillen of Sligo Yacht Club and Senior Instructor of the Year Award went to Sophie Crosbie of Royal Cork Yacht Club.

This year’s Awards included three new categories – Class of the Year won by Irish Laser Class Association, Secondary School of the Year was won by St Andrew’s College in Dublin whose sailing programmes puts up to 250 student sailors on the water annually and the Woman on the Water Award won by Aideen Kilkelly of the Galway Hookers Sailing Club.

The Irish Sailing Training Centre of the Year Award went to Irish Offshore Sailing for their programme of offshore races such as The Round Ireland race, The Fastnet Race and The Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Race.

The Irish Sailing President’s Award was given to Ailbe Millerick and Eunice Kennedy for their lifetime contribution to the development of Team Racing in Ireland at both school and university level.

Full list of winners at the 2023 Irish Sailing Awards, 22 March 2024

Irish Youth Sailor of the Year
Ben O’Shaughnessy & Ethan Spain, Royal Cork Yacht Club & National Yacht Club

Irish Sailing Cruiser of the Year
Catherine O’Brien, Dungarvan Harbour Sailing Club

Irish Sailing Training Centre of the Year
Irish Offshore Sailing

Irish Sailing Senior Instructor of the Year
Sophie Crosbie, Royal Cork Yacht Club

Irish Sailing Class of the Year
International Laser Class Association

Irish Sailing Volunteer of the Year
Aisling Gillen, Sligo Yacht Club

Irish Sailing Secondary School of the Year
St Andrew’s College, Dublin

Irish Sailing Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Award
Leonie Conway, Sailing into Wellness

Irish Sailing Club of the Year
Galway Bay Sailing Club

Woman on the Water Award
Aideen Kilkelly, Galway Hookers Sailing Club

Irish Sailor of the Year presented in association with Afloat Magazine
Eve McMahon, Howth Yacht Club

Irish Sailing President’s Award
Ailbe Millerick & Eunice Kennedy

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EVE MCMAHON

Age: 20
World Ranking: 12th (best to date)
Olympic Ranking: 12th
Hometown: Howth, Dublin
Club: Howth YC
Coach: Rory Fitzpatrick

When she was younger, Eve followed in the footsteps of her two older brothers (Ewan and Jamie) and started summer sailing courses in Howth YC at the age of just 7. Although new enough to the senior circuit she started training alongside senior athletes long before this Olympic cycle. She worked as both Anne-Marie Rindom’s DEN (Tokyo Olympic Gold medallist) and Annalise Murphy’s IRL, official training partner for the Tokyo Olympic cycle.

So, it is no surprise that after finishing her time in the youth fleet with a Triple Crown, McMahon then went on to qualify Ireland in the ILCA 6 fleet for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. McMahon would like to be the most successful Irish female, ILCA 6 sailor ever and be a figurehead for women in sport, especially sailing.

  • Paris 2024 Team Ireland Olympian
  • 2023 U21 ILCA 6 World Champion
  • 2022 Youth ILCA 6 World Sailing Champion
  • 2022 Youth ILCA 6 European Championship
  • 2021 ILCA 6 Youth World Championship
  • 2021 U19 Silver Medallist European Championships
  • Afloat Irish Sailor of the Year 2019, 2020 and 2021, 2022 and 2023

Eve was also awarded Afloat’s Sailor of the Year 2023 as well as UCD’s Sportsperson of the Year and was nominated for RTE’s Young Sportsperson of the Year. She is from from Howth Co. Dublin, and on being selected for the Irish Olympic Team she is one of Team Ireland’s Paris Scholars studying International Commerce at UCD.

Eve additionally had the unique opportunity to carry the Olympic Flame on the initial stages of its journey landing in Marseille, France, where she will be competing this summer, on its route to the Olympic Opening Ceremony.

Eve McMahon's 2021 sailing achievements

  • Irish Sailor of the Year 2021
  • Gold Medallist Youth World Championships Italy Highest Ranked Irish Female 
  • Star Sailors league Silver medal at the Youth European Championships Croatia Gold medallist U19,
  • Silver medallist U21 Senior European Championships Bulgaria Race win Senior European Championships Bulgaria
  • Selected Paris 2024 Olympic Solidarity Scholarship Sport Ireland
  • 15th Senior European Championships Bulgaria, 1st Irish Female, securing Sport Ireland Carding.
  • Youth ISAF World Representative Oman, equivalent to Youth Olympic in sailing,
  • 4th overall Guinness World Record Participant Beach Clean up -
  • Oman Gold medallist U19 Allianz World Cup Netherlands
  • Gold medallist U23 Lanzarote International Regatta 4th
  • U21 European Championships Montenegro
  • Nominated for Irish Sailor of The Year
  • Bronze medallist Connaught's Wexford
  • 9th Silver Fleet European Continental Qualification
  • 5th Pre-Qualifciation regatta Lanzarote