Displaying items by tag: Doyle Sails

10th January 2019

New Doyle Sails Loft Opens in Galway

New sail loft for Galway (from L to R) Sales Consultant Evan O'Connor, Managing Director Donal Small and Director/Loft Manager Yannick Lemonnier on their visit to the Doyle Sails HQ in Auckland, New Zealand

Doyle Sails International has announced a new loft opening in Galway. The new loft is operated by Managing Director Donal Small and Loft Director Yannick Lemonnier and Sales Consultant Evan O'Connor. loft opened for business on 1st January 2019.

The loft, formerly known as West Sails, has a large sailmaking facility with an impressive floor area of 450 sqm. The facility is located in the Galway Docks only a two-hour drive from Dublin and 2.5 hours from Cork. The loft will be operated by Director Donal Small and West Sails former owner and accomplished sailor Yannick Lemonnier.

Donal has spent many years working within the yachting industry from his early start in boatyards to captaining large superyachts and racing professionally.

"Doyle Sails Galway Loft is open for business as of 1st of January 2019"

Donal's offshore sailing achievements include Volvo Round Ireland Yacht Race, Fastnet Race, Middle Sea Race, Caribbean 600, plus several local Irish and UK offshore races. He has also completed transatlantic and transpacific crossings during his time as a superyacht captain.

sails loft galway Doyle Sails Galway Loft is open for business on 1st January 2019

Apart from offshore sailing, Donal has managed a number of campaigns and has coached the Irish Paralympic Sailing team for London 2012 and also was involved with the British Paralympic sailing team for Rio 2016.

Donal comments: "As the largest sail loft in Ireland we wanted to join with the global leader in high-performance sails, which has the same track record in delivering excellent customer satisfaction."

While the loft will be based out of Galway, they will also have representation in Belfast, Cork and Dublin. The loft has won investment from Kilcullen Kapital Partners led by well-renowned Irish sailor Enda O'Coineen - an important move which will offer the financial backing and assurance needed for a successful operation.

Doyle Sails Galway L to R: Sales Consultant Evan O'Connor, Sailmaker Regina Murray & Director Yannick Lemonnier

Business will continue as usual for the busy loft which will offer services in sail manufacturing, sail repair, covers and marine trimming. Dates will be announced shortly for "Launch Workshops" to take place in Galway, Belfast, Dublin and Cork which will be led by Donal.

Pick-up and delivery locations include Galway, Dublin, Cork and Belfast.

For more information and complete bios please visit the Doyle Sails Galway Loft page here.

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Competitions

The most significant events for the Half Ton Class has been the annual Half Ton Cup which was sailed under the IOR rules until 1993. More recently this has been replaced with the Half Ton Classics Cup. The venue of the event moved from continent to continent with over-representation on French or British ports. In later years the event is held biennially. Initially, it was proposed to hold events in Ireland, Britain and France by rotation. However, it was the Belgians who took the ball and ran with it. The Class is now managed from Belgium.