What with the lockdowns and other upsets to the regular progression of sailing life, three years have passed since Howth Yacht Club has been able to make a thorough-going job of hosting its annual winter-time Achievers Awards ceremony. But all that was put right with the bonus of being able to banish any post-festive blues as well on the Twelfth Day of Christmas, January 6th, which very obligingly was last Saturday.
Yet on the evening, instead of the usual sense of winding down, the mood was decidedly and even boisterously upbeat for the very good if slightly crazy reason that some of the most important awardees were away, furthering their careers on international competition in the Southern Hemisphere. In other words, it was as much about the anticipation of major success in 2024 as the recollection of it in 2023, and organiser Jill Sommerville of HYC puts it in perspective:
CELEBRATING IN STYLE
“HYC provided celebration with style for its 2023 Achievers Awards on Saturday, with the presentation of awards in nine categories. The event was sponsored by Celtic Candles, and each of the 38 nominees received a gift from the sponsor.
Commodore Neil Murphy and families who donated the Trophies were on hand for the presentations before a full house of members.
The standard of sailors in HYC is now so high at the top level that among the 38 nominees across the nine categories, there are two current World Champions, three European Champions, and five National Champions.
New HYC members Michael Hennessy, Kay Cornally and Carol Cribbin were tops of the voting for the Sunshine Radio Trophy
The Silver Fox Trophy which is donated by the Kelly family for those who excelled in racing cruising or organisation. This winner was Ross McDonald who retained the 1720 European Championships in Rope Dock Atara with five race wins out of nine races, and then added second place in the Irish Nationals to his record for 2023.
SUPER-HOT JUNIOR COMPETITION
The next award was the Seaward Bell donated and presented by Kevin Darmody to a Junior who excelled in open events at home or abroad. This is always a very competitive category as Howth has so many international Juniors and the members Voted for Harry Dunne for his Optimist Achievements, having won the Irish Youth Nationals in Howth last April as well as the Optimist Class Leinster, Munster and National titles. He represented Ireland at the Optimist Worlds in Spain in 2023. Harry has now moved into the ILCA 4 and Howth looks forward to following his sailing career.
Geraldine Dunne receives the Seaward Bell from Kevin Darmody on behalf of her champion sailing son Harry, who was “away on international sailing business”
After this award, a question and answer session was held with Sienna Wright to hear all about her recent bronze medal at the ILCA Youth World Championships in Brazil and her future plans.
The next award was the GM Trophy presented by General Manager of HYC Aideen Doran. This trophy is presented annually to the junior sailor who enhances the spirit of HYC. It was a closely fought contest between three fantastic juniors, Dan Cullen, Sam McQuade and Zara DeNeve with Zara coming out as the recipient of this award. She won the award for many reasons including her charm, consideration to other sailors and most definitely her undeniable spirit distinguished her and her ability to get others involved in having fun while sailing was well appreciated by both her instructors and peers.
Both are top awardees - Zara DeNeve and Brian Turvey
BOAT OF THE YEAR
Boat of the Year Trophy was fought between Bite the Bullet, Checkmate, Delginis and Outrageous all of which had an outstanding record of achievements through 2023. The Howth 17 Delginis was voted by the HYC membership as “Boat of the Year” – well done to the Massey Family and other owners who not only partook in the historic rounding of the Fastnet Rock last summer but also were overall winner in the 83 boat fleet that took part in the monday.com Autumn League, winning its own Class by an eight point margin.
Ace helm Mikey Toomey (centre) thinks that the 1907-built Howth 17 Deilginis becoming the HYC Boat of Year 2023 is a matter for Zen-like contemplation, but Commodore Murphy (left) and Nick Massey (right, who rescued the boat from dereliction 51 years ago) reckon it’s something to be cheerful about
VOLUNTEER OF THE YEAR
For Volunteer of the Year, seven names were proposed as going above and beyond for HYC in 2023. HYC is lucky in that it is supported by over 150 volunteers throughout the season who wore tirelessly to keep the club running. Many of the nominees have played unseen but crucial roles to make HYC the best sailing club in the country. The nominees included, David O’Shea who captained the Howth 17 class and all their events in this important year of their 125 anniversary, Kieran Barker for his role in leading the race results team, Kieran Jameson for his ongoing commitment to managing all the HYC club boats, Michael Pearn for his work with new members, Robert Orr for his tireless work getting all the club racing teams & rosters in place. The winners of this category were Susan Kavanagh and Sarah Toomey for the fantastic work they have done for their organisation, development and leadership of the Cruising Group. Susan and Sarah are jointly the driving force ensuring that the Cruising Group members have a full programme of lectures, social events, cruises and 'armadas' and have access to the experience of their fellow members in all things nautical. They have also created a pathway to get newcomers out sailing and then building their experience afloat.
The Sailing Instructor of the Year award went to newcomer Bharat Mohan for his competency and example that he set among the instructors.
Introducing the many beginners or basic sailors who improve their skills at Howth Yacht Club is a challenge for an impressive team, and it was reckoned that in 2023, Bhorat Mohan (above with Commodore) was the Sailing Instructor of the Year
The Murphy family were on hand to present the Cliona Murphy Memorial Trophy for an Adult sailor who represents and enhances the spirit of HYC sailing. The nominees in this category were Brian Turvey, Gerry O’Neill, Gerry Sargent and Maureen Muir. The members chose Brian Turvey as the 2023 winner for all the work his does in HYC for the K25 squad, MC at events, his brilliant social event photography, his commitment to Wave Regatta and his support on the social media front, all of which really are only a fraction of what Brian does for HYC.
TWO NEW CATEGORIES
The last two awards are new categories, new member of the year and International Sailor of the year.
The Sunshine Radio Trophy was presented to Carol Cribbin one of 3 nominated new members who really got into the spirit of all that HYC has to offer and embraced so many of the clubs activities from cruising, racing, day-skipper courses, mahjong, rowing, paddle boarding and she will be skippering one of the charter boats in next summer's Cruising Group flotilla in Greece. She is a great example of how quickly a new member who is prepared to try everything can settle into HYC and become part of its life.
The Sunshine Radio Trophy was presented to Carol Cribbin
Finally, the new category of International Trophy is for a HYC sailor who excelled internationally (eg. Olympic / Worlds / Europeans). This trophy was donated by Pat and Olivia Murphy Circumnavigators and presented by Pat. As Howth has a number of seriously competitive international sailors the nominee group was made up of Olympic hopefuls in the Laser class, brother and sister Eve and Ewan McMahon, 49ers Robert Dickson & Sean Waddilove, Paul McMahon and Sam O’Byne all with an amazing set of international Achievements in 2023. The winner of the International Trophy was Eve McMahon, but as Eve is away in Argentina at the ILCA Worlds, we have the photo at top taken earlier at the height of Christmas”.
