Sailor of the Month

Optimist Helmsman Rocco Wright of Howth is Junior Sailor of the Month for January
2nd February 2020 Sailor of the Month
Rocco Wright (13) of Howth Yacht Club is Sailor of the Month (Junior) for January after twice taking silver in major Optimist regattas in both the southern and northern hemispheres. Early in the month in Sail Melbourne 2020 in Australia…

Who gets your vote as Afloat Sailor of the Year 2019? The past year, in the view of Afloat's Winkie Nixon, has produced the 'crème de la crème' of the sport in Ireland, and Afloat has picked out 30 individual sailors…

Cormac MacDonncha of Galway is December Sailor of the Month (Leadership in Sailing)
2nd January 2020 Sailor of the Month
At year’s end, the Sailors of the Month adjudicators survey the overall scene in search of an outstanding and innovative event which has added to the variety of the Irish sailing programme. In 2019 this role was well filled by…

Darren Wright of Howth rounded out an exceptional year of achievement in 2019 with a courageous bareboat charter campaign in the especially challenging 75th Rolex Sydney-Hobart Race. Nearer home, his year had already seen success with the Classic Half Tonner…

Gordon Maguire is Sailor of the Month (International) for December
2nd January 2020 Sailor of the Month
With his fourth overall win provided by the big-fleet 75th Rolex Sydney-Hobart race, Gordon Maguire was officially described at the prize-giving in Hobart as one of the world’s greatest offshore racers. This latest victory is only one of the peaks…

Oisin Van Gelderen is Sailor of the Month (Speed Sailing) for November
2nd December 2019 Sailor of the Month
The annual November visits of Skerries windsurfer Oisin van Gelderen to the Luderitz Speed Canal in the Namibian desert in southern Africa continue to fascinate Irish sailors as he battles to achieve a sustained speed above 50 knots. He has…

Mark Hassett is Sailor of the Month (Team Racing) for November 2019
2nd December 2019 Sailor of the Month
The 71st annual National Team Racing Championship hosted by Royal St George YC in the mid-November weekend attracted 16 squads from all over Ireland, and it was one of the furthest-travelled teams - Baltimore Sailing Club - which went home…

November is stock-taking time in a pre-Olympic year with the international championship programme about to get under way in the Southern Hemisphere, and the review of Irish Olympic hopefuls during the 2019 season shows that it was Aisling Keller of…

Michael O’Connor of Royal St George YC is “Sailor of the Month (Senior)” for October after emerging as the 73rd All-Ireland Champion Helm after a ding-dong two-day final raced in Flying Fifteens from the National Yacht Club on October 5th…

Optimist ace Rocco Wright of Howth found it was tough at the top when the 185-strong 11-nation fleet gathered at his home port for the Irish Open Nationals in August. After he’d won the first race, he was a marked…

Chris & Olin Bateman of Cork are Sailors of the Month (Junior) for September
2nd October 2019 Sailor of the Month
Chris Bateman of Cork has been cutting a swathe through the dinghy sailing scene in Ireland at both junior and open level in a number of classes for some time now, and as he turned 18 on September 23rd, his…

The Ilen’s Gary Mac Mahon & Paddy Barry are Sailors of the Month (Cruising) for September
2nd October 2019 Sailor of the Month
The long story of the re-birth of the 1926-built 56ft Conor O’Brien trading ketch Ilen of Limerick was acquiring an almost wraith-like aspect until in 2019 – the restoration job completed – she undertook the very tangible 5000 miles Salmons…

Royal Cork Yacht Club’s Anthony O’Leary’s Bronze Medal in the 20-team New York YC International Invitational at Newport, RI in September is an astonishing achievement when we remember that many of the other top-level Corinthian crews had been practising in…

Cillian Dickson is 'Sailor of the Month (Keelboats)' for August 2019
2nd September 2019 Sailor of the Month
When the J/24 Headcase snatched the overall win in the final races of the J/24 Nationals 2019 on Lough Erne, inevitably it was a team effort with the boat carrying the usual complement of five. But as we have to…

Greystones Crew of McCarthy & Bracken are 'Sailors of the Month (Dinghies)' for August
2nd September 2019 Sailor of the Month
The 2019 Irish GP 14 Nationals at Skerries in breezy August weather defied its title by having a truly international turnout, but then it was seen as a dress rehearsal for next year’s GP 14 Worlds at the same venue.…

James Dwyer Matthews is 'Sailor of the Month (Junior)' for August
2nd September 2019 Sailor of the Month
When young James Dwyer Matthews of Royal Cork and Kinsale returned in early August from England with the 2019 British Optimist title added to his already impressive trophy list, it was in the knowledge that the up-coming Irish Nationals at…