Tonight at 6.30 pm, Afloat along with Irish Sailing in an 'online ceremony' will be revealing the 2019 winner of the Sailor of the Year award. Selected from a shortlist of sailors who have already earned monthly awards, the Irish Sailing/Afloat Irish Sailor of the Year Award will be profiled on Afloat.
The annual battle for Sailor of the Year is drawn from an impressive list which includes young sailors like Harry Durcan, James Dwyer Matthews and siblings Eve and Jamie McMahon who have shown impressive form throughout 2019; offshore champion Paul O’Higgins who has won the Dun Laoghaire to Dingle race two years in a row; Cork’s Anthony O’Leary representing Ireland in keelboats internationally; school and university captains Lucy McCutcheon, Mark Hassett and Jack Fahy showing the young talent in team racing; windsurfer Oisin van Gelderen who continues to break speed records, alongside those who have dedicated their lives to sailing – like Pierce Purcell of Galway who was a founder of Galway Bay Sailing Club, Gary MacMahon who lead a 20-year project to repatriate and restore the wooden ketch “Ilen” now used for community-based education and sailing projects, and Cormac MacDonncha who organised the Galway-Lorient Cruise in Company.
For a full review of the 2019 Sailors of the Month read W M Nixon here.
Update at 6.30pm: Congratulations to Paul O’Higgins, Irish Sailor of the Year. Click to read a profile of the winner by W M Nixon here.
