Menu

Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

Displaying items by tag: GP 14 Summer Open

Sligo Yacht Club hosted the GP 14 Summer Open and Irish Youth Championships at Rosses Point on the 24th and 25th July.

26 boats lined up at the start. Gus Henry, himself a GP 14 sailor can always be relied upon to provide exceptional race management. He called back race 1 after a significant wind change. The race started proper a short while after that. Keith Louden and Dessie Hughes from Lough Foyle Yacht Club got to the weather mark first in 12 knots of wind, followed by local sailors Niall Henry and James Conlon. In third, Shane McCarthy and Al Fry followed close behind in their new boat. Niall Henry took line honours in the race after sailing a flawless race and taking the lead on the second beat. Paddy O'Connor and Tania McHale climbed from fourth to take second. McCarthy and Fry took third.

Race 2 followed shortly after. This time, there was a definite interest by Paul Maguire and Niamh McCormick from Sutton SC in the right hand side as the tide was picking up in pace. Alastair Duffin and Paul Whitcombe from Newtownards SC went that way too but not quite as far out. Shane and Fry chose the middle route, while the Mc Guinness Brothers from Moville Boat Club initially went left and then back into the middle right. At the weather mark, Maguire and McCormick had a clear lead with McCarthy and Fry in second with the McGuinness brothers a short distance away. The McGuinness brothers passed McCarthy and Fry on the second reach. Maguire and McCormick maintained their lead to the finish with half a boat length to spare at the end with the Donegal team a close second.

Race three got under way in similar wind to the first day but this time the tide was going out. The boats that went left looked good initially, but their hopes were soon dashed as the right side of the fleet piled in to the weather mark. Henry and Conlon though, who had sailed a middle course got to the weather mark first with about 7 boat lengths to spare. They let nothing slip and finished with a convincing first. With 1-5-1 in a four race series, they couldn't be beaten and didn't start race 4. The McGuinness brothers won race four taking the lead in the first reach, leaving them second overall. Conor Byrne and Pamela Lee, first time GP sailor were second and O'Connor and McHale finished third giving them third in the event.

The silver fleet was won by Nigel Sloane and Laura McFarland with Gerry Gilligan and Lucia Nicholson in second and Johnny Park and Bob Stinson in third.

The bronze fleet was won by Conor Byrne and Pamela Lee, Wai Manu and Don MacCormack in second and Bill Johnson and Stephen Byrne in third.

Published in GP14

Ireland's Sailor of the Year Awards

Created in 1996, the Afloat Sailor of the Year Awards represent all that is praiseworthy, innovative and groundbreaking in the Irish sailing scene.

Since it began 25 years ago, the awards have recognised over 500 monthly award winners in the pages of Ireland's sailing magazine Afloat, and these have been made to both amateur and professional sailors. The first-ever Sailor of the Year was dinghy sailor Mark Lyttle, a race winner at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.

And since then it's gone on to read like a who's who of Irish sailing.

The national award is specially designed to salute the achievements of Ireland's sailing's elite. After two decades the awards has developed into a premier awards ceremony for water sports.

The overall national award will be announced each January to the person who, in the judges' opinion, achieved the most notable results in, or made the most significant contribution to, Irish sailing in the previous year.

A review of the first 25 years of the Irish Sailor the Year Awards is here

Irish Sailor of the Year Award FAQs

The Irish Sailor of the Year Awards is a scheme designed by Afloat magazine to represent all that is praiseworthy, innovative and groundbreaking in the Irish sailing scene..

The Irish Sailor of the Year Awards began in 1996.

The awards are administered by Afloat, Ireland's boating magazine.

  • 1996 Mark Lyttle
  • 1997 Tom Roche
  • 1998 Tom Fitzpatrick & David McHugh
  • 1999 Mark Mansfield
  • 2000 David Burrows
  • 2001 Maria Coleman
  • 2002 Eric Lisson
  • 2003 Noel Butler & Stephen Campion
  • 2004 Eamonn Crosbie
  • 2005 Paddy Barry & Jarlath Cunnane
  • 2006 Justin Slattery
  • 2007 Ger O'Rourke
  • 2008 Damian Foxall
  • 2009 Mark Mills
  • 2010 Anthony O'Leary
  • 2011 George Kenefick
  • 2012 Annalise Murphy
  • 2013 David Kenefick
  • 2014 Anthony O'Leary
  • 2015 Liam Shanahan
  • 2016 Annalise Murphy
  • 2017 Conor Fogerty
  • 2018 Robert Dickson & Sean Waddilove
  • 2019 Paul O'Higgins

Yes. The boating public and maritime community can have their say to help guide judges in deciding who should be crowned Ireland's Sailor of the Year by using an Afloat online poll). The judges welcome the traditional huge level of public interest in helping them make their decision but firmly retain their right to make the ultimate decision for the final choice while taking voting trends into account. By voting for your favourite nominee, you are creating additional awareness of their nomination and highlighting their success.

Anthony O'Leary of Crosshaven and Annalise Murphy of Dun Laoghaire are the only contenders to be Afloat.ie "Sailors of the Year" twice – himself in 2010 and 2014, and herself in 2012 and 2016.

In its 25 year history, there have been wins for 15, offshore or IRC achievements, nine dinghy and one designs accomplishments and one for adventure sailing.

Annually, generally in January or February of the following year.

In 2003 Her Royal Highness Princess Anne presented the Awards.

©Afloat 2020