The Afloat.ie-administered “Sailing Club of the Year” award has been running continuously and successfully since 1979, yet in all its 43 years of honouring outstanding achievement across a wide range of criteria by Ireland’s diverse and nationally-spread yacht and sailing clubs, the title has had only three different main sponsors.

But times change, and even though the basic tenets of club success remain the same, the clubs themselves are now functioning in a very different world in which environmental considerations are taking centre stage, a factor which is fundamental to the new arrangement.

This week it is announced that, with immediate effect, MG Motor Ireland are taking over the sponsorship, and thus the joint winners for 2022, Lough Ree Yacht Club and the Shannon One Design Association - announced on New Year’s Day – are now sharing the title of the MG Motor “Sailing Club of the Year 2022”.

Award-winning sport for all the family – the Shannon One Design Association is celebrating its Centenary in 2022, its first race having been hosted by Lough Ree YC in August 1922

MG is of course one of the most distinctive and historic brands in international automotive history. During the past decade, however, it has been completely re-directing its product range towards an eventually total use of EVs (Electric Vehicles), and the latest 2022 range, with its further advances in design and technology, has been favourably received by the market in Ireland.

Personal and family transport for the times we live in - the new all-electric MG ZS EV

The company enthusiastically confirms its new sponsorship with today’s announcement:

‘‘Here at MG Motor Ireland, we are delighted to announce our 2022 sponsorship of the Sailing Club of The Year Award, with Lough Ree Yacht Club and the Shannon One Design Association named the joint winners of this prestigious award. MG Motor Ireland is a forward-thinking, innovative brand that strives to provide electric for all through its family-friendly electric SUV range, and is proud to have a great affinity with Sailing, a progressive and inclusive sport.’’

The remarkable diversity of the sailing clubs of Ireland is reflected in the many factors which are taken into consideration in assessing the winners, and back in 1990, the special nature of the Irish sailing scene was further acknowledged by including One-Design Class Associations in the overall eligibility list.

This has enabled added depth to be added to the 2022 awards, as Lough Ree Yacht Club was restricted in celebrating its 250th Anniversary in 2020 because of pandemic restrictions, yet the club set an example under Commodores Garret Leech and his current successor John McGonigle in complying with the regulations while still having meaningful sailing.

The fresh new image of a long-established story both afloat and ashore

That included providing carefully-regulated yet still very competitive racing for the popular and decidedly special Shannon One Designs, which in 2022 - under the Chairmanship of Philip Mayne - are celebrating their class Centenary, the first race having taken place in August 1922 with Lough Ree YC.

Despite the pandemic, sailing in Ireland continued as much as possible, and in 2020 the holder of what is now the MG Motor “Sailing Club of the Year” title was the Royal Cork YC in its Tricentenary Year, making it – at six times winning - the most frequent title holder of all.

The Royal Cork Yacht Club at Crosshaven, most frequent winner of what is now the MG Motor “Sailing Club of the Year” title

Then in 2021 Dublin Bay SC had been exemplary under Commodore Jonathan Nicholson and Ann Kirwan to become “Club of the Year”, with every major trophy (and it has dozens of them) properly competed for despite socially-distanced circumstances, such that their success was an encouraging example for the whole country.

Thus the Afloat.ie MG Motor “Sailing Club of the Year” award emerges from the pandemic stronger than ever, its role paramount in highlighting the best of Ireland’s many, varied and successful sailing clubs in a strong and time-honoured tradition with a new eco-friendly foundation.