Sailing awards to mark memorable year for Ireland

The Irish Sailing Association (ISA) has enlarged next month's national awards ceremony to mark the achievements of Irish sailors, clubs and sailing schools from 2015.

The association has revealed over 40 nominees for four annual awards to be presented at the Royal College of Surgeons on February 4th.

The reformated event is being billed as ‘the sailing event of the year’ to recognise the achievements of Irish sailing in 2015 and to provide a national platform for profiling clubs, centres and sailors.

The Irish Sailor of the Year award, currently the subject of an online poll on Afloat.ie, features over 17 achievements from a range of inshore and offshore exploits, including Liam Shanahan’s runaway defence of the Irish Sea Offshore Racing title and last June’s Dun Laoghaire-Dingle race win.

Nominees for the youth award were selected on the basis of results from World and European championships and include January's bronze medal ISAF Youth Worlds win by Douglas Elmes and Colin O'Sullivan. Tipperary's Aisling Keller, who was sixth in the Laser Radial Youth Worlds, is also on the shortlist.

Skipper

The ISA Training Centre of the year and the Mitsubishi Motors Club of the year will also be presented.

Dublin Bay sailor Michael Boyd, the Commodore of London's Royal Ocean Racing Club and holder of the Commodore's Cup, will return to compete in the 2016 Volvo Round Ireland race, marking the 20th anniversary of his 1996 win in the J/35 Big Ears. The skipper, a member of the Royal Irish Yacht Club, intends to sail the 18th edition with as much of his winning crew as he can muster.

The Wicklow race was launched at Boyd’s Dun Laoghaire club on Wednesday evening and its organisers say it is set to be one of the most ‘heated’ editions in the offshore race’s 36-year history. A number of international entries, including the Supermaxi Rambler 88, have signed for the 700-miler even before race entry opens next Monday.

The second of three Irish Olympic trials for the women’s Laser Radial dinghy berth in Rio takes place in Miami on January 25th.

Annalise Murphy leads debutante Aoife Hopkins by 14 points after the first trial at the Copa Brasil de Vela regatta in December, an event, as it transpired, that combined results for the usually separate men and women's disciplines. London 2012's James Espey from Belfast Lough leads a three-boat men's trial.

World Sailing has published its report into discrimination at the 2015 Youth World Sailing Championship in Langkawi, Malaysia. The international sailing authority, formerly known as the International Sailing Federation, says it deeply regrets that two sailors from the Israel Yachting Association were unable to compete at the 2015 Youth World Championships due to the conditions imposed by the Malaysian authorities.

Mainstay

Fireball sailors are staging a 50-year reunion of the international class on February 6th at the Royal St George Yacht Club in Dun Laoghaire. The 16-foot dinghy class, for so long a mainstay of the small-boat scene here, has a list of members and former members that reads like a who’s who of Irish sailing.

Organisers have put out a call for memorabilia as the gathering aims to feature people, fleets and activities from five decades. Archive can be sent to derek@jago.ie