Stormy waters for most clubs

SAILING:SAILING CLUBS are faring badly in the economic storm, an Irish Sailing Association (ISA) egm held last Saturday to revise how the national body is funded has revealed.

The motion to revise the ISA’s funding structure was carried by 80 per cent, but in return some of the country’s biggest yacht clubs have demanded a better performance from the national body.

The clubs want to see the ISA devise ways of attracting more people in to the sport. Some want to see the association trim its sails and cut overheads.

The ISA is involved in a wide range of activities, from sail training to Olympic-level racing, and represents members interests at local and national level to government agencies. The meeting acknowledged these roles, but big and small clubs from the ISA’s nationwide network of 73 were united in a call to halt faltering memberships as a priority.

There are 22,000 members of sailing clubs in Ireland and all are members of the association through an affiliation scheme, but numbers have fallen in the past two years. Since 2009 ISA revenue from club subscriptions dropped from €345,0000 to €287,000.

In spite of the drop in numbers, Ireland this year hosts some of the most prestigious international yachting events, including the International Sailing Federation’s Youth Worlds in July, and the federation’s annual conference, also in Dun Laoghaire, the first time the world body has gathered here.

Although the ISA got a green light for it’s weekend motion, it transpires it came about only after last-minute lobbying secured the vote of some big clubs.

In the wake of the egm the ISA has had meetings to bridge what chief executive Harry Hermon acknowledged as a “disconnect” between it and the clubs.

The association met the Royal St George YC in Dun Laoghaire on Tuesday to hear the concerns of 1,545 members there.

“It is clear from the egm everyone is concerned about costs and we want to ensure our members are getting value for money,” Royal St George commodore Martin Byrne told The Irish Times.

The ISA says it welcomes the “very constructive feedback” and it intends to report back at its annual meeting and conference in three weeks’ time.

In Olympic sailing, Annalise Murphy in the Laser Radial and Peter O’Leary and David Burrows in the Star keelboat took €40,000 each under their Sports Council titles as “podium athletes” this week. The sailors were among 22 to receive the top award for preparations for the July Olympics.

In Fireball racing, Noel Butler and Stephen Oram/Shane McCarthy lead the DMYC Frostbites in Dun Laoghaire harbour. Second are Kenneth Rumball and David Moran. Third are Neil Colin and Margaret Casey.

Dublin Bay’s White Sails fleet meets at the Royal Irish Yacht Club on March 6th to discuss new the progressive Echo handicap and the 2012 racing schedule. The meeting will also include details of training days for the class. The Dublin Bay Sailing Club White Sail season kicks off on April 21st.

Sailors for this year’s Mitsubishi Youth Sailing National Championships in April not only get the chance to win a place on the Irish team for the Dublin Bay Youth Worlds in July, but “early bird” entries get a chance to sing along with pop group Westlife this summer too. Enter the Dun Laoghaire event by March 16th and your name is in the hat for the Croke Park gig on June 22nd.