WSC Newsletter 7.09

Round Ireland Launch

The 30th Anniversary Round Ireland Yacht Race was launched in Wicklow Gaol on Thursday 3rd December in the historic surroundings of Wicklow Gaol. A large turnout, with standing room only, enjoyed a wine and nibbles reception prior to the formalities, mingling with amongst others, Leo Cullen, captain of the victorious Leinster Heineken Cup Rugby team. Most of the major Irish sailing organisations were represented, reflecting the important place our Race holds in the eyes of Irish sailors. Read here for the report.

David Furlong presented his fathers "Irish Holly" Trophy to Mark Mills, a former junior member of WSC, for his services to sailing outside the environs of Wicklow Sailing Club. Mark is a very successful high performance designer of racing yachts with successes racked up all over the yachting world.

2009 Annual General Meeting

Wicklow Sailing Club held its 59th AGM on Fri 27th November. Read here for report.

ISORA 2010

Sadie Phelan represented WSC at the ISORA AGM and Annual Dinner on Sat 7th Nov in the National YC and is the bearer of good tidings - we will finish a major Offshore Race on Sat 5th June, and a healthy entry of up to 30 boats is expected. The ISORA fleet hopes to encourage participation in the Round Ireland and are a valuable organisation for promoting offshore sailing.

2009 Dinghy Prizegiving

Last Saturday 7th November, our Dinghy Captain, David Ryan, organised a gala prizegiving event for our Dinghy sailors, who ranged in age from the very young to the not so young, with something for everyone in the audience. In attendance to do the honours was Mark Mills, an Internationally renowned high performance yacht designer based in Wicklow, who learned the basics of sailing in the WSC Junior Training programme under John Headley. His most recent success in October 2009 was the overall victory of Alegre, a 68' Mini/Maxi in the Rolex Malta Middle Sea Race, an event comparable to our Round Ireland. Prizewinners were presented with their trophies by Mark and all participants got a token plaque. Olivia Flahive was presented with flowers for her efforts on the rescue team and Free Beer provided the entertainment. See here for more photos.

Kerrie hits Big 30

Our ever popular and attentive Bar Manager, Kerrie Gill, got the surprise of her life when she arrived for work on Fri 6th November - her good friend Corina had conspired with WSC members to give her a surprise party and a large attendence of family, members and friends helped her boogie into the wee hours. Our President, Fred Drew, used some well chosen words to congratulate her and express our heartfelt appreciation for the person he had identified 6 or 7 years previously as a possible candidate for our bar person. He observed that she got on with all our members, young and older as well as being very good with our visitors. How well he chose - she is a treasure and we hope she will stay with us for a long time to come yet.

Round Ireland 2010

Following a long consultation process and suggestions on sponsor friendly requirements, the 2010 Race will start officially on Sun 20th June, hopefully making it easier for a lot more spectators to get to our venue. To date, the hunt for a sponsor has drawn a blank and we would hope that our members continue to furnish leads for us. The Club will launch the 2010 Race on Thur 3rd Dec in Wicklow Gaol (as WSC will be booked out to the film production company making "The Guard", starring Brendan Gleeson and Don Cheadle).

Ann Egan Photography

After our visit to the Town Hall in June, Mayor Irene Winters organised a meeting by the Town Forum on Mon 2nd November in WSC which was well attended by local groups such as Wicklow Town Council, Wicklow Chamber, 2009 Leinster Fleadh, Wicklow Tourism, Co Wicklow Volunteer Group, ISA and other bodies. Maria Moynihan Lee of Lets Do It Galway gave a very well delivered presentation on how Galway managed the Volvo RTW Stopover in 2009 and generated a lot of interest from the floor. A few people put their names forward to help put a Festival in place and its fingers crossed for further positive progress in relation to same.

Our new Race logo was designed by our own Ivan Alcorn and we hope it will help to give us greater ownership profile of the event in future.

Is it Lift Out or Laying Up?

Our wise Trustee, John Headley, has suggested we rename our Lift-In and Lift-Out as our Launching and Laying Up days. The current phrases can be misleading and confusing - do we lift-in/out to the sea/boat park or vice versa. Any opinions? Semantics aside, David O Gorman reports that all went very smoothly on Sat 17th Oct and would like to thank all owners and crew for their co-operation. Any outstanding fees should be paid asap.

Adult dinghy training is ongoing and has been a huge success - well done to all concerned. Hopefully, any new members recruited will make for a more vibrant younger adult membership in the Club. Still with our Dinghy section, the Annual Prizegiving will take place on Sat 7th November in WSC at 5pm and a SPECIAL GUEST from the world of Irish Sailing will be present, we are informed.

Photos from Fred Drew

The final race of the season was the Commodores Cup, with 11 entries on a beautiful day for sailing. Batileur, under the helm of Gerry Haughton, took the honours just ahead of Bilbo and Calypso. President Fred Drew assisted the Commodore on board Stravaiger in finishing boats. Keeness to get exact finishes, almost led to a collision, but all was well in the end.