It was decided this year to present the very first award to Mícheál O’Sullivan who has been a member of Tralee Bay Sailing Club all of his life. His father Jerry O’Sullivan was a founding member of Tralee Bay Sailing Club. Mícheál was born on the same year that the Club was founded. He has grown up with the Club and the Club has grown up with him over the years. Mícheál was Commodore of Tralee Bay Sailing Club 20 years ago, and has continued to work as the Development Officer for the Club ever since. If someone was to write the history of Tralee Bay Sailing Club, Mícheál’s name would figure prominently at almost every major development stage of the Club. In 1992, Mícheál worked with the then Commodore Colin Scott, to extend the bar and function room of the Clubhouse. In 1995, Mícheál worked with Commodore Liam Freeman to develop the upstairs of the Club, which is now used as Committee rooms, resource office and a jury room. Mícheál was also an active lobbyist for getting a marina to Fenit and convinced the then Tánaiste, Dick Spring, to fight for the Marina in Fenit, which was finally built in 1997.
Mícheál dreamt about establishing a sailing school in the Club for many years, and this finally came to fruition in 2004. Mícheál, together with the then Commodore, Frank Slattery, managed to get grant aid from the then Minister for Tourism, John O’Donoghue to build a brand new purpose-built Sailing School on the grounds of the Club. Mícheál also managed to squeeze funding out of John O’Donoghue for a brand-new dinghy park, which was completed this year.
As well as his interest in sailing and motor boats, Mícheál is also a keen sea kayaker and was a founding member of the Fenit Sea Kayaking Club, which is still very active in Fenit.
Mícheál is still actively involved on the Committees of both the Club and the School, and he has a number of ambitious plans for the future.
A large crowd gathered in the Clubhouse last Saturday night to celebrate the presentation of the Samphire Award to Mícheál. Amongst the crowd were many former Commodores, fellow members, friends and relatives. The celebrations carried on into the small hours of the morning with music provided by Willie Kelly and friends.
This year’s Commodore, David Buckley, who presented the Award to Mícheál on Saturday night said “Mícheál’s contribution to our Club over many years is truly outstanding. He has worked with almost every Commodore over the last 20 years to bring the Club to where it is today. As a result of Mícheál’s energy and enthusiasm we have one of the best Sailing Clubs and Sailing Schools in Ireland, which enabled us to attract both a national and a world sailing event to the Club this year.”
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