Irish Sailing Want To Hear From You

20th March 2020

We hope you are all staying safe and healthy. In these difficult and unprecedented times, cancellations, postponements and disruption are all taking their toll. Irish Sailing, however, are starting to look ahead at what we can plan and put in place now so that when the pandemic passes, and it will pass, we will all be in as strong a position as possible.

The current Government restrictions are in place until March 29th, but we know that we are at the beginning of a surge. We need to plan for the worst so we can come out the other end as strong as we can. By working together we can map out options, find solutions and recover quickly.

To this end, we would like to hear from you on what you think your challenges as a club/training centre will be in the event we are still not operating within the next 3-6 months:

What are the main challenges facing your organisation in the longer term as a result of current restrictions?
Have you suggestions for how our organisations, and/or we as a sport can minimise the threat?
What can Irish Sailing do to support this?

Some of the areas we are currently working on in Irish Sailing include the introduction on an eSailing National Championships, looking at developing online elements of some of our training, updating and improving our website and online resources so you have more information at your fingertips.

In the meantime, Revenue have announced measures to help organisations and businesses experiencing difficulties and we have created a help page on our website here

Please contact me directly [email protected] if you have any questions or queries in relation to the ongoing challenge of COVID-19 and we look forward to working with you. Stay safe.

Harry Hermon, CEO, Irish Sailing

19 March 2020

Published in ISA

About The Author

Gail McAllister

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Gail MacAllister is Irish Sailing's Regional Development Officer

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Irish Sailing

The Irish Sailing Association, also known as Irish Sailing, is the national governing body for sailing, powerboating and windsurfing in Ireland.

Founded in 1945 as the Irish Dinghy Racing Association, it became the Irish Yachting Association in 1964 and the Irish Sailing Association in 1992.

Irish Sailing is a Member National Authority (MNA) of World Sailing and a member of the Olympic Federation of Ireland.

The Association is governed by a volunteer board, elected by the member clubs. Policy Groups provide the link with members and stakeholders while advising the Board on specialist areas. There is a professional administration and performance staff, based at the headquarters in Dun Laoghaire, Co. Dublin.

Core functions include the regulation of sailing education, administering racing and selection of Irish sailors for international competition. It is the body recognised by the Olympic Federation of Ireland for nominating Irish qualified sailors to be considered for selection to represent Ireland at the Olympic Games. Irish sailors have medalled twice at the Olympics – David Wilkins and Jamie Wikinson at the 1980 games, and Annalise Murphy at the 2016 games.

The Association, through its network of clubs and centres, offers curriculum-based training in the various sailing, windsurfing and powerboating disciplines. Irish Sailing qualifications are recognised by Irish and European Authorities. Most prominent of these are the Yachtmaster and the International Certificate of Competency.

It runs the annual All-Ireland Championships (formerly the Helmsman’s Championship) for senior and junior sailors.

The Association has been led by leading lights in the sailing and business communities. These include Douglas Heard, Clayton Love Junior, John Burke and Robert Dix.

Close to 100 sailors have represented Ireland at the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Membership of Irish Sailing is either by direct application or through membership of an affiliated organisation. The annual membership fee ranges from €75 for families, down to €20 for Seniors and Juniors.