We’ve become accustomed to veteran dinghy racing superstar Andy Thompson of Larne suddenly emerging into the spotlight again at some world championship, and he has already made his annual mark for 2024 by brilliantly crewing for Tom Gillard at Geelong in Australia in February’s Fireball Worlds to clearly retain the title they won on Lough Derg in 2022.

As another of his top helms, Shane McCarthy has put it: “When Andy gets into your boat, it’s like she has come to life”, making the Larne ex-Pat our “Sailor of the Month (Worlds)” for February.