Flor O’Driscoll, overall champion of the Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta 2009. is the Irish Independent/Afloat.ie “Sailor of the Month” for July after an inspirational performance which saw his veteran J/24 Hard on Port emerge as supreme champion from a fleet of more than 450 boats.
O’Driscoll – who started his sailing on Cork Harbour with Cobh Sailing Club, but is now a Dublin Bay man – has shown what can be achieved with a highly motivated and well co-ordinated crew of friends, and an immaculately maintained and expertly-tuned veteran boat. The Rod Johnstone-designed, American-built J/24 has been around for several decades now. But while others have moved on to larger and more modern craft, O’Driscoll has stayed with his boat and gets excellent value from a 24-footer which is economical to berth or store, and can be easily road-trailered between events.
Thus a boat for our times won the biggest sailing event of the year, a biennial regatta whose organizing committee, chaired by the indefatigable Phil Smith, is always ready to take on board suggestions from competitors after each staging of this major logistical and administrative challenge. This year, VDLR was rewarded with good sailing rounded out with magnificent sunlit sport.
The wind is free and the sun – when it appears – is free too. So the Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta was ideal for the realities of 2009, and Flor O’Driscoll epitomized the spirit of a great event.
