Yacht club on crest of wave after reeling in top awards

The world’s oldest yacht club is on the crest of a wave after winning two top marine industry gongs.

The Royal Cork Yacht Club in Co Cork has been awarded the prestigious Five Gold Anchors award by the Yacht Harbour Association.

The 200-berth facility on the Owenabue river in Cork harbour joins Dun Laoghaire marina, Carrickfergus marina and Bangor marina on the east coast with the five anchor flag, and is the only marina on the south coast with the award.

It now ranks amongst some of the world’s top marinas, like the Marina de Vilamoura on Portugal’s Algarve and the Pavilion Marina at Jumeirah Beach Hotel in Dubai, which fly the five anchor flag.

And the RCYC has also scooped the International Council of Marine Industry Associations’s Clean Marina Award — an internationally recognised sure sign of a quality marina.

RCYC general manager, Gavin Deane, said the gold anchor award is just reward for “hard work” put in by everybody associated with the club.

“The marina management have shown their commitment to improvement by making substantial investments in the marina with new bunkering facilities and by enrolling the club racing and marina coordinator Mark Ring on the advanced marina managers course in Poole, England, this coming spring,” he said.

Both awards are seen as a shot in the arm for the yacht club which is busy preparing for its 400-boat biennial Cork Week 2012 regatta this July.

“Cork Week 2012 is gearing up to be an exciting event,” Mr Deane said. “Already there are a number of international entries and it promises to be one of the most competitive events yet with the relaxation of the professional sailor rule.”

Cork Week 2012 will also host the J109 Irish National Championships following the very successful European Championship at Cork Week 2010.

* www.corkweek.ie