Club and community still proud of Annalise

The absence of yachts from Dublin Bay on a bank holiday Monday in August was the first sign that it was no ordinary day for Ireland’s sailing community.

Instead, the fine weather found many of those who would normally be out on their boats ashore at the National Yacht Club in Dún Laoghaire — the home club of Olympic medal hopeful Annalise Murphy since she was aged just six years old.

Martin McCarthy, the club’s honorary secretary, observed with a wistful smile that it was also “somewhat unusual” for so many of the club’s members to have gone to Mass over recent days.