Twomey, Murphy take top awards

Kinsale sailor John Twomey received a standing ovation on Saturday night at the annual Irish Sailing Association awards ceremony in Dun Laoghaire.

The ten times paralympian received the President’s Award in recognition of this track-record and for helping people with disabilities to go sailing.

He is chairman of the International Association for Disabled Sailing that will stage its World championship in Kinsale in August.

Olympian Annalise Murphy was awarded the Sailing Achievement of the Year, sponsored by BHP Insurance, in recognition of her efforts at the London 2012 Games.

Murphy was not present due to training commitments in Cadiz and the award was received by her mother Cathy MacAleavey, herself an Olympian at the 1988 games in Seoul.

Other awards presented included the Training Centre of the Year, supported by Honda Marine, won by The Oysterhaven Centre.

Earlier at the association’s AGM, a motion reproaching the national authority for the decline in dinghy sailing participation found widespread support amongst though formal adoption was avoided.

Instead, a meeting will be convened between the ISA, clubs and classes to address the issues raised. They ranged from criticism of the current Pathway programme to characterisation of current training schemes as ‘Summer creches’.

The experience of the Mirror dinghy class that will host its world championship on Lough Derg this summer was cited as an example where other “cool” dinghies were given priority treatment to the exclusion of older dinghy designs. The AGM effectively side-stepped the motion on the basis that the gathering of stake-holders within one month would address the concerns raised.