RSGYC nominated for ISA Training Centre of the Year
10 January
It is with great pleasure that we can announce that the Club has been nominated for ISA Training Centre of the Year 2011. Our Commodore, Martin Byrne, has also been excitedly nominated under the category of 'Sailing Achievement of the Year'.
Letter of Congratulations from the Sailing Manager, Ronan Adams
The Sailing Committee and the Junior Committee must take the limelight here for all their tireless work and commitment across all levels. Each member of the Committee’s dedicate a large amount of their free time to work together under both Gena and Adrian’s direction assuring that the ‘George’ continues to strive for excellence in training and coaching. It would be unfair to single out any one Committee member and all should take a bow.
Winter and Spring coaching and training has been very strong thanks to the Junior Committee, with Junior Organiser Adrian Eggers as helm, who implement and organise the course materials and the excellent coaches on the water and in the classroom with the Junior Sailors. The Committee must be thanked themselves for assisting on most weekends throughout the winter and spring and indeed for mobilising parents to help out. Sean Flanagan who is responsible for the Sea Squirts and Tigers must also be acknowledged, to see those of 6 years of age and above out sailing in November at the beginning of their sailing adventure truly is a sight and should give everyone else the will to extend their sailing season.
The ‘George’ Junior Summer courses continue to be run to the high standard of excellence that they are renowned for and credit must also be given to the Junior Committee who are responsible for hiring all instructors and the SIs. We have been very fortunate over the past few years with the excellent Instructors and SIs who must also be acknowledged- Ronan Murphy & Catherine Hilliard as SIs last year did an excellent job and again raised the bar for their level of organisation, instruction and attention to detail under the direction of Adrian, the Junior Committee and the Rear Commodore of Sailing. 2011 saw the Sailing & Junior Committee take a new tack in training with the very successful and much enjoyed ‘Offshore Training Cruise’ put together under the watchful eye of Frank O’ Beirne where 12 Juniors took to the seas for a week long sail training cruise. The smiles, photographs and experiences of all participants upon returning to the dock said it all. Needless to say there are a lot of siblings hoping to be able to make this year’s cruise(s).
Philip Ferguson is responsible for Powerboat Training. The Powerboat certification courses held each season at the ‘George’ run by Philip sets a very high standard for safety and training which has also been acknowledged by the ISA. The 2011 season saw three of our Junior Teams participate in the ‘Rib Challenge’ where each team qualified for the National finals with one team placing third in a tightly contested final. The organisers for the Challenge within the Club were Vivienne Gilmer & Alan Gilmer who gave up many evenings and weekends to put the teams together with the teams completing extensive training and practice under the expert and watchful eyes of Declan Traynor & Andrew Hickey who also volunteered countless hours to the Club and teams.
The Adult Sail Training program must also be acknowledged. This programme was run last year on the ISA J80s through the Sailing Committee under the direction of Gina Liuzzi, Michael MacDiarmada and Ronan Murphy who are the Adult Sail Training Organisers. In 2011 we had 25 participants in the course, and with the addition of the 1720(s) to the Club fleet this year we will be able to offer year round training and an expanded training program for 2012 and beyond.
We must also acknowledge the great work carried out in the area of Access Sailing by Ian French and his team of dedicated volunteers throughout the summer months. Access Sailing ran on Sunday mornings in June, July and August and introduced over 20 juniors with sensorial and physical disabilities to the joy of sailing. I must also note our Special Needs program under the dedicated stewardship of Jill Fleming which continues to go from strength to strength.
Thank you to everyone, you have good reason to be proud of your Club and fellow members.
Sincerely,
Ronan Adams
The Winners will be announced at the Awards Ball on Friday, 3rd March. Full details about the ISA Awards Ball, AGM and Conference can be found here.
