The Howth Yacht Club Cruisers Annual Awards and Dinner was held in the club on Friday 6th of March. The event was attended by more than 100 cruiser enthusiasts. The evening started with a rig tuning and warm up session in the bar, during which Pat Murphy presented a colourful slide show of cruiser sites, situations and “special somebodies”. This was followed by dinner in the restaurant. One of the dinner courses was a gourmet brain teaser quiz presented by Gary McGuire.

Gary the Gourmet Brain Teaser Chef

The level of knowledge displayed this year was extremely competitive with 4 teams in the top 3 places. This year there was an outright winner, out pointing, all the others by at least a boat length and a half. First over the line was the Swallow team captained by Geraldine McGuirk and declared winner of the Ken Moles Trophy. The trophy was presented by Pat Murphy.

Geraldine McGuirk is presented with the Ken Moles Trophy by Pat Murphy.

This was followed by the Cruiser Awards. This year 5 logs were submitted for scrutinising; Percy Boyle, and Aine Carroll in Hair Raiser cruised to France and South Coast of Ireland, Denis and Olive O’Brien in Katrina II and John and Shiela O’Reilly in Wild Again cruised in company to Scotland and Isle of Man, Conor Lindsey crewed on Leda with Seamus O’Carroll (R.I.P.) on a cruise to Wales, and Trish Phelan on Lydia cruised the North Irish Sea and South Coast of Ireland. Mike Medcalf and Tony Lynch in Taurus submitted a log of their circumnavigation of Ireland, but unfortunately too late, as the judges were in conclave and had come their decisions. The logs were judged by last year’s trophy winners, Harry Whelehan and Sean McCormack.

Sean and Harry; the Judging Team

The Menton Trophy was awarded to John and Shiela O’Reilly in Wild Again for their log of the cruise to Scotland and Isle of Man.

John and Shiela O’Reilly-Wild Again are presented with the Menton Trophy by Vice Commodore Berchmans Gannon.

The Howth to Howth plate was awarded to Trish Phelan– Lydia for the log of the cruise of North Irish Sea, then to South Coast to join with the ICC cruise.

The Howth to Howth Plate is awarded to Trish by Vice Commodore Berchmans Gannon and Judge Harry Whelehan

The Donal Skehan trophy is awarded to a person who in the opinion of the award committee should be recognised for their contribution to cruiser sailing, who might not in other circumstances be duly recognised. This year the Donal Skehan trophy was awarded to Gerry O’Neill in recognition for his contribution to cruiser sailing.

(Top photo: Gerry O’Neill is presented with the Donal Skehan Trophy by Vice Commodore Berchmans Gannon)

On behalf of the Howth Yacht Club Cruiser Group I would like to extend a big thank you to all the catering, bar and administrative staff who helped to make this year’s Howth Yacht Club Cruising Group Annual Awards and Dinner a very memorable occasion.

Garry Davis

HYC Cruiser Group Captain

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