Huge congratulations to MARY McCORMACK, Foynes Yacht Club, who won the Senior Sailing Instructor of the Year 2024 award at 1 Windmill Lane, Dublin, last Friday evening, 28th February. After winning in her own region Mary was put forward to the overall Senior Sailing Instructor 2024 awards with stiff competition from the Royal St George Yacht Club in Dublin, and Kinsale Yacht Club in Cork. We are delighted that Mary was awarded the Senior Sailing Instructor of the Year Award 2024 in recognition of her hard work and exemplary leadership over 2024, by John Twomey, President of Irish Sailing.
Mary has come through the FYC Sailing Academy from a very early age and has progressed through to Senior Instructor in recent years. Since she has taken up the role, her impact on the effectiveness of the Academy has been remarkable. The standard of training, the participation rate and the feedback from parents has greatly improved. We are now, for the first time, having Academy participants joining the club as young members and continuing their sailing throughout the season. They are the members of the future in a club that has an ageing profile. Instructors are also emerging from this group, to a point that we are confident we will have our own “home-grown” Instructor teams in the future. This success is down to Mary’s organisational ability and her success in influencing the FYC Committee (of which she is a recent member) to support her strategy to provide resources to continuously improve the facilities and in influencing the FYC Committee to support her strategy to provide resources to continuously improve the facilities and equipment over the coming years. A remarkable success for a young person!
After completing college in May 2023, Mary embarked on a summer adventure as Head Coach at a sailing programme in Martha’s Vineyard in the United States. During this period, she honed new skills, connected with fascinating individuals, and had the extraordinary opportunity to participate in a regatta aboard a 12-Metre Yacht – a class renowned for its historical significance in America’s Cup racing. This experience stood out as the pinnacle of her season with an open invitation to return at any time. Mary came back brimming with enthusiasm and innovative ideas, which she seamlessly integrated into the FYC Sailing Academy.
We are all so very proud of Mary and her years of dedication to inspiring and training young sailors has truly made a difference, and it’s fantastic to see her hard work and commitment to FYC Sailing Academy recognised.
CONGRATULATIONS, MARY – so well deserved! We are all incredibly proud of you!
