This article is from page 36 of the 2007-12-04 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 36 JPG
KILRUSH’S Yacht club has returned to the past in the same week it looks to anew modern future.
At the 2007 AGM of the Western Yacht Club, the club voted to revert to the title the Royal Western Yacht Club of Ireland. During the same meeting Ireland’s first ever Com- modore of a Royal or Ancient Yacht Club was also appointed.
Maeve Howard made national his- tory when she took over the most senior position in one of Ireland’s oldest clubs.
At the November AGM the clubs most acclaimed sailor Ger O’Rourke (skipper of Chieftain) proposed that the name of the club be changed from the name adopted in 1984 to
the original name going back 180 years.
The vote to return to the older name was not unanimous however but was carried by a two-thirds majority in Ie AVOlul
A spokesperson for the yacht club said that it was felt that not many people would know about the West- ern Yacht Club when it was men- tioned on the international stage, but the royal yacht club was more pres- tigious and had more recognition.
The Royal Western Yacht Club was formed in February 1828 by a group of men, among them the Earl of Dun- raven and two of Daniel O’Connell’s sons Maurice and John.
Years later the Royal Western Yacht Club of Ireland was issued with an Admiralty Warrant giving it permis-
sion to fly a defaced White Ensign – normal procedure at the time, as the Admiralty controlled all use of TLRS Teae
At the time the Royal Western Yacht Club had considerable mate- rial resources, it kept offices at 113 Grafton Street, Dublin, a clubhouse afloat in Dun Laoghaire on a ship called the Owen Glendower and had agents in the Eastern Mediterranean and in Scandinavia.
In 1984 it was revitalised as the Western Yacht Club, which was very active in both international and na- tional sailing.
In the international arena the West- ern Yacht Club consistently punched considerably above its expected weight when Mr O’Rourke distin- guished himself worldwide by win-
ning many prestigious yacht races and becoming the first Irish person to win the Fastnet Race.
One unique feature of the Royal Western Yacht Club is that it has at least two families as members who are direct descendants of the origi- nal founding members. The club’s flag is the Irish commercial ensign, blue flag with the Irish tricolour in the hoist and a crown surrounded by a wreath of shamrock in the fly. The original 1832 Burgee, which is used by all members, is the cross of St George on a white background with a crown surrounded by a wreath of Shamrock in the centre.