Club: Howth Yacht Club and Royal Ocean Racing Club

Sailing Experience: David started his sailing career in Kilbarrack Sailing Club in his trusted Optimist, leading into Mirrors and then Lasers with some success. He first started yacht racing at 16 on Rockabill II and moved on a couple of years later to sail on half tonners and three quarter tonners, both domestically and also in numerous ISORA and Round Irelands. He graduated onto more international boats racing Fastnets, Cowes Weeks and spent several summers racing in the Solent with considerable success including Cowes Week overall winners and also sailing in three Commodore’s Cups. At the same time he sailed his Impala 28 owned with some friends and dominated any Class 3 events they participated in, going ironically full circle back into half tonners, this time the turbo charged versions with King One and now Checkmate XV in which he is the current European Champion.

Professional/Business Career: David is the Managing Director of Euro Car Parks in Ireland, one of the largest and most successful parking operators in the State. He is a regular media commentator on matters parking and transport. He also is involved in several property development and management companies and is a qualified Chartered Surveyor, having started life as an Accountant for Esso in the UK.

Club: Royal Cork Yacht Club  

Professional/Business Experience: Deirdre qualified with a BComm degree from University College Cork in 1984 and joined the family food services business. Deirdre was appointed Managing Director in 1997 (after the untimely death of her father). Deirdre ran and developed the business for over 35 years. The family business was sold in 2023 and Deirdre has a part time role with the new owners.   

Sailing Experience: Deirdre is sailing since the early 1970’s. While initially ‘Cruiser Racing’ with her father and family, Deirdre also raced dinghies and followed the ‘IYA’ training and instructor programme of that time. Today she helms/skippers the Tingle family Cruiser Racer ‘Alpaca’ and has competed in many national and international sailing events over the years. Deirdre has been involved with various committees in the Royal Cork over many years. She was elected as Rear Admiral of the Royal Cork Yacht Club in 2008 (the first female flag officer).   

Clubs: National Yacht Club and Royal Irish Yacht Club

Sailing Experience: Frank, better known as Mal, started sailing in his teens in 420s then 470s, before settling into the Dun Laoghaire Flying Fifteen fleet where he sailed with the late Jack Roy for nearly 14 years. After that he moved on to cruisers and spent several years ISORA racing before taking an interest in real cruising and race management. He has often cruised to France and Spain as well as enjoying many charter holidays in Greece and the Caribbean. He holds a Yachtmaster Offshore and many other certificates and qualifications including RYA National Mark Layer and RYA Sail measurer. He developed the mark laying qualification system for Irish Sailing and has been a member of the Race Officials Policy Group for some years. In 2019 Mal joined the Irish Sailing Governance Committee.

Mal is a member of the National Yacht Club for 40+ years where he held positions of Sailing Secretary, Junior Organiser and Honorary Secretary. He is also a member of the Royal Irish Yacht Club.

Professional Experience: Now retired, Mal practised as a solicitor and was a partner in the Dispute Resolution department of Matheson for 24 years.  Subsequently he established a property management and receivership practice, now part of WKN Real Estate Advisors, where he continues as a consultant.

Bill O’Hara was awarded an OBE (Order of the British Empire) on the New Year’s Honours List for his services to sailing. Bill has worked with Irish Sailing since the late 1980s. He is on the Olympic Steering Group, and set up the Academy Team; he represented Ireland at LA and Seoul Olympics and is now an international judge, umpire and race officer.

Club: Sligo Yacht Club 

Sailing Experience: Nancy started sailing when she moved to the North West Coast of Ireland from her native Belgium at the age of 25. After an initial few years crewing in the cruiser class of SYC she found her niche in the front of a GP14. She lives in South Sligo with her husband and 3 kids. Once her eldest son was of sailing age she joined him in the Mirror fleet and when not crewing in a GP 14 is regularly spotted helming one of the mirrors she shares with her kids. Nancy is an active member of Sligo Yacht Club, having previously served as secretary, centre principal and now focuses on driving the development of the Junior Mirror fleet. Nancy is the chair-person of Safe Haven Ireland, a charity which creates youth/integration development projects through the sport of sailing for young people from a migrant background. 

Professional/Business Experience: Nancy is an experienced HR professional currently working with a Local Development Company in Co. Sligo. 

Area of Responsibility on the Board: Training 

Clubs: Royal Irish Yacht Club 

Sailing Experience: Valda is keen sailor in Dublin Bay White Sails, co-owner of Bavaria 35, Just Jasmin and an active member of the Royal Irish Yacht Club in Dun Laoghaire. Some personal achievements. Placed second in the inaugural Women at the Helm 2019 on Just Jasmin. In 2022 Valda initiated the concept of "Sail Darkness into Light". With Irish Sailing’s national backing of this initiative, as well as the partnership formed with Pieta, this successful event is becoming a fixture on the sailing calendar. 

Professional Experience: A PR professional, Valda has over 30 years of communications experience specialising in strategic communications, media relations, digital PR and event management.  Valda Boardman PR is the PR expertise of full service marketing and creative agency, Marketing Network Group.  

Her professional expertise has played a significant role in Irish Sailing in recent years, as the PR counsel for the Communications Policy Group since 2019, offering strategic advice to the CEO and marketing team on communications and media relations, internal mentoring and assisting the CEO in the recent recruitment process. 

Club: Galway Bay Sailing Club  

Professional & Business Experience: Nigel is an experienced senior business leader and IT professional specializing in IT Outsourcing & Transformation projects with a strong focus on client success. Having started his own business in the 90's and moving to a successful career with Hewlett Packard, DXC and recently providing consulting services with ISV's such as Amdocs, Microsoft and Oracle. Nigel is currently on the Board of ITAG and enjoys mentoring fellow business professionals starting out on their career. 

Sailing Experience: Having started sailing yachts in his mid 20's Nigel spent his early sailing career delivering yachts whilst building up his sailing knowledge and working in the mediterranean supporting charter companies. It was during his time in the med he discovered his passion for racing, since then he has clocked up over 20,000 racing miles and countless miles cruising & delivering yachts up and down the Western Atlantic seaboard. Nigel has competed in the Round Ireland, D2D, Fastnet Race, Cork Week, Sovereigns Cup, WIORA, Round Island Race and Many GBSC club races and regattas. Nigel is also a Cruising Instructor and currently RC Cruisers at GBSC. 

Club: Royal Cork Yacht Club

Sailing Experience: David started his sailing career in Optimists before moving into Mirrors, Lasers and National 18s and is a former Sailing Instructor having come through Irish Sailing's instructor training. He has raced extensively on keelboats for the last 20 years completing in 1720s and IRC yacht, active in both club racing and major regattas across the country. He has also completed in two Commodores Cup campaigns with success in the 2010 edition in Cowes. He also spent four years racing Etchells in Perth, Australia completing in the 2012 Words and most recently serves as 1720 Class Captain from 2020-2023. David is chair of the Irish Sailing's Racing & Class Group which hopes to promote Affiliated Class' racing around Ireland and demonstrate the strength of both club and event racing. David is passionate about inclusivity in sailing and hope to add value in making sailing in Ireland a sport for everyone.

Professional Experience: David is a Chartered Surveyor with 20 years experience in both Ireland and Australia and is currently Director with property advisors CBRE.

Growing up in Kinsale Boatyard Tessa was exposed to a variety of sailing experiences from a young age and completed a round-Ireland sail at age 16 with a youth crew which hooked her on cruising. Tessa became a sailing instructor at 17 and has been sailing instructor trainer for 12 years and also gaining her yacht master offshore and working as a cruising instructor. This has involved many sailing adventures and deliveries across Europe, New Zealand and the Caribbean. Tessa has dabbled in racing Dragons and cruisers, but as her main passion lies in training, she often finds herself running a training course instead. Tessa spends her summers aboard an Albin Vega 27 which has been her portal into boat life in Ireland.

Tessa worked across Ireland and the USA for 10 years instructing sailing and other outdoor activities. Recognizing the positive impact that instructing sailing and being outdoors had on her own mental health and wellbeing, Tessa pursued an undergrad in Psychology and a Masters in Counselling and Psychotherapy. She now works to combine the two disciplines and is involved in many projects across the ‘adventure therapy’ field. She is operations manager at Sailing into Wellness (a not for profit organisation that offers therapeutic programmes on the sea); a director of Surf2Heal (a camp for people with autism), and a part-time counsellor and psychotherapist. Tessa is a Pride Ambassador for Irish Sailing. 

Club: Baltimore Sailing Club, the Royal Irish Yacht Club, and the Royal St George Yacht Club

Sailing Experience: The son of keen sailors, Andrew has been enthusiastically messing about in boats since attending junior section in the early 1980s. These days splitting time between Baltimore and Dun Laoghaire, Andrew and his family sail from both ports.

Andrew has instructed sailing at the INSS, WHSC, SYC, RStGYC, in France and the US, served on club and class committees and helped to establish the SB3 class in Ireland and an Enterprise revival - back in the day. Andrew has cruised with friends and family on the Shannon, around Ireland, Scotland, France, Croatia and Greece. He has raced in teams since childhood, in fleet and team racing competitions, in both dinghies and keelboats; on inland waters, inshore and offshore in Ireland, the UK and France. Andrew is a current member of Baltimore Sailing Club, Royal Irish Yacht Club, Royal St George Yacht Club, Cruising Association of Ireland & Clyde Cruising Club and he is a past member of RORC & ISORA and a past Captain of Trinity College's DUSC. His children enjoy the junior section in Baltimore Sailing Club as well as, more recently, the Optimist class.

Professional Experience: Andrew was CEO of the National Lottery's operating company for five years.   Previously he was a Managing Director at Paddy Power PLC. Andrew’s early career was in venture capital at Dermot Desmond’s IIU, having returned to Ireland from London and New York where he worked in investment banks. Andrew has an advisory business, which assists people in the formation and execution of strategy.

Clubs: Lough Derg Yacht Club, Galway Bay Sailing Club, Cruiser Association of Ireland & the Royal Naval Sailing Association. 

Sailing Experience: John was raised 14ft from the River Shannon and began sailing in Shannon-One-Designs from Lough Ree Yacht Club. He joined the Naval Service and spent 2 years training with the Irish service, and two years in colleges and at sea in the UK with the Royal Navy. During that time, he raced in larks, bosuns, Morgan Giles 43, and Peterson 34. John qualified as a Watchkeeper in the Naval Service and returned to Ireland, where he then qualified as and IYA Instructor and Yacht Master Offshore. He spent much time racing & cruising the Naval Services Dufour 35, Talite, crewed on NCB Ireland, Moonduster, Whistling Oysters & Rambler & others, racing at home and abroad. He returns to Lough Derg Yacht Club for annual SOD regattas to race with family. John is also former member of the LRYC Committee, an IODAI Committee member, Secretary of the Irish 420 Class Association, and a Member & Chairman of the SOD Class Association. John is also the class measurer for a number of dinghy classes. He is the owner of a Quarter Tonner and current Commodore of the Irish Cruiser Racing Association (ICRA) and former Treasurer & Secretary. John has been involved in race management most of his life and is currently a National Race Officer operating in a number of clubs around the country. 

Business Profile: Currently a Marine Consultant & Small Craft Surveyor, an expert witness, relating to marine and water safety in both civil and coroners’ courts. A full member of the International Institute of Marine Surveying (IIMS), a Member of the ​Irish Institute of Master Mariners and an Assistant Fellow of the Nautical Institute. 

A hydrophile, drowning prevention advocate, lover of aquatic sports & pursuits all his life. John joined the Navy as an Executive Officer, and served as Gunnery Officer, Navigator, Training Officer, in Charge of the Naval Diving Section; Commanded L.E. AISLING & L.E. ORLA, served as Harbour Master at the Naval Base. Twice seconded from the Navy, first time was to sail on the NCB Ireland, and the second occasion was to sail onboard STV Asgard II as Second Mate. John completed a Diploma in Marine Surveying with the IIMS in 1998 and has been practicing ever since.  

Following twenty-one and a half years, John took up appointment as CEO of Water Safety Ireland, which is the Statutory Body established to promote water safety in Ireland. A considerable amount of his work was in communications with the media to raise awareness of water safety. John made a significant contribution to reducing drownings, accidental and through suicide from an average of 185 when he joined, to 110 when he retired twenty-one years later. Work had an international dimension to it, through the International Maritime Federation and the International Lifesaving Federation. John has been presented with a number of honorary awards in sailing, lifesaving and surveying. 

Clubs: Royal St. George Yacht Club (formerly Waterford Harbour Sailing Club) 

Sailing Experience:  Lisa started her sailing career in Optimists at a young age and quickly developed a love of racing. She represented Ireland at the optimist Europeans and Worlds before moving on the 420 class where competed in two ISAF youth worlds. Since youth sailing, Lisa has competed in the SB20 and 1720, as well as yacht racing on Joker II, Fools Gold, Ghost Raider and Bon Exemple. Lisa was part of the Trinity College Dublin team that won the Student Yachting World Cup in 2005, sailing a Mumm 30. Lisa has also achieved racing success in team racing and match racing and has competed at the Wilson Trophy and various 2K team racing international events. 

Lisa is keen to promote racing around Ireland and to increase female participation in the sport. As a mum to two young children who are just starting to sail, Lisa is also very interested in supporting the development and promotion of youth sailing.  

Professional Experience: Lisa is a Partner in the Finance and Capital Markets department of Matheson. She is a qualified solicitor.