Foynes Yacht Club makes history with National Mermaid victory

There were delighted celebrations in Foynes Yacht Club at the weekend after Darragh McCormack, Mark McCormack and Johnny Dillon won the Mermaid National Championships on ‘188 Innocence’, the first time a Foynes boat has claimed the title since the Mermaid National Championships started in 1953. Needless to say, the onshore welcome party didn’t hold back, with hooters, champagne, family and friends greeting the new champions as they sailed ‘188 Innocence’ back to the slipway. It was a proud day for Foynes Yacht Club.
The championship came to a close on Sunday evening after four great days of racing in a very competitive fleet. The Race Officer for the event, Scorie Wall, perfectly executed the scheduled racing with ten races and one crew race all in the bag as planned.
A prizegiving dinner was held at the clubhouse on Sunday evening with over 100 people attending. It was great to see so many from the local community and fellow sailors taking part in the celebrations and showing their support for these well deserving winners, Darragh, Mark and Johnny. Celebrations continued late into Monday morning with the song “We are the champions, my friends, and we’ll keep on fighting to the end” being chanted in the background. And that’s exactly what they did, they never gave up, and fought hard over the years to win this title, coming close several times, till last week-end all their efforts paid off. It was a very proud day for Foynes Yacht Club and for Commodore James and his wife Patricia to see their sons Darragh and Mark and their great friend Johnny win this title.