It was with huge sadness that we heard the news a couple of days ago about the passing of Jack Roy. A great friend and contributor to Irish sailing both as a sailor, within race management and ultimately as President of Irish Sailing. Jack was well known in Sutton, having delivered some very informative evening talks down the years including a memorable evening post his involvement in the 2012 London Olympics. Jack, during his Irish Sailing Presidency was our honoured guest at end of year Annual Dinner.
On hearing of Sutton Dinghy Clubs All Ireland inter-school sailing event, Jack decided to pay us a visit to see for himself the running of the event and how with the event in its 42nd year he had never come across it. With 115 sailors that year, he was genuinely gobsmacked at the scale, commitement and longevity of the event and agreed to stay on and present prizes that weekend.
Back in 2017, our own Stephen Boyle was GP14 Ireland President and worked very closely with Jack when the GP14 Class were selected to host the 2017 All Ireland Sailing Championship in Mullingar. Aside from being IS President, Jack was the PRO for that event.
Jack will be sorely missed by all in sailing. The Committee extends it condolences to Rosemary, his daughters Suzi and Jill and the extended Roy family. RIP Jack