Ron O’Hanley of New York (and Roscommon) is “Sailor of the Month” for June

1st July 2023

Afloat.ie Team

Winners all right…Ron O’Hanley and his Privateer crew (including Ben Fusco of Kinsale) in Dingle after their Volvo D2D overall victory Credit: Dominick Walsh

With a racing machine as complex as the canting-keel Cookson 50, crew and boat management demands are raised to a fresh level. But when Ron O’Hanley of the New York Yacht Club arrived with the already hyper-successful Privateer for the Volvo Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Race, it was educational for all Irish sailors, as was their virtually flawless performance.

This was the Big Boys’ Game, and no mistake, so we diverted ourselves by wondering about the surname of this active yet low-key player on the Irish-American scene. We knew about O’Hanlons and Hanleys, yet O’Hanley had not appeared on the radar. We were soon put right on that. The O’Hanleys are descended from an elite Roscommon warrior group. We were even sent their Coat of Arms. So now you know.

The elite of East Connacht – the Coat of Arms of the O’Hanleys of Roscommon

Published in Sailor of the Month, Dun Laoghaire Dingle

Published in Sailor of the Month

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Ron O’Hanley

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