RYA Northern Ireland Hall of Fame: Ron Hutchison
Bangor’s Ron Hutchison has become the latest inductee to the RYA Northern Ireland Hall of Fame after accepting the accolade at the RYA Northern Ireland 50th Anniversary Dinner in Belfast on 18 October.
Ron has been one of the largest contributors to the Irish ILCA class over the last 50 years and has made a significant impact to the standard of events and the quality of sailors in Ireland.
Ron was Honorary Secretary of the Irish ILCA Class from 1974 (when the ILCA made its debut in Ireland) until 2017 and he was a founder member of the ILCA fleet in Ballyholme Yacht Club.
During the unprecedented period of 43 years where Ron was Honorary Secretary of the Irish ILCA Class, he was behind many key developments of the class. After travelling to the 1978 Europeans, he was able to ensure that the 1979 ILCA Europeans would be hosted at Ballyholme Yacht Club which helped give young sailors such as Bill O’Hara OBE and Trevor Millar gain key exposure to the sport at a young age.
On top of this, Ron became an international juror in 1983 and quickly involved himself in juries of European and World Championship level events in the ILCA and many other classes.
In an international career spanning more than twenty years, he has chaired juries at top level ILCA events and gained experience as a race officer. This culminated in his selection as Finish Boat Race Officer for the London 2012 Olympics for both Laser fleets.
Ron now joins a small and very exclusive club of individuals who have all made an impact in different areas of our sport.
Decisions on who is inducted into the RYA Northern Ireland Hall of Fame are made collectively by the RYA NI Chair, RYA NI Vice Chair, RYA NI Chair of the Performance Committee, Chair of Development Committee, the CEO and one independent member/Chair.
The current Hall of Fame is as follows:
- Maeve Bell OBE
- Bill O’Hara OBE
- James Nixon
- Curly Morris
- Peter Kennedy
- Bob Harper MBE
- Ron Hutchison
- Brian Black
- Mike Hendra MBE