The Board is responsible for the management of RYANI's business. As a volunteer- led organisation, the RYANI Board sets strategic direction and oversees work being undertaken by staff and volunteers in order to achieve the RYANI's purpose and goals.
Jackie Patton – Chairman
Jackie is a
retired teacher and outdoor education specialist. Jackie also volunteered with Ocean Youth
Trust as sea staff, later going on to become a Trustee of the Charity. Jackie got involved in sailing through her
school and going out with her father.
She went on to have an Olympic campaign from 1986-1988 for Team GB in
the 470 class, achieving a gold medal in the Pre-Olympics. In 2015, Jackie took part in the Rolex Fastnet
race and followed this with competing in legs 7 and 8 of the Clipper Round the
World Race. She achieved one of her
lifetime ambitions by competing in the 2017 Rolex Sydney to Hobart race on
NASDAQ finishing third in the class.
Susan McKnight - Vice Chair
Susan is a member for Strangford Lough Yacht Club and regularly sails and races there. Her daughter came up through the ranks in the Topper and 420 Squads. Susan has been involved in organisation and delivery of events and the running of her local club. More recently she became a member of the RYANI's Women on Water steering group, helping to deliver the inaugural WOW Festival in 2019.
David Williams – Treasurer,
Environment and Cruising
David is a retired accountant who
trained with Pricewaterhouse, after which he moved from practice into industry
and was Practice Manager for twenty four years with a large firm of architects
and engineers. He has been sailing all his adult life, racing keelboats at
first and has been cruising since his mid twenties. He has sailed as first mate
with the Ocean Youth Club (Trust) on Master Builder and Lord Rank. Based in
Strangford Lough he cruises a jointly owned Mylne design steel yacht built
entirely by himself and his brother. He has cruised extensively throughout the
British Isles, visiting far flung places such as Orkney, St Kilda, Tory Island,
Blasket Islands and the Isles of Scilly. Longer cruises have been to the
Channel Islands, France and Northern Spain; He has been a Yachtmaster Offshore
since 1984 and is a member of the Irish Cruising Club and Strangford Lough
Yacht Club.
Roy Totten – Environment and Cruising
Roy is a retired Managing Director of
a mechanical engineering company. His sailing started on Lough Neagh racing
flying fifteens and progressed to cruiser racing on Strangford Lough and the
Irish Sea. Preferring class racing, he joined Carrickfergus Sailing Club and
raced a Ruffian 23 for many years. His main sailing activity now is cruising
the west coast of Scotland with his wife on their Moody 42. Roy has joined the
board of RYANI to help with cruising and marine environmental issues.
James Ogg – Chair of Training and Development Committee
James is a retired Chemical Engineer
and has sailed since childhood. During
his teenage years he raced and crewed in various classes of dinghies before
progressing to larger boats and then returning back to dinghies. James has been racing GP14s for 16 years,
competing in the GP14 Worlds since 2003.
James has also been an active member of Donaghadee Sailing Club and in 2015
was awarded RYANI Volunteer of the Year and later went on to be recognised in
the RYA Family Award in 2016.
Peter Kennedy - Chair of Performance Committee
Peter Kennedy is Chair of RYA Northern Ireland’s Performance Committee. He has sailed from the age of 6, when he was often taken to the club for racing nights with his parents. It wasn’t long until he was racing a Mirror dinghy at the club and messing around with the other Mirror sailors most days every summer holiday. Peter campaigned in the Flying Dutchman, crewing for Keith Wilkins in both 1988 and 1992 Olympic Games; his high performance career had a pinnacle of winning race 5 in the class in the 1988 Seoul Olympics. Peter joined the Performance Committee not long after finishing his Olympic sailing career. A passionate sailor and racer, he wants to increase the wellbeing of sailing in Northern Ireland in all its shapes and forms.
Andrew Corkill - Personal Membership
Andrew is a keen GP14 sailor and member of Newtownards Sailing Club. He enjoys sailing and learning the different aspects of racing, as well as being a pro active volunteer at his club. He has worked for the National Trust for a number of years and brings a wealth of knowledge to the Board.
Jill Heron - Equality
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