Honours and awards time for Tom Dolan
by Tom Dolan Racing 13 Dec 2022 10:11 AEDT
Honours and awards time for Tom Dolan © Tom Dolan
Irish solo sailor Tom Dolan has had an intense autumn of training on the water with his Figaro Bénéteau 3 Smurfit Kappa - Kingspan during which he focused on getting the best from the offshore one design's new autopilot sailing with French skippers Elodie Bonafous and Kévin Bloc'h.
Irish solo sailor Tom Dolan has had an intense autumn of training on the water with his Figaro Bénéteau 3 Smurfit Kappa - Kingspan during which he focused on getting the best from the offshore one design's new autopilot sailing with French skippers Elodie Bonafous and Kévin Bloc'h.
And once the boat was safely put away into the shed for a winter of maintenance and fine tuning for next season, Dolan enjoyed a new experience on shore as he became part of the weather data, routing and performance cell supporting Arthur Le Vaillant who was racing in the Ultim 32/23 class on the 12th Route du Rhum - Destination Guadeloupe and finished sixth.
Dolan has been a guest at two prestigious gatherings recently in France and at home in his native Ireland. On November 28, the Irish sailor was invited to the "France Ireland Business Awards", a ceremony which took place in the Ritz in Paris, where sponsor Kingspan received a prize for the "best Irish company established in France".
"These annual trophies, organized by Network Ireland and the Franco-Irish Chamber of Commerce, reward the most dynamic companies which contribute in a big way to strengthening commercial ties between the two countries", explains Dolan who is proud to wear the colors of KIngspan a world leader in high-performance insulation and building panel solutions. There he met Ireland's Taoiseach Micheál Martin "That was a big honour for me." Dolan recalls.
On December 3rd he was in Paris again, this time for the prize-giving for the 2022 French Elite Offshore Racing Championship which took place at the Paris Boat Show the Nautic. The awards ceremony took place in the presence of Jean-Luc Denéchau, President of the French Sailing Federation, and Jean-Bernard Le Boucher, President of the Figaro Bénéteau Class. The top ten overall for the 2022 season were honoured, including Dolan who was recognised for his fine 7th place (first foreigner).