Don Alexander of Warsash was presented with an RYA Award for his voluntary work within the sailing and boating communities, by the RYA's President, HRH The Princess Royal at the 2007 RYA AGM, Thursday 22nd November, at Church House in London.

The Award honoured his tireless work the years to further yachting interests in the region, notably representing the RYA on the Association of Hamble River Yacht Clubs and as Vice Chairman of the RYA Southern Region. He has made a major contribution to the sport of yachting at regional level. The Award was in recognition of the outstanding contributions, time, effort and experience he has put into making it possible for others to enjoy boating and sailing, from establishing clubs, committee participation, to boat maintenance and training.

At the start of his racing career Don represented Kings College, London in their racing team and went on to sail for the University of London. He then took a keen interest in racing Star Class boats and joined a crew that won Weymouth Olympic Week, the UK Starboat Championships and came 3rd in the European Championships. Don has also been involved on the RYA Southern Region committee as Vice Chairman for fifteen years, supporting three chairmen. For six years he represented his Region on RYA Council. He was a member of the RYA Development Division until it was disbanded, briefly on the Disciplinary Committee, six years on the RYA Cruising Committee and is now appointed to the new Offshore and Coastal Consultative Panel. For ten years he has been the RYA representative on the Local Search and Rescue Committee.

This year the RYA Awards have attracted a very high calibre of nominees with award winners putting in an average of 30 years service as volunteers for their clubs.

Rod Carr, Chief Executive of the RYA commented "The work and voluntary time that RYA Community Award and RYA Award winners put into our sport is simply astounding. Every one of the 63 award winners has exceeded the reasonable expectations of their fellow volunteers, club members and the boating community in general. Without their sheer hard work, commitment, and expertise our sport would be immeasurably poorer. These people are an inspiration to us all and it is my pleasure to recognise and celebrate their work through these awards."

3:03pm Monday 26th November 2007

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