Helen Mary Wilkes

Helen Mary Wilkes is an international administrator in the sport of sailing from Ireland. She is best known for her promotion of the Optimist dinghy as president of the International Optimist Dinghy Association (IODA). An active committee member of World Sailing for over 35 years, she also served as the first president of the Women's International Match Racing Association (WIMRA).

Wilkes has been awarded the Gold Medal and President's Development Award from World Sailing and is member of the Irish Sailing Association Hall of Fame. She is the recipient of the Laura Rolandi Award of the Cofradía Europea de Vela. The Helen Mary Wilkes Trophy for Top Girl at the Optimist World Championship is named after her.

Personal life Originally from Scotland, Wilkes and her English husband Robert settled in Ireland in 1969. They are members of Howth Yacht Club, near Dublin. Both their sons have sailed for Ireland. at the time, it was the most international sailing event to have taken place in Ireland. Other initiatives included providing support for continental championships and Optimist development programs across Asia, Oceania, Africa, and other regions. During her tenure, the Optimist class became the largest worldwide, with 87 countries as national members, and 57 countries participating in international events.

Women's match racing In 1996, Wilkes was appointed the first president of the Women's International Match Racing Association. In 1996, Wilkes, together with Dawn Riley, a member of two America's Cup teams, and Hannah Swett, a member of the Mighty Mary all-female America's Cup team, made a series of presentations at an International Sailing Federation meeting in Brighton, England. However, women's match racing was not included in the Olympic programme until the 2012 Games in London, and in 2011, the ISAF Council voted to remove the women's keelboat event for the 2016 Olympics.

World Sailing Wilkes has been involved with World Sailing, the international governing body for sailing, since 1982.

Awards and recognition

She has been awarded a Gold Medal from World Sailing. She is also a member of the Irish Sailing Association Hall of Fame, an honorary member of Howth Yacht Club,

Since 2017, the cup for the Top Girl at the annual Optimist World Championship has been called the Helen Mary Wilkes Trophy.