2024 WINNER ANNOUNCED
Haven Knox-Johnston
Volunteer of the Year Award

In association with the Royal Naval Sailing Association

The votes are in!

For the last few months we’ve been on the hunt for a worthy winner and a big thank you to those that have sent in their worthy nominations for a Royal Naval Sailing Association (RNSA) volunteer who you feel has gone above and beyond their remit.

We’re excited to announce that our winner for the Haven Knox-Johnston Volunteer of the Year Award 2024 is……

Lt Cdr Laura Blagdan!

Congratulations!

Laura is an outstanding volunteer who drives success of RNSA’s offshore racing team through her extensive skills, determination and people skills. A great and successful sailor in her own right, she overwhelmingly has the respect and admiration of everyone she meets in RNSA – commendably selfless, humble, and impressively committed to the Association, she is an exemplar volunteer whose outstanding contribution to Royal Navy Sport is very worthy of recognition. She is without doubt the ‘people’s choice’.

Who is Laura Blagdan?

Lt Cdr Laura Blagden has been a member of the Royal Navy Offshore Sailing Team (RNOST) for over 10 years and been the administrative backbone of the Offshore Committee since 2014. A good sailor in her own right, Laura has represented the RN widely including several Royal Ocean Racing Club (RORC) Series, major events like the Rolex Fastnet Race, Rolex Caribbean 600, IRC European Championships and 5 Inter-Service Offshore Regattas (SOR). A strong crew member with a wide seamanship skill-base, she is a calm, trustworthy and dependable skipper, although will frequently encourage others to sail in her place if she believes the team will benefit.

But it’s Laura’s shore-based activities which mark her out from others. Since 2014, she has acted as Events Manager and latterly, Secretary of the Offshore Committee, serving under 4 different Rear Commodores, and supporting them in the delivery of Offshore racing. These roles are voluntary and additional to perennially busy RN career appointments, making her commitment and performance both afloat and ashore even more impressive.

Black and white illustration of a smiling volunteer with medium-length hair, wearing a jacket over a top.

Two dedicated volunteers proudly hold an award certificate together, standing in a room with a wooden door as their backdrop.

The RNSA owns and maintains two racing yachts and makes use of JSASTC yachts for certain events. While the operation of these yachts is delegated to Boat Captains, the administration required to enter them in events throughout the year is significant, from Admin Orders to Risk Assessments to safety checks – for each event. In effect, every event entry is a stand-alone project requiring budget management, crew selection, travel and subsistence, safety cases, berthing and a myriad of other arrangements to be successful. Laura completes much of this administration for most events and supports event managers for others, liaising with eternal authorities from RORC to the boat skippers themselves, keeping the projects on track and ensuring preparations are complete. Her attention to detail and prompting of event ‘leads’ to stick to challenging timelines ensures that all preparations are complete in a timely fashion and to a high standard throughout the sailing calendar. This is no mean feat and requires significant commitment, organisational abilities and inter-personal skills of the highest order.

It should be noted that the RN have had an exceedingly good record at the SOR in the past 10 years, much of which has been down to Laura’s considerable ‘unsung’ and herculean efforts to meticulously manage the sizeable administrative and management burden, alongside her innovative approach to team selections. Not exciting, glamorous, or appealing work, but essential to the safe and efficient delivery of RN Offshore Sailing.

She has also constantly encouraged and fostered participation in what is often considered an ‘exclusive’ sport and the growth of the team, and its strong team ethos can be linked directly to her enabling activity. Not content with this, she can frequently be found on the boats themselves lifting and shifting kit and helping with the ongoing maintenance tasks which yachts demand.

Offshore Sailing is very much a team sport, and it is challenging to identify any individual as a ‘cornerstone’ of a team’s success, but Laura is undoubtedly one of these people. If success on the water starts with committee, crew, and event management ashore, Laura is the heart of the beast. Her diligence, unassuming commitment, organisation, and zest for administration sets her apart from the rest of the team. As if that was not enough, more widely across the RNSA, Laura is also key to SSA and other charity activities. The CEO of the charity itself has stated ‘I simply do not know what we would do without her’. All these factors combine to make her highly respected and admired across the RNSA – she is the ‘people’s choice’.

Laura overwhelmingly has the respect and admiration of everyone she meets in RNSA – commendably selfless, humble, and impressively committed to RNSA, she is an exemplar volunteer whose outstanding contribution to Royal Navy Sport is very worthy of recognition.

About the RNSA

Founded in 1935, the Royal Naval Sailing Association (RNSA) has a wide membership including serving personnel and veterans. It’s purpose is to encourage sailing and in so doing improve the military efficiency of the Royal Navy. Over the years, thousands of members have generously volunteered their time and skills to support this work and we are delighted to partner with the RNSA to recognise these efforts. One way we do this is by sponsoring the Volunteer of the Year Award, as we look forward to doing so again next year!

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Haven Knox-Johnston is a trading name of Howden UK Brokers Limited, which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority No. 307663. Registered in England and Wales under company registration number 02831010. Registered Office: One Creechurch Place, London, EC3A 5AF. Calls may be monitored and recorded for quality assurance purposes.

2024 WINNER ANNOUNCEDHaven Knox-JohnstonVolunteer of the Year Award