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    First guest at the new Glenageary boathouse

    23 February 2015

    boathouse2 

     

    Topics: Sailing | Comments Off on First guest at the new Glenageary boathouse

    The 30th Olympiad

    8 August 2012

    Hardy Bucks have a look at Laser sailing…

     

    Topics: Sailing | Comments Off on The 30th Olympiad

    Barry Hurley owns the Round Rockall Race

    29 June 2012

     
    Barry and Dinah finished the Round Rockall Race just after lunch today and, on corrected handicap, is the overall winner.  The fully crewed German entry Bank de Bremen finished yesterday at 15.30, but their heavier handicap put paid to their hopes.

    Rockall Island is a tiny rock, measuring just 25 x 31 meters and 21 meters high.  It is located some 423 km north west of Tory Island. Ownership of the island is disputed among Ireland, Great Britain, Iceland and Denmark.  It now belongs to Barry.

    Topics: Sailing | Comments Off on Barry Hurley owns the Round Rockall Race

    Bang in the Bow!

    25 June 2012

    Last Saturday’s National Yacht Club Regatta was sailed in breezy conditions, touching 25 knots which made for exhilarating racing.

    However a few of the SB20’s (formally known as the SB3) had some unfortunate mishaps, including the boat pictured above.

    The owner (no names!) has asked me to repair the boat and you can follow the step by step story here.

    The plan is to have the boat seaworthy and race ready for next Saturday’s Royal Irish Regatta.

    Topics: Oops!, Sailing | Comments Off on Bang in the Bow!

    The 2012 Schedule

    29 January 2012

    We have an SB3 and a Fireball…here is the schedule of major events:

    SB3 Easterns National Yacht Club May 12/13

    Fireball Munster Championship    Killaloe SC May 19th – 20th

    DMYC Regatta Dun Laoghaire June 2nd

    SB3 Northerns   Carrickfergus    June 09/10

    Fireball Ulster Championship     EDYC June 16th – 17th

    NYC Regatta Dun Laoghaire June 23rd

    Fireball National Championship Howth YC June 29th – July 1st

    SB3 Southerns Tralee Bay Yacht Club     Jun 30th/July 1st

    RIYC Regatta Dun Laoghaire     July 1st

    RStGYC Regatta Dun Laoghaire  July 7th

    ISAF WORLDS Dun Laoghaire July 12th / 21st

    Fireball European Championship Bracciano, Italy     July 20th – 27th

    SB3 Westerns  Galway  July 28/29th

    Fireball UK Nationals Penzance Sailing Club August 11th – 17th

    SB3 Nationals  Bangor  Aug 31st-Sept 1/2nd

    Fireball Leinster Championship Clontarf Y&BC     September 15th – 16th

    SB3 Europeans  Holland  Sept  date tba

    SB3 Midlands Lough Derg   Oct 20th – 21th

    SB3 Worlds Hamilton Island AUS   Dec 13th – 20th

    Topics: Sailing | Comments Off on The 2012 Schedule

    Rebuilding Dogbolter, Fireball IRL 14150

    10 December 2011

    This is Dogbolter, Fireball dinghy 14150, built in Australia by Peter Delange in 1989.  I found the boat in this condition in the Coal Harbour in Dun Laoghaire in November 2011. I sailed in the boat many years ago and decided to acquire it for a complete rebuild.  My project for the winter 2011 – 2012.  Perhaps the boat will sail the 50th anniversary UK National Championships in Cornwall in mid-August 2012.

    I am fairly certain that Dogbolter is the only Fireball to have sailed in Australia and four other continents.

    History:

    1990 AUS Nationals – 1st – John Dransfield/Andrew Perry
    1990 Worlds (Japan) – 1st – John Dransfield/Andrew Perry
    1991 AUS Nationals – 2nd – Mark Matthews/Peter Sinclair
    1991 GBR Nationals – 27th – Mark Matthews/Peter Sinclair
    1991 Worlds (Sweden) – 8th – Mark Matthews/Peter Sinclair
    1991 Europeans (Czechoslovakia) – 2nd – Callum Burns/Peter Sinclair
    1992 GBR Nationals – 22nd – Vince Horey/Stan Shaw
    1992 Worlds (USA) – 14th – Vince Horey/?
    1993 GBR Nationals – 11th – Vince Horey/Nick Beloe
    1993 Worlds (Belgium) – 5th – Vince Horey/P.Barlow
    1994 GBR Nationals – 18th – Vince Horey/J. Webb
    1994 Worlds (South Africa) – 26th – Vince Horey/J. Webb
    1995 Europeans (Ireland) – 27th – Ruan O’Tiarnaigh/Stephen O’Byrnes
    1995 Worlds (Ireland) – 47th – Ruan O’Tiarnaigh/Stephen O’Byrnes
    1997 Europeans (GBR) – 104th – Garrett O’Carroll/Derek Lynch
    2000 Europeans (Ireland) – 33rd – Pat Leane/James Lenehan
    2002 Various IRL events – Marie Barry / Cariosa Power
    2009 Various IRL events – Kenny / ?

    Read more here

    Topics: Sailing | Comments Off on Rebuilding Dogbolter, Fireball IRL 14150

    “Cut the jib!”

    14 September 2011

    Great viewing from the America’s Cup World Series of AC45 catamarans racing in Plymouth, UK.

    Topics: America's Cup | Comments Off on “Cut the jib!”

    Rambler Capsize

    16 August 2011

    Dramatic action between the Rock and the Paentanius turning buoy where the maxi yacht Rambler 100 capsized during the 2011 Fastnet Race.  Picture above taken by Phaedo’s media crew aboard Gerry Smith’s dive boat Wave Chieftain.

    Here is Baltimore Lifeboat Hilda Jarrett after taking 16 sailors aboard.

    Sky news has a good interview with Lifeboat Coxswain Kieron Cotter here.

    Kieron has nearly 40 years service with the RNLA, dating back to the Air India tragedy and Fastnet 1979.

    Irish Times interviews some of the crew ashore at Baltimore Sailing Club here.

    Video from the Irish Examiner:


    _____________________________

    RNLI Press Release about the shout.

    Baltimore Lifeboat Station on Facebook.

    Diver and Lifeboat mechanic Gerry Smith at Aquaventures.

    Good coverage on RTE Morning Ireland, interview with owner in Part One and interviews with helmsman Earl Williams and rescuer Gerry Smith in Part Two (both are mp3 files)

    Video interview with owner George David

    Video on RORC website with aerial film of rescue here.

    Press Association video, with two crew interviews

    http://youtu.be/cDpz7ZmDC
    _____________________________

    Two RTE tv news reports here

    Rambler towed into Barley Cove

    Rambler rolled back upright in Barley Cove before being towed to Baltimore.  What remained of the broken rig was cut away first and buoyed.

    ________________

    Film taken of Rambler in Baltimore harbour from the Cape Clear ferry.


    _________________________

    Short video of Rambler approching the Fastnet in murky conditions.

    _________________________

    For the record:

    Maxi Trimaran Banque Populaire set a new course record with an elapsed time of 1 day, 8 hours, 48 minutes (32 hrs, 48 mins), and an average speed around the course of 18.5 knots.

    Volvo 70 Abu Dhabi set a new monohull record of 1 day, 18 hours, 39 minutes.

    More race info from RORC.

    Topics: Oops! | Comments Off on Rambler Capsize

    Fastnet Race 2011

    14 August 2011

    The Fastnet Race starts this morning with 350 boats entered.  Starting at noon off Cowes, the 605 nautical mile race to the Fastnet and then to the finish at Plymouth is likely to be rather windy.

    I’ll be watching for Barry and Andy aboard Dinah, racing double handed in Class 3.

    Other Irish boats to watch are:

    Also, OSTAR friend Marco:

    GBR  41  Eutourist Serv-System  Marco Nannini    Class 40

    Follow the fleet with the online Race Tracker

    The only Fastnet Race I have done covered was in 1985, August 12 to be precise, via a fishing boat from Baltimore.  That’s Condor above, front page of the Sunday Tribune that week.

    Here is Nirvana, which took line honours and shaved 12 hours off the previous record.

    Atlantic Privateer, overall winner in 1985:

    The Guardian’s Bob Fisher reported on the race as a member of the American boat Jubilation, seen here with a light keeper in the upper right waving to the crew.  The picture ran alongside his report in the paper.

    Topics: Sailing | Comments Off on Fastnet Race 2011

    Saturday Oops – Cowes week crossing

    8 August 2011

    This video from Saturday’s opening race at Cowes Week  shows the yacht Atalanta, sail number IRL 7533, in a bit of bother.

    Replay the video and pause at 23 seconds to see a crew member bail out overboard on the windward side.

    The 2002-built Corby 33 Atalanta has an IRL sail number but is most definitely not Irish owned. Previous owner Martin Breen of Galway bought the boat in 2007 and campaigned quite successfully as That’s Life. Here they are chasing down a J 109 in Galway Bay 10 October 2008 with the same shocking pink asymmetric spinnaker.

    Link

    Breen sold the boat to a Cheshire sailor named Roly Wilson at the end of the 2010 season and acquired a Reflex 38 which he skippered to the overall win in this year’s Dun Laoghaire to Dingle race.  The boat has a Facebook Page.

    The new owner of the Corby 33 campaigned the boat in the Hamble winter series and the 2011 Solent spring series, thus not a total beginner.  Here are photos from the UK Daily Mail.

    Sailing in the Solent is great fun, but sailors must be, are legally required to be, aware of the shipping channel that bends around the Bramble Bank (shallow) and on up to Frawley and Southampton.  Large vessels in the channel, such as the Hanne Knutsen (265 meters long) above, travel within a 1000 meter by 100 meter “Moving Prohibited Zone” with a Pilot Boat in the lead and often a braking tug attached to the stern.  To maintain steerage, they are steaming at 9 to 12 knots.  NO OTHER vessels are allowed within the prohibited zone.

    Associated British Ports are the harbour authority and are entitled to prosecute the skipper.

    The Cowes Week Sailing Instructions also restrict racers from entering a Moving Prohibited Zone:

    B17.1 Southampton Harbour Byelaws (changing RRS 60)
    (a) Boats shall observe the Associated British Ports (ABP) Southampton Harbour Byelaws 2003 (see page 12) at all times and avoid any close quarters situation with large commercial shipping. Particular note should be made of
    Byelaws 10 & 11 and Associated British Ports Southampton Notice to Mariners No. 3 of 2011 giving details of a moving prohibited zone, which ranks as an obstruction for the purposes of RRS 19 and 20.
    (b) Protests for infringements of B17.1(a) may be brought only by the race committee who may initiate a protest as the result of a report from an ABP Pilot or Patrol boat. Note that ABP may initiate court proceedings against boats that infringe this byelaw.”

    _____________

    Statement from Cowes Week Limited
    Incident between yacht Atalanta and incoming tanker2000 Saturday 6th August 2011

    Cowes Week Limited has been in contact with the hospital, the owner of the boat, and Associated British Ports (ABP) since the collision between a tanker and the racing yacht Atalanta earlier this afternoon. They are delighted to confirm that the hospital has discharged the injured crew member.
    An official investigation on the incident will be carried out in due course.

    ________________

    The UK Marine Accident Investigation Board will likely seek to establish the facts of the incident, which may provide an answer to the question: “What the hell did you think you were doing?”

    Topics: Oops! | Comments Off on Saturday Oops – Cowes week crossing

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