Sailor of the Year 2011

#PORTS & SHIPPING - The Irish Maritime Development Office (IMDO) and Coastlink are to jointly host Shortsea 12, The European Shortsea Convention at the Mansion House, Dublin on 24th May 2012. This year's event sponsored by the Dublin Port Company, will bring together Europe's senior executives, representing leading Shortsea operators (bulk and unitised) shippers & buye...

#MARITIME LECTURE - This 'Thursday's Night Talk' organised by the Dun Laoghaire Motor Yacht Club (DMYC) is entitled 'Round Ireland 2011 Over Two Months'. Tomorrow's talk starts at 8pm and is to be presented by Gary Owens. None members are also welcome to attend the winter lecture talks, held on Thursdays which will continue until April, noting the theme of the talks are not ex...

#LIFEBOAT – Portaferry Lifeboat brought four kayakers to safety when they got into difficulty two miles south east of the entrance to Strangford Lough. The incident, which took place on Thursday (16 February), occurred when one of the kayakers had capsized and was in the water when the lifeboat crew reached them. A call for assistance was received at 11.51am and the inshore ...

#MARINE JOBS – Cowes Yacht Haven in the UK is seeking a Marketing Administrator with knowledge of the marine and event management industries to fill a new role. The post is part time with flexible hours based at our Cowes office. The company says the successful candidate will be an innovative individual with proven sales and marketing experience and a knowledge of social med...

#MARINAS – Marine Tourism facilities on the North coast get a boost today with the official opening of Portnagree House, Harbour and Marina Visitor Centre at Ballycastle harbour. The new coastal marina facility provides a welcome boost to the local economy as it will strengthen the reputation of Ballycastle as a destination for visiting boats from Ireland, Scotland and beyon...

#OFFSHORE – George David's RP90 Rambler has a commanding lead in the battle for line honours in the RORC Caribbean 600. The American entry is over 20 miles ahead of the 214ft Ketch Hetairos, even though Rambler is less than half the size. Rambler rounded Tintamarre just after dawn this morning to begin the 160-mile power reach south to Guadeloupe. Rambler barely stalled for ...

#OFFSHORE – Commodore Vinnie O'Shea is urging offshore sailors to turn out in good numbers when the 2012 South Coast Offshore Racing (SCORA) programme returns to its more traditional format this season writes Claire Bateman. The Jim Donegan Offshore Championship (IRC and ECHO) will be awarded to the overall winner of the series based on 'ALL IN' results. This competition wil...

#SPRING CHICKEN – Inspite of winning last Sunday's race Calypso, a Beneteau Oceanis 361 from the Royal St. George Yacht Club, lies 21st overall in the 43-boat DBSC Spring Chicken Series fleet, some 30–points behind overall leader Legally Blonde. Second overall and joint eighth last Sunday is White Knight. Full results are attached below for download. The fourth race of th...

#BOAT NAMES - The Boat Owners Association of the United States (BoatUS) has released its 22nd annual list of the top ten boat names in America, which makes for some amusing reading. “A boat name reflects the life and loves of the owner,” says BoatUS's Occoless Trotter. “But it’s hard to sum it all up with just a few words.” Word play seems to be the biggest attracti...

#POWER FROM THE SEA - A new marine research lab in Cork Harbour could help Ireland to be a global leader in renewable energy, the Irish Examiner reports. The Beaufort Laboratory, being built on a three-acre site next to the National Maritime College of Ireland on Haulbowline Island, is set to be completed by 2016. And scientists at the €14 million lab have told Minister for...

#MCIB - The Marine Casualty Investigation Board (MCIB) has called for better safety awareness among leisure boat users in its report into the deaths of two men off Helvick Head in Co Waterford in May 2010. John O'Brien and Pat Esmonde were lost overboard from their small RIB on 23 May 2010, and their remains were recovered two days later. Post-mortems confirmed that both died ...

#FROSTBITE – Frank Hamilton and Jennifer Byrne had a great turn of speed in their IDRA 14 dinghy getting on all the tricky harbour shifts and even beating the two RS200s to the finish line last Sunday at the DMYC Frsotbite series. Two Mirror teams had a battle all the way around until a leeward mark tangle with the Laser fleet put some distance between them. Once more the mo...

#WEST CORK – Sailing Clubs stand to benefit in an allocation of over €2.6 million to harbour boards across West Cork this year to fund essential remedial works. The State funding has been approved for harbour development works in Skibbereen, Baltimore, Kinsale and Bantry by the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport. In Baltimore a Sailing Club Slipway extension has be...

#CARIBBEAN 600 – Irish crews are reveling in the heavy going at the start of today's RORC 600 race today with four Irish crew on the largest yacht in the 39-boat fleet, the massive ketch Hetairos. There was drama right from the start of the 4th edition of the RORC Caribbean 600. Low cloud enveloped Antigua and a massive squall caused a torrential downpour. With the wind gust...

#NEWBUILDS-Two of the latest newbuilds for Arklow Shipping, one built in Spain and the second ship  comleted from a South Korean shipyard,  both entered service late last year and raises the fleet total to 44 vessels. The northern Spanish built Arklow Forest became the 10th 'F' class vessel which was launched from Astilleros de Murueta SA. She is a 2,998grt vessel wi...

#ANGLING – Waterways Ireland and Fáilte Ireland have come together to establish a higher profile for the excellent wild fishing that is available in the Lakelands & Inland Waterway Region. They have established the Lakelands & Inland Waterways World Pairs Event which brings Ireland's angling into big-money stakes with a staggering £60,000 prize package. The World P...

#COASTGUARD – The Irish Coast Guard took delivery of its new search and rescue helicopter at its Shannon base in late January. Production of the Sikorsky S-92 was completed last year under the rescue service's €500 million deal with CHC Ireland to revamp its aircraft fleet. The US-based helicopter firm and CHC formalised the purchase on 21 December with Irish Coast Guard ...

#KINSALE – Variable light winds were again the dominating feature of the ASM-Marine Frostbite League at Kinsale Yacht club which moved into the fifth and penultimate week of the series last Sunday. Despite the loss of two days racing so far, the Race Committee has successfully managed to keep the programme on course with the addition of extra races when possible. Competitors...

#FIREBALL – Bright sunshine greeted the Fireball Frostbite fleet in Dun Laoghaire yesterday and combined with 8-12 knots of breeze, it allowed the fleet to race outside the harbour for the first time this year. Thirteen boats took to the water and Kenny Rumball & Dave Moran led from start to finish in a five-lap race that incorporated a separate weather mark for the Fir...

#FIREBALL – Top Irish dinghy sailing class, the Fireballs have announced the 2012 Irish Fireball Nationals will be hosted by Howth Yacht Club over the last Friday and Saturday of June and the first Sunday of July – 29th, 30th June & 1st July. This 3-day event will see nine (9) races being sailed under the race management of one of Ireland's leading clubs which has a ve...