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A Harbour Seal photographed at Dun Laoghaire Marina on Dublin Bay, Ireland. Also known as the common seal, is a true seal found along temperate and Arctic marine coastlines of the Northern Hemisphere. The most widely distributed species of pinnipeds, they are found in coastal waters of the northern Atlantic and Pacific oceans, Baltic and North seas. Photo: AfloatA photograph of a Harbour Seal taken at Dun Laoghaire Marina on Dublin Bay, Ireland. Also known as the common seal, this species can be found along temperate and Arctic marine coastlines throughout the Northern Hemisphere. They are the most widely distributed species of pinnipeds and can be found in the coastal waters of the northern Atlantic and Pacific oceans, as well as the Baltic and North Seas. Photo: Afloat

Displaying items by tag: Irish Rowing Championships

#Rowing: The big crowds saw a close and exciting senior men’s eight final at the Irish Rowing Championships. Commercial carved out a small lead early on, and despite pressure from NUIG and Skibbereen, they held on to win.

In the women’s senior eights final, UCD/Old Collegians had to wait until the middle stages to take over in the lead, but once they did they built and built on it. They had over three seconds at the finish over Skibbereen/UCC.

winners of senior men’s eights (Commercial)Winners of senior men’s eights (Commercial)

UCD/Old CollegiansWinners of senior women’s eights (UCD/Old Collegians – Claire Lambe not included)

NUIG took their ninth title as they lifted the women’s club eight, while Enniskillen brought a very successful end to a good regatta for them by taking the men’s junior pair through Aaron Johnston and Nathan Timoney.

Three Castles also had a fruitful Championships and their junior quadruple won.

Lee and Clonmel won the women’s junior quad and the men’s intermediate double respectively and Bann’s Hannah Scott took the women’s intermediate single sculls title.

 

Irish Rowing Championships, National Rowing Centre, Day Three (Selected Results)

Men

Eight – Senior: 1 Commercial 5:46.04, 2 Skibbereen 5:47.95, 3 NUIG 5:48.39. Novice: Queen’s 6:21.56.

Four – Club, coxed: NUIG A 6:43.38.

Pair – Inter: NUIG 6:56.09. Junior: Enniskillen B 6:52.04.

Sculling, Quadruple – Junior: 1 Three Castles 6:21.53, 2 Shandon 6:22.75, 3 Clonmel 6:23.05.

Double – Inter: Clonmel 6:37.17. Junior: Three Castles A 6:50.22.

Single – Lightweight: Skibbereen (G O’Donovan) 7:22.32. Inter: Clonmel (D Lynch) 7:10.25.

Women

Eight – Senior: 1 UCD/Old Collegians 6:24.84, 2 Skibbereen/UCC 6:27.96, 3 NUIG/Cork 6:33.67. Club: NUIG 6:46.97.

Four – Inter, coxed: NUIG 7:23.65.

Pair – Senior: UCD (A Crowley, E Lambe) 7:37.41. Junior: Fermoy 7:53.37.

Sculling, Quadruple – Junior: Lee 6:54.96.

Single – Senior: Old Collegians (S Pupsure) 8:02.64. Lightweight: Skibbereen (D Walsh) 8:09.96. Inter: Bann (H Scott) 7:55.58. Club One: Carlow (C Nolan) 8:15.22.

Published in Rowing

#Rowing: UCD’s Eimear Lambe and Aileen Crowley had an impressive win in the women’s senior pair in the deferred finals at the start of the third day of the Irish Championships at the National Rowing Centre. Skibbereen and Cork were in the touch with the UCD women until 1500 metres, but Lambe and Crowley left the rest behind from there and won by 10 seconds from Skibbereen.

Queen’s were also impressive in their win in the men’s novice eight, and Sanita Puspure won the senior single sculls with plenty to spare.

The junior 16 men’s eight went to Enniskillen, who thus completed the set of wins: the junior 18 and 16 eights for men and women.

Irish Rowing Championships, National Rowing Centre, Day Three (Selected Results)

Men

Eight – Novice: Queen’s 6:21.56.

Sculling, Quadruple – Junior: 1 Three Castles 6:21.53, 2 Shandon 6:22.75, 3 Clonmel 6:23.05.

Women

Pair – Senior: UCD (A Crowley, E Lambe) 7:37.41.

Sculling, Single – Senior: Old Collegians (S Pupsure) 8:02.64.

Published in Rowing

#Rowing: Three Castles won a thrilling final of the men's junior quadruple sculls at the Irish Rowing Championships this morning. They had just a second to spare over Shandon, who were just ahead of Clonmel. The crew of Aaron Keogh, who is the youngest, Tadgh McKnight, Rory Quinn and Oisin Clune were the first winners of the day, as theirs was one of the finals deferred from the Saturday session.

 Irish Rowing Championships, National Rowing Centre, Day Three (Selected Results)

Men

Junior Quadruple: 1 Three Castles 6:21.53,

2 Shandon 6:22.75

3 Clonmel 6:23.05

Published in Rowing

#Rowing: High winds forced the suspension or rowing for the rest of Saturday at the Irish Rowing Championships. The organisers stopped the action on the water in the afternoon and set to redesigning the programme so that key races set for the rest of Saturday will be held on Sunday. Finals of important events such as the women’s senior pair and senior single and the men’s novice eight are set to be held before eight o’clock on Sunday.

Published in Rowing

#Rowing: On a morning of clear victories, David Higgins of Presentation Boat Club, Cork, had to battle to see off Luke Hayes-Nally of Shandon to take the Club Singles title at the National Rowing Centre.

The other wins in the Saturday morning session of the Irish Rowing Championships followed the pattern of one crew gaining an early lead and winning well. Mark O’Donovan and Shane O’Driscoll in the pair; NUIG in the women’s novice eight; Enniskillen in the men’s junior coxed four and Cork Boat Club’s Lisa Dilleen and Chloe Mehigan in the women’s intermediate double all came home well clear of the field.

Hannah Scott made her move so early that she had three-quarters of the junior single sculls final as clear leader. Margaret Cremen held off Aoife Casey for second.

The men’s intermediate eight final was a UCD affair – their A crew beat their B crew in a tight finish.

Irish Rowing Championships, Day Two (Selected Results)

Men

Eight – Intermediate: UCD 5:50.02.

Four – Junior, coxed: Enniskillen 6:22.94.

Pair – Senior: Skibbereen 6:59.69.

Sculling, Single – Club: Cork (D Higgins) 7:26.59.

Women

Eight – Novice: NUIG 6:38.95.

Sculling, Double – Intermediate: Cork 7:09.95.

Single – Junior: Bann (H Scott) 7:41.22.

Published in Rowing

#Rowing: Skibbereen added four titles to their already weighty tally on the first day of the Irish Rowing Championships at the National Rowing Centre today. Paul O’Donovan won the senior single sculls and teamed up with Mark O’Donovan, Shane O’Driscoll and his brother Gary in the senior four – both were done in new record times for the course. Paul and Gary also won the senior doubles. The Skibbereen women’s four also won well, in a new best time for the course.

NUIG also took four titles: the men’s intermediate coxed four and club eight and the women’s club coxed four and novice coxed quadruple.

Cork Boat Club proved best in the women’s intermediate eight and also won perhaps the best race of the day: Barry O’Flynn was severely tested by Jack Dorney in the junior single sculls but fought back after being passed and won by a length.

The Old Collegians victory in the women’s senior double was straightforward: Sanita Puspure and Claire Lambe were by far the best crew.

This was the last final of the day, while UCC had won the first, taking the men’s novice coxed quadruple.

Neptune and St Joseph’s tried to rein them in, but the men’s junior eights final was a surprsingly straightforward affair for winners Enniskillen, who also won the women’s junior four. Lee’s Margaret Cremen and Aoife Lynch were also in control in the women’s junior double, as were Hannah Scott and Katie Shirlow in the intermediate pair.

Irish Rowing Championships, National Rowing Centre, Day One (Selected Results)

Men

Eight – Club: NUIG 5:53.60. Junior: Enniskillen 5:47.96.

Four – Senior: Skibbereen 5:55.33. Inter, coxed: NUIG 6:13.38.

Sculling, Quadruple – Novice, coxed: UCC 6:39.37.

Double – Senior: Skibbereen 7:06.89.

Single – Senior: Skibbereen (P O’Donovan) 6:48.19. Junior: Cork (B O’Flynn) 7:04.06.

Women

Eight – Intermediate: Cork 6:22.06.

Four – Senior: Skibbereen 6:40.58. Club, coxed: NUIG 7:10.92. Junior: Enniskillen 6:57.94.

Pair – Inter: Bann 7:19.32.

Sculling, Quadruple – Novice, coxed: NUIG 7:36.02. Double – Senior: Old Collegians 6:59.997. Junior: Lee 7:09.86.

Published in Rowing

#Rowing: A bumper weekend of racing is in store in Cork as the 2017 Irish Rowing Championships take place at the National Rowing Centre from Friday, July 14th to Sunday, July 16th. The event will showcase some of the best rowing Ireland has to offer with 1049 crews competing in 264 races.

 The National Rowing Centre will welcome 60 clubs, including Waterville and Flesk Valley, who will compete at the Championships for the first time, as well as a re-formed Newry Rowing Club.

 High Performance athletes including Gary and Paul O’Donovan, Sanita Puspure and Claire Lambe will be among those competing for the much coveted “Pots”, as well as European Champions Shane O’Driscoll and Mark O’Donovan, and European Silver medallist Denise Walsh.

 Three superb days of racing were enjoyed at last year’s Championships, which came to a spectacular end with the men’s senior eights being fought right to the line. Commercial Rowing Club came away with the “Big Pot” in the end after a thrilling race, which saw them finishing less than a second ahead of rivals UCD.

 Skibbereen, in combination with UCC, won the women’s senior eight. That win took Skibbereen’s overall tally for the Championships to 13 – they now have 163 titles in total, 11 clear of nearest rivals, Neptune (152).

Published in Rowing

#Rowing: Commercial won the senior eights championship of Ireland (the 'Big Pot') in a race with a thrilling finish at the Irish Rowing Championships. The Dublin crew took over the lead at halfway, but could not shake off UCD. In the final 250 metres, UCD charged and seemed set to catch Commercial, but the eventual winners found something and surged. The margin in an extremely fast race - Commercial recorded a time of five minutes 36.892 seconds - was less than a third of a second.

 Skibbereen, in combination with UCC, won the women's senior eight. This was a much more emphatic win, with UCD challenging but not able to catch the winners. Skibbereen added the women's junior quadruple and the men's intermediate double titles to take their overall tally for the Championships to 13 - they now have 163 in total, 11 clear of nearest rivals, Neptune (152).

 Marie Piggott of NUIG was a very clear winner of the women's intermediate single. Commercial were also in charge in their win in the men's junior pair.

 Cork completed a good set of results for them when they won the women's club eight.

Irish Rowing Championships, National Rowing Centre, Day Three (Selected Results, Finals)

Men

Eights - Senior: 1 Commercial (D Joyce, M Maher, R Peguet, S Mac Eoin, F Groome, D Burke, C Dowling, N Gahan; cox: M Crockett) 5:36.892, 2 UCD A 5:37.220, 3 NUIG 5:44.377. Four - Club, coxed: NUIG 6:33.156.

Pair - Inter: Portora 6:49.900. Junior: 1 Commercial 7:00.686, 2 Portora B 7:02.186, 3 Portora A 7:03.905.

Sculling, Double - Inter: Skibbereen 6:33.887. Junior: 1 Shandon A 6:36.777, 2 Clonmel 6:39.324, Castleconnell A 6:51.168.

Lightweight Single: 1 Skibbrereen (S O'Driscoll) 7:15.482, 2 Skibbereen (A Burns) 9:08.433, 3 Carlow (O Nolan) 7:36.764.

Women

Eight- Senior: 1 Skibbereen/UCC (L Murphy, N Casey, O Hayes, C J Hearne, N O'Mahony, A Feeley, A Keogh, D Walsh; cox R O'Leary) 6:24.548, 2 UCD 6:29.778, 3 Trinity 6:40.377. Club: Cork 6:39.339.

Four - Inter, coxed: Commercial 7:20.348.

Pair - Junior: 1 Cork 7:35.640, 2 Bann 7:41.453, 3 Shannon 7:41.750

Sculling - Quadruple - Junior: 1 Skibbereen 6:46.308, 2 Bann 6:53.292, 3 Lee 6:59.527.

Single - Inter: NUIG (M Piggott) 7:58.822.

Lightweight Single: Skibbereen (D Walsh) 7:54.535, 2 Carlow (A Byrne) 8:21.130, 3 Queen's (R Brown) 8:33.287.

Published in Rowing

#Rowing: Skibbereen brought their tally of titles for the Irish Rowing Championships to a remarkable 10 so far as Denise Walsh and Shane O'Driscoll had big wins in the lightweight single sculls in the morning session of the third day.

 Shandon's win in the men's junior double was a sweet one for Stephen O'Sullivan and Ronan Byrne. They led Clonmel all down the course and held off push after push in the final 500 metres.  Strokeman O'Sullivan shouted with joy at the finish, but it was a particularly big win for Byrne. He had been beaten by the Clonmel strokeman, Daire Lynch, in the junior single. Byrne and Lynch team up in the Ireland junior double for the World Championships.  

 Cork Boat Club's good run in junior events continued, as Amy Mason and Tara Hanlon won the junior pair. Portora won the men's intermediate pair and NUIG the club coxed four. Commercial led all the way in the women's intermediate four and had a clearwater margin at the finish.

Irish Rowing Championships, National Rowing Centre, Day Three (Selected Results, Finals)

Men

Four - Club, coxed: NUIG 6:33.156.

Pair - Inter: Portora 6:49.900.

Sculling, Double - Junior: 1 Shandon A 6:36.777, 2 Clonmel 6:39.324, Castleconnell A 6:51.168.

Lightweight Single: 1 Skibbrereen (S O'Driscoll) 7:15.482, 2 Skibbereen (A Burns) 9:08.433, 3 Carlow (O Nolan) 7:36.764.

Women

Four - Inter, coxed: Commercial 7:20.348.

Pair - Junior: 1 Cork 7:35.640, 2 Bann 7:41.453, 3 Shannon 7:41.750

Sculling - Lightweight Single: Skibbereen (D Walsh) 7:54.535, 2 Carlow (A Byrne) 8:21.130, 3 Queen's (R Brown) 8:33.287.

Published in Rowing

#Rowing: Cork Boat Club won the men's junior 18 coxed four at the National Rowing Championships today. On Friday, Portora had beaten Cork in the junior eight by leading all the way, but Cork turned the tables - they took the lead early and won by over six seconds. Daire Lynch, who won the junior single on the first day, added the club title with an emphatic win.

 Emily Hegarty took the junior women's single by a huge margin, and her Skibbereen clubmates, Mark O'Donovan and Shane O'Driscoll, augmented the club's growing honour list by taking the men's senior pair. Their main rivals, UCD's Shane Mulvaney and David O'Malley, were over three seconds behind at the finish.

 Commercial had a stirring win in the men's intermediate eight. UCD led to half way, just holding off Commercial, and it looked like there might be a battle between the two crews from there. But Commercial, stroked by Neil Gahan, moved away and won well in an excellent time.

 In the women's novice eight Trinity won well, and Lee were commanding in their victory in the women's intermediate double. 

Irish Rowing Championships, National Rowing Centre, Cork

 Day Two (Selected results)

Men

Eight - Intermediate: Commercial 5:43.182.

Four - Junior, coxed: 1 Cork A 6:29.20, 2 Portora 6:35.341, 3 Clonmel 6:40.716.

Pair - Senior: 1 Skibbereen 6:30.311, 2 UCD 6:33.546, 3 Portora 6:44.968.

Sculling

Single - Club: Clonmel (D Lynch) 7:15.463.

Women

Eight - Novice: Trinity 7:09.594.

Sculling, Double - Inter: Lee 7:22.252.

Single - Junior: 1 Skibbereen (E Hegarty) 8:05.674, 2 Neptune (C Feerick) 8:13.065, 3 Castleconnell (J Vascotto) 8:15.002.

Published in Rowing
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For all you need on the Marine Environment - covering the latest news and updates on marine science and wildlife, weather and climate, power from the sea and Ireland's coastal regions and communities - the place to be is Afloat.ie.

Coastal Notes

The Coastal Notes category covers a broad range of stories, events and developments that have an impact on Ireland's coastal regions and communities, whose lives and livelihoods are directly linked with the sea and Ireland's coastal waters.

Topics covered in Coastal Notes can be as varied as the rare finding of sea-life creatures, an historic shipwreck with secrets to tell, or even a trawler's net caught hauling much more than just fish.

Other angles focusing the attention of Coastal Notes are Ireland's maritime museums, which are of national importance to maintaining access and knowledge of our nautical heritage, and those who harvest the sea using small boats based in harbours where infrastructure and safety pose an issue, plying their trade along the rugged wild western seaboard.

Coastal Notes tells the stories that are arguably as varied as the environment they come from, and which shape people's interaction with the natural world and our relationship with the sea.

Marine Wildlife

One of the greatest memories of any day spent boating around the Irish coast is an encounter with Marine Wildlife. It's a thrill for young and old to witness seabirds, seals, dolphins and whales right there in their own habitat. And as boaters fortunate enough to have experienced it will testify, even spotting a distant dorsal fin can be the highlight of any day afloat. Was that a porpoise? Was it a whale? No matter how brief the glimpse, it's a privilege to share the seas with Irish marine wildlife.

Thanks to our location in the North Atlantic, there appears to be no shortage of marine life to observe. From whales to dolphins, seals, sharks and other ocean animals, the Marine Wildlife category documents the most interesting accounts around our shores. And we're keen to receive your observations, your photos, links and video clips, too!

Also valuable is the unique perspective of all those who go afloat, from coastal sailing to sea angling to inshore kayaking to offshore yacht racing, as what they encounter can be of great importance to organisations such as the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group (IWDG). Thanks to their work we now know we share the seas with dozens of species who also call Ireland home. But as impressive as the list is, the experts believe there are still gaps in our knowledge. Next time you are out on the ocean waves, keep a sharp look out!

Weather

As an island in the North Atlantic, Ireland's fate is decided by Weather more so than many other European countries. When storm-force winds race across the Irish Sea, ferry and shipping services are cut off, disrupting our economy. When swollen waves crash on our shores, communities are flooded and fishermen brace for impact - both to their vessels and to their livelihoods.

Keeping abreast of the weather, therefore, is as important to leisure cruisers and fishing crews alike - for whom a small craft warning can mean the difference between life and death - as it is to the communities lining the coast, where timely weather alerts can help protect homes and lives.

Weather affects us all, and Afloat.ie will keep you informed on the hows and the whys.

Marine Science

Perhaps it's the work of the Irish research vessels RV Celtic Explorer and RV Celtic Voyager out in the Atlantic Ocean that best highlights the essential nature of Marine Science for the future growth of Ireland's emerging 'blue economy'.

From marine research to development and sustainable management, Ireland is developing a strong and well-deserved reputation as an emerging centre of excellence. Whether it's Wavebob ocean energy technology to aquaculture to weather buoys and oil exploration, the Marine Science category documents the work of Irish marine scientists and researchers and how they have secured prominent roles in many European and international marine science bodies.

Power From The Sea

The message from the experts is clear: offshore wind and wave energy is the future. And as Ireland looks towards the potential of the renewable energy sector, generating Power From The Sea will become a greater priority in the State's 'blue growth' strategy.

Developments and activities in existing and planned projects in the pipeline from the wind and wave renewables sector, and those of the energy exploration industry, point to the future of energy requirements for the whole world, not just in Ireland. And that's not to mention the supplementary industries that sea power projects can support in coastal communities.

Irish ports are already in a good position to capitalise on investments in offshore renewable energy services. And Power From The Sea can even be good for marine wildlife if done properly.

Aside from the green sector, our coastal waters also hold a wealth of oil and gas resources that numerous prospectors are hoping to exploit, even if people in coastal and island areas are as yet unsure of the potential benefits or pitfalls for their communities.

Changing Ocean Climate

Our ocean and climate are inextricably linked - the ocean plays a crucial role in the global climate system in a number of ways. These include absorbing excess heat from the atmosphere and absorbing 30 per cent of the carbon dioxide added to the atmosphere by human activity. But our marine ecosystems are coming under increasing pressure due to climate change.

The Marine Institute, with its national and international partners, works to observe and understand how our ocean is changing and analyses, models and projects the impacts of our changing oceans. Advice and forecasting projections of our changing oceans and climate are essential to create effective policies and management decisions to safeguard our ocean.

Dr Paul Connolly, CEO of the Marine Institute, said, “Our ocean is fundamental to life on earth and affects so many facets of our everyday activities. One of the greatest challenges we face as a society is that of our changing climate. The strong international collaborations that the Marine Institute has built up over decades facilitates a shared focusing on our changing ocean climate and developing new and enhanced ways of monitoring it and tracking changes over time.

“Our knowledge and services help us to observe these patterns of change and identify the steps to safeguard our marine ecosystems for future generations.”

The Marine Institute’s annual ocean climate research survey, which has been running since 2004, facilitates long term monitoring of the deep water environment to the west of Ireland. This repeat survey, which takes place on board RV Celtic Explorer, enables scientists to establish baseline oceanic conditions in Irish waters that can be used as a benchmark for future changes.

Scientists collect data on temperature, salinity, water currents, oxygen and carbon dioxide in the Atlantic Ocean. This high quality oceanographic data contributes to the Atlantic Ocean Observing System. Physical oceanographic data from the survey is submitted to the International Council for the Exploration of the Seas (ICES) and, in addition, the survey contributes to national research such as the VOCAB ocean acidification and biogeochemistry project, the ‘Clean Atlantic’ project on marine litter and the A4 marine climate change project.

Dr Caroline Cusack, who co-ordinates scientific activities on board the RV Celtic Explorer for the annual survey, said, “The generation of long-term series to monitor ocean climate is vital to allow us understand the likely impact of future changes in ocean climate on ecosystems and other marine resources.”

Other activities during the survey in 2019 included the deployment of oceanographic gliders, two Argo floats (Ireland’s contribution to EuroArgo) and four surface drifters (Interreg Atlantic Area Clean Atlantic project). The new Argo floats have the capacity to measure dissolved ocean and biogeochemical parameters from the ocean surface down to a depth of 2,000 metres continuously for up to four years, providing important information as to the health of our oceans.

During the 2019 survey, the RV Celtic Explorer retrieved a string of oceanographic sensors from the deep ocean at an adjacent subsurface moored station and deployed a replacement M6 weather buoy, as part of the Irish Marine Data Buoy Observation Network (IMDBON).

Funded by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, the IMDBON is managed by the Marine Institute in collaboration with Met Éireann and is designed to improve weather forecasts and safety at sea around Ireland. The data buoys have instruments which collect weather and ocean data including wind speed and direction, pressure, air and sea surface temperature and wave statistics. This data provides vital information for weather forecasts, shipping bulletins, gale and swell warnings as well as data for general public information and research.

“It is only in the last 20 years, meteorologists and climatologists have really began to understood the pivotal role the ocean plays in determining our climate and weather,” said Evelyn Cusack, Head of Forecasting at Met Éireann. “The real-time information provided by the Irish data buoy network is particularly important for our mariners and rescue services. The M6 data buoy in the Atlantic provides vital information on swell waves generated by Atlantic storms. Even though the weather and winds may be calm around our shores, there could be some very high swells coming in from Atlantic storms.”