Displaying items by tag: The Boating Hub

28th October 2012

New Site Helps Finding Boating Courses Plain Sailing

#SAIL TRAINING - A new website designed to help make it easier and quicker to find boating training courses across the UK, US, Europe and worldwide has just been launched.

The Boating Hub is aimed at both beginners and more experienced boating enthusiasts, and covers a wide range of RYA, ASA and Yachting Australia accredited and alternative non-accredited courses for power, motor and sail.

The new site streamlines the often time-consuming and frustrating process of looking for boating courses, bringing together for the first time all relevant opportunities for beginners and advanced enthusiasts alike in one simple place. The site has been designed to make it almost effortless for anyone to find the information they want in just a couple of mouse clicks.

Simply choose the type of course you’re interested in, and then choose the country or region you would like to train in, and you will be immediately presented with a comprehensive list of all relevant training centres and courses, including the course dates, a description of what the course includes, and details of any experience required. Full details of the course can be obtained by contacting the boating training centre directly through The Boating Hub.

Never again will you miss out on exciting and relevant training courses simply because you weren't previously aware of a particular training centre or course type.

Additionally, by going through the website both training centres and boating enthusiasts looking to develop their skills can find each other more easily than ever before.

Whether you're just starting out in boating for the first time, looking at extending your knowledge and experience, or aiming to gain a formal, recognised qualification in a specialised field, The Boating Hub could be the perfect way to launch your journey.

For more visit The Boating Hub at www.TheBoatingHub.com.

Published in How To Sail

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About Conor O'Brien, Irish Circumnavigator

In 1923-25, Conor O'Brien became the first amateur skipper to circle the world south of the Great Capes. O'Brien's boat Saoirse was reputedly the first small boat (42-foot, 13 metres long) to sail around the world since Joshua Slocum completed his voyage in the 'Spray' during 1895 to 1898. It is a journey that O' Brien documented in his book Across Three Oceans. O'Brien's voyage began and ended at the Port of Foynes, County Limerick, Ireland, where he lived.

Saoirse, under O'Brien's command and with three crew, was the first yacht to circumnavigate the world by way of the three great capes: Cape Horn, Cape of Good Hope and Cape Leeuwin; and was the first boat flying the Irish tri-colour to enter many of the world's ports and harbours. He ran down his easting in the Roaring Forties and Furious Fifties between the years 1923 to 1925.

Up until O'Brien's circumnavigation, this route was the preserve of square-rigged grain ships taking part in the grain race from Australia to England via Cape Horn (also known as the clipper route).

At a Glance - Conor O'Brien's Circumnavigation

In June 1923, Limerick man Conor O’Brien set off on his yacht, the Saoirse — named after the then newly created Irish Free State — on the two-year voyage from Dun Laoghaire Harbour that was to make him the first Irish amateur to sail around the world.

June 1923 - Saoirse’s arrival in Madeira after her maiden passage out from Dublin Bay

2nd December 1924 - Saoirse crossed the longitude of Cape Horn

June 20th 1925 - O’Brien’s return to Dun Laoghaire Harbour