Menu

Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

Displaying items by tag: National Rowing Centre

#Rowing: Mark O’Donovan was first and Shane O’Driscoll second at the Ireland Assessment at the National Rowing Centre today – ahead of Olympic medallist Gary O’Donovan, who was the third-fastest lightweight and fourth overall. Heavyweight competitor Sam McKeown, who recently broke six minutes for 2,000 metres on the ergometer, was third and Daire Lynch, who is just moving out of junior ranks, an impressive fifth. The tests were run over six kilometres. Paul O’Donovan, the top lightweight, has exams and did not attend.

The top woman was Sanita Puspure, with Denise Walsh almost a minute further back. The women’s pair of Aifric Keogh and Aoife Feeley won their battle with the under-23 unit of Amy Mason and Tara Hanlon, but by a small margin.

Irish Assessment, National Rowing Centre (Selected Results; Six Kilometres)

Saturday

Men

Single Sculls – Heavyweight: 1 S McKeown 23 mins 57 seconds, 2 D Lynch 24:15, 3 T Oliver 24:17. Lightweight: 1 Mark O’Donovan 23:53, 2 S O’Driscoll 23:56, 3 G O’Donovan 24:09.

Women

Single Sculls – 1 S Puspure 25:12, 2 D Walsh 26:07, 3 A Keogh, A Feeley (pair) 26:25, 4 T Hanlon, A Mason (u23 pair) 26:28, 5 E Hegarty 27:05.

Sunday

Men: 1 S McKeown, T Oliver 21:29. Women: Four 24:01, 2 Puspure 25:18, 3 Walsh 26:06, 4 Pair 26:50.

 

Published in Rowing

#Rowing: UCC’s senior eight set an excellent time of 10 minutes four seconds for the course length of approximately three kilometres at the Muckross Head of the River at the National Rowing Centre. The young crew, stroked by Ciarán Higgins, was far and away the fastest crew of the day. The Skibbereen/UCC women’s composite eight set a time of 11 minutes 56 seconds, three seconds faster than that of Cork Boat Club. Conditions were excellent, especially in the morning. SEE ATTACHED RESULTS.

Muckross Head of the River, Selected Results

Men

Eight – Senior: UCC 10 minutes 4 seconds; Commercial 10:42; Cork/UCC 11:12. Club One: Commercial 11:43. Club One/Masters: Castleconnell, Shandon, Univ of Limerick 11:43. Junior 18: Commercial 11:01.  

Four – Senior: Cork 11:23.

Pair – Senior: Commercial (Acheson) 11:52. Inter: Commercial (Beggan) 11:46.

Sculling – Quadruple: Shandon/UCC 11:21. Junior 18: Castleconnell 11:35. Jun 16, coxed: Shandon 11:23.

Single: UCC (R Byrne) 12:08.

Women

Eight – Skibbereen/UCC 11:56. Junior 18: Lee 13:28

Sculling - Quadruple – St Michael’s 13:13

Double – St Michael’s 12:46.

Single - Senior: Skibbereen (O Hayes) 13:48. Junior 18: Lee (M Cremen) 13:51.  

 

 

Published in Rowing

#Rowing: The men’s under-23 quadruple had a narrow win over the lightweight men’s four at the Ireland Trial at the National Rowing Centre in Cork today. The crew of Jack Casey, Barney Rix, Dan Buckley and Sam McKeon had .4 of a second over the lightweights in the first race in the finals session. Gary O’Donovan, in a lightweight single, won the second race. Siobhán McCrohan raced in the finals, but her selection race-off with Denise Walsh did not happen as Walsh withdrew, ill.  

Ireland Trials, National Rowing Centre, Cork (Selected Results; Per Centage of Projected World Best Time for this boat)

Saturday – Men, Junior, Pair – Time Trial: 1 Presentation, Cork A (O’Keeffe, Kennelly) 7 mins 41.8 sec (85.53 per cent), 2 Portora (Armstrong, Johnston) 7:42.3 (85.44), 3 St Michael’s A (B McKeon, T McKeon) 7:44.4 (85.07). A Final: 1 Armstrong, Johnston 8:32.2 (77.12), 2 McKeon, McKeon 8:39.7 (76.0), 3 O’Keeffe, Kennelly 8:43.8 (75.41).

Single Sculls – Time Trial: 1 D Lynch 7:59.9 (86.26), 2 R Byrne 8:03.2 (85.68), 3 D Mitchell 8:12.1 (84.13). A Final: 1 Lynch 8:35.6 (80.29 per cent), 2 Byrne 8:40.9 (7i.48), 3 Mitchell 8:53.6 (77.59). B Final: F O’Sullivan 8:50.8 (77.99).

Women – Junior – Pair – Time Trial: 1 Cork A (Mason, Hanlon) 9:05.2 (79.97), 2 Methodist A (McIntyre, McBrinn) 9:22.5 (77.51), 3 Portora (Kelly, Elliott) 9:24.4. A Final: Mason, Hanlon 9:21.3 (77.67), 2 McIntyre, McBrinn 9:35.9 (75.7), 3 Shannon (Tully, Carmody) 9:40.5 (75.11), 4 Kelly, Elliott 9:40.8 (75.07). B Final: Shandon/Lee (Heaney, Kovacs) 9:43.4 (74.74).

 Single Sculls – Time Trial: 1 H Scott 9:03.7 (83.5), 2 E Hegarty 9:04.8 (83.33), 3 A Casey 9:11.9 (82.26). A Final: 1 Hegarty 9:37.7 (78.59), 2 Scott 9:47.7 (77.25), 3 Casey 10:00.1 (75.65). B Final: F Chestnutt 10.02.9 (75.3).

Sunday – Senior, Under-23 and Junior Time Trial (men unless stated; selected results): 1 Lightweight Four 6:39.9 (85.03), 2 Under-23 Quadruple 6:39.9 (82.52), 3 Junior Double (Byrne, Lynch) 7:21.3 (86.1);  5 Lightweight Single (G O’Donovan) 7:43.2 (85.9), 6 Jun Pair (Armstrong, Johnston) 7:50.6 (83.94); 8 Jun Women’s Double (Hegarty, Scott) 8:10.4 (85.65); 10 Women’s Pair (B O’Brien, L Kennedy) 8:17.4 (81.21), 11 Women’s Single (S Puspure) 8:18.2 (85.3), 11 Jun Single (D Mitchell) 8:20.5 (82.72), 13 Women’s University Single (M Dukarska) 8:37.1 (82.18), 14 Women’s Lightweight Single (S Jennings) 8:54.3 (81.98), 15 Jun Women’s Pair (Mason, Hanlon) 8:58.1 (81.03).

Finals – Race One: 1 U-23 Quad 6:29.4, 2 Light Four 6:29.8, 3 Junior Double 7:05.1. Race Two: Light Single (G O’Donovan) 7:26.2, 2 Jun Pair 7:34.5, Jun Women’s Eight 7:35.6, 4 Lightweight Women’s Single (S McCrohan) 8:29.2. Race Three: Lightweight Men’s Single (C Beck) 7:50.7, 2 Light Single (D O’Connor) 7:52.7, 3 Jun Women’s Double 7:53.7, 4 Puspure 8:00.4. Race Four: 1 Dukarska 8:17.4, 2 Jennings 8:20.2, 3 Jun Women’s Pair (Mason, Hanlon) 8:35.2.   

Published in Rowing

#Rowing: The final schedule for the Ireland trials this weekend at the National Rowing Centre has been released. The adult events are now sited primarily on the Sunday, with just the men’s under-23 heavyweight double sculls being added to the big junior programme on the Saturday, March 19th. The first time trials, for junior men’s pairs, start earlier than originally scheduled, at 8.30 am because of concerns about the weather. Finals for juniors are scheduled for the Saturday afternoon.

Published in Rowing
16th December 2015

Ireland Rowing Trial Cancelled

#Rowing: The Ireland trials set for this weekend have been cancelled. Weather conditions at the National Rowing Centre in Cork would not have been suitable. The athletes set to compete will next trial at the Irish Indoor Rowing Championships in Limerick on January 23rd. The weights allowed will 73kg for lightweight men and 59.5 kg for lightweight women, which are those carried forward from the proposed December trial.

Published in Rowing
15th December 2015

Ireland Trial in Doubt

#Rowing: The Ireland trial this weekend is in doubt. The National Assessment has been fixed for the National Rowing Centre at Farran Wood on Saturday and Sunday, December 19th and 20th, but the weather forecast is not good. Rowing Ireland has announced that a decision will be made on Wednesday. “The conditions at present do not look great. We are keeping a very close eye on the wind forecast as well as the amount of flood water coming into the lake.”

Published in Rowing

#Rowing: The Muckross Head of the River, fixed for the National Rowing Centre in Cork on Saturday, has been cancelled. The organisers say the bad weather forecast, including high winds, would have presented an unacceptable safety risk. The Head of the Shannon, also set for Saturday, has already been cancelled.   

Published in Rowing

#Rowing: The 2015 Irish Rowing Championships will be held at the National Rowing Centre in Farran Wood, Cork from Friday 10th July to Sunday 12th July.
 
This year’s Championships features a mammoth entry of a total of 893 crews,  with races running from 9am-5pm on Friday, 8:30am-6:30pm on Saturday and 8:30am-5pm on Sunday.
 
This event will attract over 3,000 competitors and approximately 10,000 spectators over the three day duration of the regatta and it is the premier domestic event of the rowing season.

The Championships are arguably Ireland's largest annual water sports event and are also the most significant All-Ireland sporting championship to be held annually in Cork. It promises to be a very exciting weekend of competitive rowing.
 

Published in Rowing

#ROWING: Siobhán McCrohan and Sinéad Jennings dead-heated in the shoot-out for the place in the lightweight single sculls at the European Championships. The race was held over 1500 metres because of a powerful tailwind at the National Rowing Centre, and neither sculler could draw clear of the other in a stirring contest. McCrohan started and finished well, while Jennings did well in the middle stages. The two are set to race again over 1500 metres on Friday or Saturday.

Published in Rowing

#ROWING: Skibbereen Regatta, set for Sunday (May 3rd) at the National Rowing Centre, has been cancelled because of an adverse weather forecast – for a second time. The prediction of gusting winds from the south east was bad news for a regatta with a very big entry of small boats. The Grand League event had originally been fixed for April 11th and 12th but also fell victim to the forecast of bad weather. This leaves just two Grand League rounds on the calendar, Dublin Metropolitan and Cork Regatta.

Published in Rowing
Page 2 of 4

Dublin Bay 21s

An exciting new project to breathe life into six defunct 120-year-old Irish yachts that happen to be the oldest intact one-design keelboat class in the world has captured the imagination of sailors at Ireland's biggest sailing centre. The birthplace of the original Dublin Bay 21 class is getting ready to welcome home the six restored craft after 40 years thanks to an ambitious boat building project was completed on the Shannon Estuary that saved them from completely rotting away.

Dublin Bay 21 FAQs

The Dublin Bay 21 is a vintage one-design wooden yacht designed for sailing in Dublin Bay.

Seven were built between 1903 and 1906.

As of 2020, the yachts are 117 years old.

Alfred Mylne designed the seven yachts.

The total voting population in the Republic's inhabited islands is just over 2,600 people, according to the Department of Housing.

Dublin Bay Sailing Club (DBSC) commissioned the boat to encourage inexpensive one-design racing to recognise the success of the Water Wag one-design dinghy of 1887 and the Colleen keelboat class of 1897.

Estelle built by Hollwey, 1903; Garavogue built by Kelly, 1903; Innisfallen built by Hollwey, 1903.; Maureen built by Hollwey, 1903.; Oola built by Kelly, 1905; Naneen built by Clancy, 1905.

Overall length- 32'-6', Beam- 7'-6", Keel lead- 2 tons Sail area - 600sq.ft

The first race took place on 19 June 1903 in Dublin Bay.

They may be the oldest intact class of racing keelboat yacht in the world. Sailing together in a fleet, they are one of the loveliest sights to be seen on any sailing waters in the world, according to many Dublin Bay aficionados.

In 1964, some of the owners thought that the boats were outdated, and needed a new breath of fresh air. After extensive discussions between all the owners, the gaff rig and timber mast was abandoned in favour of a more fashionable Bermudan rig with an aluminium mast. Unfortunately, this rig put previously unseen loads on the hulls, resulting in some permanent damage.

The fleet was taken out of the water in 1986 after Hurricane Charlie ruined active Dublin Bay 21 fleet racing in August of that year. Two 21s sank in the storm, suffering the same fate as their sister ship Estelle four years earlier. The class then became defunct. In 1988, master shipwright Jack Tyrrell of Arklow inspected the fleet and considered the state of the hulls as vulnerable, describing them as 'still restorable even if some would need a virtual rebuild'. The fleet then lay rotting in a farmyard in Arklow until 2019 and the pioneering project of Dun Laoghaire sailors Fionan De Barra and Hal Sisk who decided to bring them back to their former glory.

Hurricane Charlie finally ruined active Dublin Bay 21 fleet racing in August 1986. Two 21s sank in the storm, suffering the same fate as a sister ship four years earlier; Estelle sank twice, once on her moorings and once in a near-tragic downwind capsize. Despite their collective salvage from the sea bed, the class decided the ancient boats should not be allowed suffer anymore. To avoid further deterioration and risk to the rare craft all seven 21s were put into storage in 1989 under the direction of the naval architect Jack Tyrrell at his yard in Arklow.

While two of the fleet, Garavogue and Geraldine sailed to their current home, the other five, in various states of disrepair, were carried the 50-odd miles to Arklow by road.

To revive the legendary Dublin Bay 21 class, the famous Mylne design of 1902-03. Hal Sisk and Fionan de Barra are developing ideas to retain the class's spirit while making the boats more appropriate to today's needs in Dun Laoghaire harbour, with its many other rival sailing attractions. The Dublin Bay 21-foot class's fate represents far more than the loss of a single class; it is bad news for the Bay's yachting heritage at large. Although Dún Laoghaire turned a blind eye to the plight of the oldest intact one-design keelboat fleet in the world for 30 years or more they are now fully restored.

The Dublin Bay 21 Restoration team includes Steve Morris, James Madigan, Hal Sisk, Fionan de Barra, Fintan Ryan and Dan Mill.

Retaining the pure Mylne-designed hull was essential, but the project has new laminated cold-moulded hulls which are being built inverted but will, when finished and upright, be fitted on the original ballast keels, thereby maintaining the boat’s continuity of existence, the presence of the true spirit of the ship.

It will be a gunter-rigged sloop. It was decided a simpler yet clearly vintage rig was needed for the time-constrained sailors of the 21st Century. So, far from bringing the original and almost-mythical gaff cutter rig with jackyard topsail back to life above a traditionally-constructed hull, the project is content to have an attractive gunter-rigged sloop – “American gaff” some would call it.

The first DB 21 to get the treatment was Naneen, originally built in 1905 by Clancy of Dun Laoghaire for T. Cosby Burrowes, a serial boat owner from Cavan.

On Dublin Bay. Dublin Bay Sailing Club granted a racing start for 2020 Tuesday evening racing starting in 2020, but it was deferred due to COVID-19.
Initially, two Dublin Bay 21s will race then three as the boat building project based in Kilrush on the Shannon Estuary completes the six-boat project.
The restored boats will be welcomed back to the Bay in a special DBSC gun salute from committee boat Mac Lir at the start of the season.
In a recollection for Afloat, well known Dun Laoghaire one-design sailor Roger Bannon said: "They were complete bitches of boats to sail, over-canvassed and fundamentally badly balanced. Their construction and design was also seriously flawed which meant that they constantly leaked and required endless expensive maintenance. They suffered from unbelievable lee helm which led to regular swamping's and indeed several sinkings.

©Afloat 2020