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Displaying items by tag: Topper Nationals

Ballyholme Yacht Club’s online Baycam had a very prominent red line on Friday (7 July) with the southerly offshore wind forecast to reach 37 knots in the gusts, putting paid to the first day of the 2023 Topper Nationals.

In a strong southerly, the conditions inside Ballyholme Bay on the north Co Down coast in Northern Ireland looked friendly enough — except for the cat’s paws marking the strong gusts.

There are about 60 sailors in the Topper 5.3 and 20 more in the 4.3 keen to race and they have been asked to meet Saturday morning (8 July) at 11am for an updated briefing. It is expected the first warning gun will be at 12.55pm.

Published in Topper

The Rankin Dinghy of Cobh, Cork Harbour 

A Rankin is a traditional wooden dinghy which was built in Cobh, of which it’s believed there were 80 and of which The Rankin Dinghy Group has traced nearly half. 

The name of the Rankin dinghies is revered in Cork Harbour and particularly in the harbourside town of Cobh.

And the name of one of those boats is linked to the gunboat which fought against the Irish Volunteers during the 1916 Easter Rising and later for the emergent Irish Free State Government against anti-Treaty Forces during the Irish Civil War.

It also links the renowned boat-building Rankin family in Cobh, one of whose members crewed on the gunboat.

Maurice Kidney and Conor English are driving the restoration of the Rankin dinghies in Cork Harbour. They have discovered that Rankins were bought and sailed in several parts of the country.