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Displaying items by tag: Glenn Hall

#Surfing - Irish-Aussie surfer Glenn Hall says there's "nothing personal" between him and world surfing champion Gabriel Medina after the latter's outburst over his elimination from the World Surf League season opener.

As the Sydney Morning Herald reports, the Brazilian was seething after an interference call in his heat against Hall confirmed his elimination from the third round.

Medina expressed his frustration at the more than a week spent waiting for suitable waves at Snapper Rocks on Australia's Gold Coast before surfing could even begin.

He also lashed out at Hall for swearing at him in the water - but the New South Wales native dismissed the situation as "a bit of a tight heckle".

Hall, who was born in Australia but competes for Ireland due to his family heritage, is the lone Irish entrant in the new World Surf League, the successor to the ASP World Tour.

Published in Surfing

#Surfing - Irish surfer Glenn Hall pipped reigning ASP world champion Joel Parkinson for a place in the quarter-finals of the Billabong Rio Pro this week, as Australia's SBS News reports.

Thirty-one-year-old Hall - who was born in New South Wales but has dual citizenship thanks to his Irish grandfather - did not survive much longer himself in the competition at Barra da Tijuca in Brazil, being eliminated in the fifth round by South Africa's Jordy Smith.

But the ASP world tour rookie surprised many with his third-round knockout of the current world champ, who went board-to-board with 11-time champion Kelly Slater for the title last year.

Published in Surfing

#SURFING - The Irish Junior Surf Team departed yesterday for southwestern France to compete at the 2012 European Junior Surfing Championship at Lacanau-Océan which kicks off tomorrow.

The 19-strong team includes flagbearer Iarom Madden Traver and Cian Cagney in the U18 Boys division, Aaron O'Hare and Gearoid Mc Daid in the U16 Boys and Garbhan Mc Closkey and Dylan Noonan in the U14s Boys.

Ireland will be represented in the U18 Girls by Ayesha Garvey and Rachel Moore, while Eoin O'Malley Daly will compete in the Longboard event.

Meanwhile, Odhran McGovern and Kevin McGowan will challenge for the U18 Bodyboard, Cian McGovern and Oisin Cogan are in the U16 Bodyboards, and Meadb McCloskey is in the field for the U18 Girls Bodyboard.

Among the coaching staff joining the group are Irish Surf Team coach Pascal Devine and top female surf coach Shauna Ward, along with world-class bodyboarder Shane Meehan and U18 reserve Donough Cronin, who will both act as judges.

Heats will commence on Sunday 9 September running throughout the week, with the grand finals to take place the following Sunday 16 September.

The Irish Surfing Assocation has more HERE.

Meanwhile, Ireland's Glenn Hall as knocked out in the round of 16 at the ASP 6-Star San Miguel Pro Zarautz last week.

The Irish surf pro has established some impressive totals throughout the competition in Spain's Basque Country, but even his 13.40 in the fifth round wasn't enough to hold off the challenge of Ramzi Boukhiam, with the Moroccan pipping him by just 0.13 points.

Published in Surfing

#SURFING - Irish surfer Glenn Hall took the top prize at the ASP Prime Mr Price Pro event in South Africa recently.

As AllAfrica.com reports, surfing pro Hall - who was born in Australia - beat Nathaniel Curran from the USA in the final at Willards Beach in Ballito, on the north coast of KwaZulu-Natal provice on the Indian Ocean, to clinch the title.

"It's the biggest win of my career by far," he said. "I kind of felt like if you got the wave out there you could get the score and I was just praying for a wave at the end."

The victory continues a prosperous year for the former ASP Australasian Pro Junior champion, with wins in China and Trestles in California seeing him rise to 16th in the world rankings.

AllAfrica.com has more on the story HERE.

Published in Surfing

Marine Institute Research Vessel Tom Crean

Ireland’s new marine research vessel will be named the RV Tom Crean after the renowned County Kerry seaman and explorer who undertook three major groundbreaking expeditions to the Antarctic in the early years of the 20th Century which sought to increase scientific knowledge and to explore unreached areas of the world, at that time.

Ireland's new multi-purpose marine research vessel RV Tom Crean, was delivered in July 2022 and will be used by the Marine Institute and other State agencies and universities to undertake fisheries research, oceanographic and environmental research, seabed mapping surveys; as well as maintaining and deploying weather buoys, observational infrastructure and Remotely Operated Vehicles.

The RV Tom Crean will also enable the Marine Institute to continue to lead and support high-quality scientific surveys that contribute to Ireland's position as a leader in marine science. The research vessel is a modern, multipurpose, silent vessel (designed to meet the stringent criteria of the ICES 209 noise standard for fisheries research), capable of operating in the Irish Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). The Tom Crean is able to go to sea for at least 21 days at a time and is designed to operate in harsh sea conditions.

RV Tom Crean Specification Overview

  • Length Overall: 52.8 m
  • Beam 14m
  • Draft 5.2M 

Power

  • Main Propulsion Motor 2000 kw
  • Bow Thruster 780 kw
  • Tunnel thruster 400 kw

Other

  • Endurance  21 Days
  • Range of 8,000 nautical miles
  • DP1 Dynamic Positioning
  • Capacity for 3 x 20ft Containers

Irish Marine Research activities

The new state-of-the-art multi-purpose marine research vessel will carry out a wide range of marine research activities, including vital fisheries, climate change-related research, seabed mapping and oceanography.

The new 52.8-metre modern research vessel, which will replace the 31-metre RV Celtic Voyager, has been commissioned with funding provided by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine approved by the Government of Ireland.

According to Aodhán FitzGerald, Research Vessel Manager of the MI, the RV Tom Crean will feature an articulated boom crane aft (6t@ 10m, 3T@ 15m), located on the aft-gantry. This will be largely used for loading science equipment and net and equipment handling offshore.

Mounted at the stern is a 10T A-frame aft which can articulate through 170 degrees which are for deploying and recovering large science equipment such as a remotely operated vehicle (ROV’s), towed sleds and for fishing operations.

In addition the fitting of an 8 Ton starboard side T Frame for deploying grabs and corers to 4000m which is the same depth applicable to when the vessel is heaving but is compensated by a CTD system consisting of a winch and frame during such operations.

The vessel will have the regulation MOB boat on a dedicated davit and the facility to carry a 6.5m Rigid Inflatable tender on the port side.

Also at the aft deck is where the 'Holland 1' Work class ROV and the University of Limericks 'Etain' sub-Atlantic ROV will be positioned. In addition up to 3 x 20’ (TEU) containers can be carried.

The newbuild has been engineered to endure increasing harsher conditions and the punishing weather systems encountered in the North-East Atlantic where deployments of RV Tom Crean on surveys spent up to 21 days duration.

In addition, RV Tom Crean will be able to operate in an ultra silent-mode, which is crucial to meet the stringent criteria of the ICES 209 noise standard for fisheries research purposes.

The classification of the newbuild as been appointed to Lloyds and below is a list of the main capabilities and duties to be tasked by RV Tom Crean:

  • Oceanographic surveys, incl. CTD water sampling
  • Fishery research operations
  • Acoustic research operations
  • Environmental research and sampling operation incl. coring
  • ROV and AUV/ASV Surveys
  • Buoy/Mooring operations