Menu

Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

Displaying items by tag: West Pier

Ireland's largest sailing school, the Irish National Sailing School on Dublin Bay, has welcomed this week's announcement of new pontoon facilities near its base at the West Pier of Dun Laoghaire Harbour

School Principal Alistair Rumball told Afloat "we have long campaigned on safety grounds for the installation of a pontoon to give the school and other users direct access to the harbour waters at the West Pier and it's great to see this now approved".

The new pontoon, to be installed by Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Councill will be located at the public steps close to the DMYC at the West Pier.   The new pontoon, to be installed by Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Councill will be located at the public steps close to the DMYC at the West Pier. Photo: Google Earth  

The €40,000 pontoon is one of a number of approved harbour works under a €38m government scheme as Afloat reported here

The new pontoon, to be installed by Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Councill, will be located at the public steps close to the DMYC at the West Pier.

Local TD Cormac Devlin has also welcomed the new pontoon as part of a number of improvement measures for Dublin Harbours

#DLHarbour - Concerns have been raised over apparent damage to the East and West Piers in Dun Laoghaire Harbour that may be worse than previously estimated.

Visibly damaged stonework lies at the waterline of the West Pier roundhead some four weeks after Storm Emma resulted in “substantial damage” to the East Pier, as previously reported on Afloat.ie.

One large part of the concrete and stone ‘apron’ just before the roundhead, estimated at 50 tons, appears to have been upended and moved as much as 40 metres.

There are growing fears that this surface damage may indicate further damage undermining the structure of the pier roundhead

Evidence of subsidence is also visible above the low water line on the outside pace of the roundhead, which may also be a result of last month’s storm.

There are growing fears that this surface damage may indicate further damage undermining the structure of the pier roundhead — a problem that could be exacerbated by thrusters of cruise liners should proposals for a new berth come to fruition, it has been suggested.

It is not known what repair works would be required, though the issue of potential effects on the roundheads was raised during the oral hearing on the cruise berth plans more than two years ago.

Afloat.ie understands that the last time a significant breach of the harbour’s piers occurred was during the ‘great storm’ of November 1915.

Cracks and subsidence in the roundhead wallCracks and subsidence in the roundhead wall

Weathering and erosion of the apron just before the West Pier roundheadWeathering and erosion of the apron just before the West Pier roundhead

#DunLaoghaire - The Dun Laoghaire Harbour Company has issued a tender for a design team to draft a vision for the proposed 'Marina Village Project' in the port town.

The Marina Village development is on the site of the former Shell Chemicals facility at the West Pier next to the Dun Laoghaire Motor Yacht Club, at an area known as the 'Gut'.

It is also part of the Masterplan launched in mid-2011 intended to "position Dun Laoghaire Harbour as a marine, leisure and tourism destination of international calibre".

As per the Masterplan, the development is intended for residential and water-sports use, and the aim of this tender us to "identify the optimum development proposition for the site".

The tender document suggests that proposed water-sports facilities at the site "could potentially be occupied by users such as the Sea Scouts".

In their joint response to the launch of the Masterplan in June 2011, Dun Laoghaire's yacht clubs identified a "significant amount of shore space" ripe for development in the area earmarked for the Marina Village scheme.

The request for proposals is available to download as a PDF below.

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