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Displaying items by tag: Simon Lake

12 boats took part in the years 505 Irish Nationals and British Isles Championships. Following a delayed Swansea Cork ferry, the four UK boats made it to MBSC at 12 30pm on Saturday.

Racing on Saturday was held in Cuskinny with the breeze touching 25 knots on the downwind leg to the race area. The OOD team of Ciarán McSweeney and David Barry got racing underway at 3 15pm with the north westerly breeze softening to 12 to 15 knots. Ewen Barry and Simon Lake(8945) lead at mark one followed by Charles Dwyer and Conor Kelly (8961). Dwyer and Kelly's race came to an end at the first gybe mark with an impressive capsize( their first of two in the race). Barry and Lake showed impressive upwind speed with Barry and Kenney flying on the downwind in perfect reaching conditions. Barry and Kenney eventually took the lead on the top reach of the last leg and managed to hold on to take first, Barry and Lake second and Ronan Kenneally and Denis Cartwright taking a well deserved third place.

In race two, Barry and Kenney lead all the way round with some great battles for the 2, 3, 4 positions going on behind. Brian Jones and Gary Frost sailing 7771 came out ahead taking 2nd place with Ewen and Simon in 3rd. With the sun going down and a beat home the OOD team made the call to head for home and the warmth of the clubhouse.

Day 2 again brought great sailing conditions with a cold Northerly breeze and brilliant sunshine, racing got underway again in Cuskinny at 11 30am. Three races were held, in 8 to 12 knots. Denis Cartwright was joined by the third Barry brother Colin for the rest of the weekend as Ronan Kenneally had laser sailing commitments. Barry and Kenney again showed their pace on the day and with two firsts and a fourth were going to be hard to catch. Dwyer and Kelly found their footing with a 3, 1, 2 winning the second race by a considerable margin. Colin and Denis had a very consistent day with a 2, 3, 3 and had some extremely close battles with Dwyer and Kelly. Jones and Frost struggled in the lighter breeze posting a 5, 6, 5 leaving some work to do to catch back up to the group battling for second. Wade and Robert Cuppage added another boat to the racing today in Ethel, possibly one of the most famous 505's around and still sporting a deck stepped mast. Damage to Mikie and Josh's boat caused them to retire from races 4 & 5 with redress granted later as they were found to be not at fault. This meant that the battle for the junior title with James and Lisa O'Brien was hotting up and all to play for on the last day.

Going into the last day, with a gale warning in place for Monday, Alex and Adam lead on 4 points, Charlo and Conor in second on 10 points, Ewen & Simon and Colin & Denis tieing for third on 11 points.

Sunday night brought the usual banter with plenty or arm wrestling, chair jumping and general tough man competitions in the bar and stories of days gone by from Jim.

Monday morning brought new conditions with a strong southerly breeze filling in to the bay. As there were big winds forecasted and ferries to catch, Dave and Ciarán decided to hold racing in the bay. Conditions were good for the 505 with flat water and 18 to 22 knots of breeze. There was no catching Barry and Kenney again with their downwind pace proving to be the winning factor. They posted another two firsts to take the title counting all 1sts. Charlo was joined by Ronan Kenneally this time and despite a lightweight crew they took two seconds on the day to cement their second place overall. With Ewen and Simon breaking an outhaul in the first race they now had to count a 7th and a 3rd in the final race was not enough to fight off Colin and Denis. Brian and Gary's big breeze pace was back and the posted a 3rd and a 4th. Jim and Barney had a great first race taking 5th but a capsize in the second race but them out of the race.

In the juniors, Mikie and Josh posted a 6th and a 7th to take the junior title with Lisa and James' equal 6th and a 7th not enough to catch up.

505 Irish Nationals and British Isles Championships – MSBC 23rd to 25th October 2010

1 IRL/GBR           8945 Alex Barry & Adam Kenny 1 1 1 4 1 1 1
2 IRL                8961 Charles Dwyer & Conor Kelly 7 4 3 1 2 2 2
3 IRL               8497 Colin Barry & Dennis Cartwright 3 5 2 3 3 4 5
4 IRL/GBR           8955 Ewen Barry & Simon Lake 2 3 4 2 7 12 3
5 IRL               7771 Brian Jones & Garry Frost 4 2 5 6 5 3 4
6 GBR                8907 Jim Berry & David Barnes 6 7 6 5 10 5 10
7 IRL               8552 Michael O'Brien & John O'Gorman 5 6 7 8 4 12 13
8 IRL               8380 Charles & Jeannie McCarthy 8 8 8 7 6 12 8
9 IRL               8*08 Mike O'Brien & Josh Barrett 10 10 9 APA8.4 APA8.4 6 7
10 IRL              8679 James & Lisa O'Brien 9 9 11 10 8 7 6
11 IRL              8216 Joanne McCarthy & Steven O'Reilly 13 13 10 9 9 12 13
12 IRL              7852 Wade & Robert Cuppage 13 13 13 11 11 13 13

Published in Racing

Sharks in Irish waters

Irish waters are home to 71 species of shark, skates and rays, 58 of which have been studied in detail and listed on the Ireland Red List of Cartilaginous fish. Irish sharks range from small Sleeper sharks, Dogfish and Catsharks, to larger species like Frilled, Mackerel and Cow sharks, all the way to the second largest shark in the world, the Basking shark. 

Irish waters provide a refuge for an array of shark species. Tralee Bay, Co. Kerry provides a habitat for several rare and endangered sharks and their relatives, including the migratory tope shark, angel shark and undulate ray. This area is also the last European refuge for the extremely rare white skate. Through a European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF) project, Marine Institute scientists have been working with fishermen to assess the distribution, diversity, and monthly relative abundance of skates and rays in Tralee, Brandon and Dingle Bays.

“These areas off the southwest coast of Ireland are important internationally as they hold some of the last remaining refuges for angel shark and white skate,” said Dr Maurice Clarke of the Marine Institute. “This EMFF project has provided data confirming the critically endangered status of some species and provides up-to-date information for the development of fishery measures to eliminate by-catch.” 

Irish waters are also home to the Black Mouthed Catshark, Galeus melastomus, one of Ireland’s smallest shark species which can be found in the deep sea along the continental shelf. In 2018, Irish scientists discovered a very rare shark-nursery 200 nautical miles off the west coast by the Marine Institute’s ROV Holland 1 on a shelf sloping to 750 metres deep. 

There are two ways that sharks are born, either as live young or from egg casings. In the ‘case’ of Black Mouthed Catsharks, the nursery discovered in 2018, was notable by the abundance of egg casings or ‘mermaid’s purses’. Many sharks, rays and skate lay eggs, the cases of which often wash ashore. If you find an egg casing along the seashore, take a photo for Purse Search Ireland, a citizen science project focusing on monitoring the shark, ray and skate species around Ireland.

Another species also found by Irish scientists using the ROV Holland 1 in 2018 was a very rare type of dogfish, the Sail Fin Rough Shark, Oxynotus paradoxus. These sharks are named after their long fins which resemble the trailing sails of a boat, and live in the deep sea in waters up to 750m deep. Like all sharks, skates and rays, they have no bones. Their skeleton is composed of cartilage, much like what our noses and ears are made from! This material is much more flexible and lighter than bone which is perfect for these animals living without the weight of gravity.

Throughout history sharks have been portrayed as the monsters of the sea, a concept that science is continuously debunking. Basking sharks were named in 1765 as Cetorhinus maximus, roughly translated to the ‘big-nosed sea monster’. Basking sharks are filter feeders, often swimming with their mouths agape, they filter plankton from the water.

They are very slow moving and like to bask in the sun in shallow water and are often seen in Irish waters around Spring and early Summer. To help understand the migration of these animals to be better able to understand and conserve these species, the Irish Basking Shark Group have tagged and mapped their travels.

Remarkably, many sharks like the Angel Shark, Squatina squatina have the ability to sense electricity. They do this via small pores in their skin called the ‘Ampullae of Lorenzini’ which are able to detect the tiny electrical impulses of a fish breathing, moving or even its heartbeat from distances of over a kilometre! Angel sharks, often referred to as Monkfish have a distinctively angelic shape, with flattened, large fins appearing like the wings of an angel. They live on the seafloor in the coastal waters of Ireland and much like a cat are nocturnal, primarily active at night.

The intricate complexity of shark adaptations is particularly noticeable in the texture of their skin. Composed of miniscule, perfectly shaped overlapping scales, the skin of shark provides them with protection. Often shark scales have been compared to teeth due to their hard enamel structure. They are strong, but also due to their intricate shape, these scales reduce drag and allow water to glide past them so that the shark can swim more effortlessly and silently. This natural flawless design has been used as inspiration for new neoprene fabric designs to help swimmers glide through the water. Although all sharks have this feature, the Leafscale Gulper Shark, Centrophorus squamosus, found in Ireland are specifically named due to the ornate leaf-shape of their scales.