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Displaying items by tag: Skibbereen

#Skibbereen - TheJournal.ie reports that a 14-year-old boy is in critical condition after he was struck in the head by a boom while yachting off Skibbereen yesterday morning (Saturday 24 June).

The teenager was airlifted to Cork University Hospital by the Irish Coast Guard helicopter Rescue 117, and the latest news from Independent.ie is that his condition was improving.

Elsewhere yesterday, Howth Coast Guard attended a 53-year-old man with serious head injuries sustained while kitesurfing off Sutton in North Co Dublin.

And Shannon’s Rescue 115 was called to Inis Mór in the Aran Islands for the medevac of a woman who suffered spinal injuries while taking part in the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series event.

Published in News Update

#Rowing: Irish crews had a very successful second day at the Metropolitan Regatta at Dorney Lake. Monika Dukarska of Killorglin and the Skibbereen double of Denise Walsh and Aoife Casey won in the top single and double sculls races, but other crews also impressed. NUIG’s women’s eight finished third in the A Final in Tier One – the crew, which has a number of novice rowers, had also taken third in the morning time trial. Trinity, UCC, Shandon, Galway, Cork and UCD were amongst the crews which also came away with encouraging results over the weekend.

Metropolitan Regatta, Dorney Lake, Day Two (Selected Results; Irish interest)

Men

Eights – Tier One, Final B: 2 NUIG A, 3 UCD (A). Final C: 1 Trinity 6:07.65. Final D: 2 UCD. Final F: 1 NUIG (B) 6:25.61. Final I: 2 Trinity (D), 3 UCD (C).

Four – Tier Three Final: 1 UCC 6:36.53.

Four, coxed – Championship Final: 3 NUIG (B).

Pair – Tier Two Final: 2 UCC

Sculling, Double

Tier Two Final: 2 Shandon

Women

Eight – Tier One – Final A: 3 NUIG (A). Final B: 2 Commercial. Final C: 3 Galway. Final D: 2 NUIG.

Four, coxed – Tier Three: 3 Galway Rowing Club.

Pair - Tier One Final: 2 Cork (G Collins, L Dilleen)

Sculling, Double – Tier One Final: 1 Skibbereen 7:17.56.

Single – Tier One: 1 Killorglin (M Dukarska); 3 UCD (A Crowley).

Published in Rowing

#Rowing: Denise Walsh followed up her excellent silver medal at the European Championships in the Czech Republic with a win on the Olympic course at Dorney Lake in England today. Walsh partnered  Aoife Casey, who has just turned 18, to a win in the Championship Double at Metropolitan Regatta. The Skibbereen double rowed well in the top event for women’s doubles at this big event, covering the course in seven minutes 13.27 seconds.

Published in Rowing

#Rowing: The Afloat Rowers of the Month for April are the UCD men’s senior eight. The crew, stroked by David O’Malley, beat Commercial, the champions of Ireland, at Skibbereen Regatta. They went on to Trinity Regatta and beat the hosts with another fine performance.

The winning crew at Skibbereen Regatta was: Sam Bolger, Shane O’Connell, Tiarnan Doherty, Max Murphy, Shane Mulvaney, Andrew Griffin, Eoin Gleeson, David O’Malley, Orlagh Reid (cox). James O’Sullivan replaced Shane O’Connell in the crew for Trinity.

Rower of the Month awards: The judging panel is made up of Liam Gorman, rowing correspondent of The Irish Times, and David O'Brien, editor of Afloat magazine. Monthly awards for achievements during the year will appear on afloat.ie. Keep a monthly eye on progress and watch our 2017 champions list grow.

Published in Rowing

#Rowing: The men’s quadruple gave four top internationals the chance to show their speed at Skibbereen Regatta. Shane O’Driscoll, Paul O’Donovan, Gary O’Donovan and Mark O’Donovan won in a very good time of six minutes 29.9 seconds. NUIG’s two women’s coxed fours were also impressive – the B crew won well from the A crew in the Division One A Final. Two junior 16 competitors from Castleconnell, Norma Silke and Lauren O’Brien, zoomed away from the rest to win the Division Two double sculls, while Lee’s senior crew took the honours in the women’s quadruple. Enniskillen’s junior 18 crew won the Division One coxed four.  

Skibbereen Grand League Regatta, National Rowing Centre, Day One (Selected Results; with Per Centage of Projected World Best Time)

Men

Eight – Division Two – A Final: 1 Queen’s (nov) 7:04.6. 3 Univ of Limerick (club two) 7:25.3, 6 Col Iognaid (jun 16) 7:40.6.

Four, coxed – Div One – A Final: 1 Enniskillen (jun 18A) 7:09.5 (82.18), 2 UCD (inter) 7:11.7 (81.78), 3 NUIG (sen) 7:12.9 (81.54). B Final: 2 NUIG (club one) 7:29.8 (78.48).

Pair – A Final: 1 Skibbereen (sen) 7:43.6 (80.46), 2 Commercial (sen) 7:50.8, 3 Enniskillen (jun 18A) 7:56.4; 4 Cork A (inter) 8:04.8 (76.95). C Final: 3 St Michael’s (club one) 8:10.1 (76.11).

Sculling,

Quadruple – Division One – A Final: 1 Skibbereen/UCD (sen) 6:29.9 (85.41), 2 Commercial (sen) 6:49.0 (81.42), 3 Shandon (jun 18A) 6:52.2 (80.79), 4 St Michael’s (club one) 7:11.0 (77.26).

Double – Div Two – A Final: 1 Castleconnell (jun 16) 8:51.7, 2 Shandon (club two) 9:17.3 (71.24). B Final: 2 Athlunkard (jun 18B) 9:57.4.

Single – A Final: 1 UCD (P O’Donovan; senior) 7:58.3 (81.78 per cent), 2 Skibbereen (G O’Donovan; sen) 8:03.4 (80.88), 3 UCD (A Goff; lightweight) 8:17.1 (78.66). B Final: 2 Skibbereen (K Mannix; intermediate) 8:21.6 (77.95); 5 Three Castles (R Quinn; jun 18A) 8:36.4 (75.71).

Women

Eight – Div Two – A Final: 1 Shandon (club two) 7:47.5; 4 NUIG (nov) 8:09.8. 5 Col Iognaid (jun 16) 8:12.8. Four, coxed – Division One – A Final: 1 NUIG B (inter) 8:03.5 (80.87),  NUIG A (inter) 8:12.6 (79.37), 3 Cork (sen) 8:18.4 (78.45); 6 UCC (club one) 8:40.7 (75.9).

Pair – A Final: 1 UCC (sen) 8:39.8 (79.06), 2 Cork (inter) 8:40.5 (78.96), 3 Fermoy (jun 18A) 8:47.1 (77.97). B Final: 3 Belfast BC (club one) 9:14.9 (74.07); 6 Cork A (jun 18A) 9:35.7 (71.39)

Sculling

Quadruple – Div One – A Final: 1 Lee (sen) 7:35.2 (80.18), 2 Fermoy, Carlow, Skibbereen, Kenmare 7:36.6 (79.94), 3 Workmans (jun 18A) 7:48.1 (77.98).

Div Two, coxed – A Final: Cork (jun 18B) 8:34.6, 2 Lee A (club two) 8:47.4, 3 Carlow (jun 16), 4 Garda (club two) 9:00.0. B Final: 2 UCD A (nov) 9:21.4.

Double – Div Two – A Final: 1 Castleconnell (jun 16) 8:51.7, 2 Shandon (club two) 9:17.3. B Final: 2 Athlunkard (jun 18B) 9:57.4.

Single – A Final: 1 Old Collegians (S Puspure; sen) 8:33.5 (82.97), 2 Killorglin (M Dukarska; sen) 8:45.0 (81.14), 3 UCD (A Crowley; inter) 9:06.8 (77.91). B Final: 3 Col Iognaid (C Nic Dhonncha; jun 18A) 9:38.1 (73.69), 4 Lee Valley (E O’Mahony; club one) 9:45.6 (72.75).

Published in Rowing

#Rowing: Paul O’Donovan maintained his dominance in the single sculls with a win over his brother, Gary, at the Skibbereen Grand League Regatta at the National Rowing Centre. Daire Lynch missed the race through illness. Shane O’Driscoll and Mark O’Donovan of the host club were emphatic winners of the pair, but Shane Mulvaney and David O’Malley had withdrawn from the heats because Mulvaney had suffered heart palpitations. He was taken the hospital for observation.

 Sanita Puspure won the single sculls final with over 11 seconds to spare over Monika Dukarska. Aileen Crowley of UCD, just back from Australia, was third.  The women’s pair was won by the UCC crew of Aifric Keogh and Aoife Feeley. UCD’s Ruth Gilligan and Eimear Lambe, with a reverse of the usual order which saw Gilligan move to stroke, did not do well in the heat and competed in the B Final.  

Skibbereen Grand League Regatta, National Rowing Centre (Selected Results; with Per Centage of Projected World Best Time)

Men

Eight – Division Two – A Final: 1 Queen’s (nov) 7:04.6. 3 Univ of Limerick (club two) 7:25.3, 6 Col Iognaid (jun 16) 7:40.6.

Pair – A Final: 1 Skibbereen (sen) 7:43.6 (80.46), 2 Commercial (sen) 7:50.8, 3 Enniskillen (jun 18A) 7:56.4; 4 Cork A (inter) 8:04.8 (76.95). C Final: 3 St Michael’s (club one) 8:10.1 (76.11).

Sculling

Single – A Final: 1 UCD (P O’Donovan; senior) 7:58.3 (81.78 per cent), 2 Skibbereen (G O’Donovan; sen) 8:03.4 (80.88), 3 UCD (A Goff; lightweight) 8:17.1 (78.66). B Final: 2 Skibbereen (K Mannix; intermediate) 8:21.6 (77.95); 5 Three Castles (R Quinn; jun 18A) 8:36.4 (75.71).

Women

Pair – A Final: 1 UCC (sen) 8:39.8 (79.06), 2 Cork (inter) 8:40.5 (78.96), 3 Fermoy (jun 18A) 8:47.1 (77.97). B Final: 3 Belfast BC (club one) 9:14.9 (74.07); 6 Cork A (jun 18A) 9:35.7 (71.39)

Sculling

Quadruple – Div Two, coxed – A Final: Cork (jun 18B) 8:34.6, 2 Lee A (club two) 8:47.4, 3 Carlow (jun 16), 4 Garda (club two) 9:00.0.

 1 Tralee (jun 16) 9:08.7. 2 Flesk Valley (nov) 9:16.0, 3 Cork (club two) 9:52.3

Single – A Final: 1 Old Collegians (S Puspure; sen) 8:33.5 (82.97), 2 Killorglin (M Dukarska; sen) 8:45.0 (81.14), 3 UCD (A Crowley; inter) 9:06.8 (77.91). B Final: 3 Col Iognaid (C Nic Dhonncha; jun 18A) 9:38.1 (73.69), 4 Lee Valley (E O’Mahony; club one) 9:45.6 (72.75).

Published in Rowing

#Rowing: Commercial won the senior eights championship of Ireland (the 'Big Pot') in a race with a thrilling finish at the Irish Rowing Championships. The Dublin crew took over the lead at halfway, but could not shake off UCD. In the final 250 metres, UCD charged and seemed set to catch Commercial, but the eventual winners found something and surged. The margin in an extremely fast race - Commercial recorded a time of five minutes 36.892 seconds - was less than a third of a second.

 Skibbereen, in combination with UCC, won the women's senior eight. This was a much more emphatic win, with UCD challenging but not able to catch the winners. Skibbereen added the women's junior quadruple and the men's intermediate double titles to take their overall tally for the Championships to 13 - they now have 163 in total, 11 clear of nearest rivals, Neptune (152).

 Marie Piggott of NUIG was a very clear winner of the women's intermediate single. Commercial were also in charge in their win in the men's junior pair.

 Cork completed a good set of results for them when they won the women's club eight.

Irish Rowing Championships, National Rowing Centre, Day Three (Selected Results, Finals)

Men

Eights - Senior: 1 Commercial (D Joyce, M Maher, R Peguet, S Mac Eoin, F Groome, D Burke, C Dowling, N Gahan; cox: M Crockett) 5:36.892, 2 UCD A 5:37.220, 3 NUIG 5:44.377. Four - Club, coxed: NUIG 6:33.156.

Pair - Inter: Portora 6:49.900. Junior: 1 Commercial 7:00.686, 2 Portora B 7:02.186, 3 Portora A 7:03.905.

Sculling, Double - Inter: Skibbereen 6:33.887. Junior: 1 Shandon A 6:36.777, 2 Clonmel 6:39.324, Castleconnell A 6:51.168.

Lightweight Single: 1 Skibbrereen (S O'Driscoll) 7:15.482, 2 Skibbereen (A Burns) 9:08.433, 3 Carlow (O Nolan) 7:36.764.

Women

Eight- Senior: 1 Skibbereen/UCC (L Murphy, N Casey, O Hayes, C J Hearne, N O'Mahony, A Feeley, A Keogh, D Walsh; cox R O'Leary) 6:24.548, 2 UCD 6:29.778, 3 Trinity 6:40.377. Club: Cork 6:39.339.

Four - Inter, coxed: Commercial 7:20.348.

Pair - Junior: 1 Cork 7:35.640, 2 Bann 7:41.453, 3 Shannon 7:41.750

Sculling - Quadruple - Junior: 1 Skibbereen 6:46.308, 2 Bann 6:53.292, 3 Lee 6:59.527.

Single - Inter: NUIG (M Piggott) 7:58.822.

Lightweight Single: Skibbereen (D Walsh) 7:54.535, 2 Carlow (A Byrne) 8:21.130, 3 Queen's (R Brown) 8:33.287.

Published in Rowing

#Rowing: Skibbereen brought their tally of titles for the Irish Rowing Championships to a remarkable 10 so far as Denise Walsh and Shane O'Driscoll had big wins in the lightweight single sculls in the morning session of the third day.

 Shandon's win in the men's junior double was a sweet one for Stephen O'Sullivan and Ronan Byrne. They led Clonmel all down the course and held off push after push in the final 500 metres.  Strokeman O'Sullivan shouted with joy at the finish, but it was a particularly big win for Byrne. He had been beaten by the Clonmel strokeman, Daire Lynch, in the junior single. Byrne and Lynch team up in the Ireland junior double for the World Championships.  

 Cork Boat Club's good run in junior events continued, as Amy Mason and Tara Hanlon won the junior pair. Portora won the men's intermediate pair and NUIG the club coxed four. Commercial led all the way in the women's intermediate four and had a clearwater margin at the finish.

Irish Rowing Championships, National Rowing Centre, Day Three (Selected Results, Finals)

Men

Four - Club, coxed: NUIG 6:33.156.

Pair - Inter: Portora 6:49.900.

Sculling, Double - Junior: 1 Shandon A 6:36.777, 2 Clonmel 6:39.324, Castleconnell A 6:51.168.

Lightweight Single: 1 Skibbrereen (S O'Driscoll) 7:15.482, 2 Skibbereen (A Burns) 9:08.433, 3 Carlow (O Nolan) 7:36.764.

Women

Four - Inter, coxed: Commercial 7:20.348.

Pair - Junior: 1 Cork 7:35.640, 2 Bann 7:41.453, 3 Shannon 7:41.750

Sculling - Lightweight Single: Skibbereen (D Walsh) 7:54.535, 2 Carlow (A Byrne) 8:21.130, 3 Queen's (R Brown) 8:33.287.

Published in Rowing

#Rowing: Skibbereen took two of the three senior titles on offer in the evening session of the second day of the Irish Rowing Championships at the National Rowing Centre. The women's pair of Denise Walsh and Aoife Casey beat UCC, while the men's quadruple held off a late charge by a Queen's/Portadown composite.

 Monika Dukarska of Killorglin won the women's senior single. She was dominant all the way, with only Siobhan McCrohan of Tribesmen testing her to any degree.

 The junior women's eight gave Cork Boat Club a chance to impress. They led for most of the race, and while Bann held an overlap through the middle of the course, Cork were clear winners.

 Trinity were extraordinarily dominant in the men's novice eight - their win by 11 seconds was cheered lustily by their fans.

 Shandon fought through the opposition offered by Carlow to win the junior men's quadruple, and Roisin Maguire of Queen's was the best club single sculler.

 The man of the day was, arguably, the Clonmel competitor Daire Lynch. The teenager added the men's intermediate single scull to the club title he had won earlier in the day. He passed Declan O'Connor of St Michael's in the middle stages of the race and won well.

Irish Rowing Championships, National Rowing Centre, Cork

 Day Two (Selected results)

Men

Eight - Intermediate: Commercial 5:43.182. Novice: Trinity 6:00.157.

Four - Junior, coxed: 1 Cork A 6:29.20, 2 Portora 6:35.341, 3 Clonmel 6:40.716.

Pair - Senior: 1 Skibbereen 6:30.311, 2 UCD 6:33.546, 3 Portora 6:44.968.

Sculling, Quadruple - Senior: 1 Skibbereen 5:59.102, 2 Queen's/Portadown 5:59.790, 3 Shandon A 6:08.509. Junior: 1 Shandon 6:07.970, 2 Carlow B 6:13.361, 3 Three Castles 6:13.799.

Single - Inter: Clonmel (D Lynch) 7:04.573. Club: Clonmel (D Lynch) 7:15.463.

Women

Eight - Novice: Trinity 7:09.594. Junior: 1 Cork 1 Cork 6:39.271, 2 Bann 6:44.193, 3 Portora 6:49.287.

Pair - Senior: 1 Skibbereen 7:23.775, 2 UCC 7:29.369, 3 Trinity 7:46.166.

Sculling, Double - Inter: Lee 7:22.252.

Single - Senior: 1 Killorglin (M Dukarska) 7:35.069, 2 Tribesmen (S McCrohan) 7:50.320, 3 Skibbereen (O Hayes) 7:57.742. Club: Queen's (R Maguire) 8:15.155. Junior: 1 Skibbereen (E Hegarty) 8:05.674, 2 Neptune (C Feerick) 8:13.065, 3 Castleconnell (J Vascotto) 8:15.002.

 

Published in Rowing

#Rowing: Cork Boat Club won the men's junior 18 coxed four at the National Rowing Championships today. On Friday, Portora had beaten Cork in the junior eight by leading all the way, but Cork turned the tables - they took the lead early and won by over six seconds. Daire Lynch, who won the junior single on the first day, added the club title with an emphatic win.

 Emily Hegarty took the junior women's single by a huge margin, and her Skibbereen clubmates, Mark O'Donovan and Shane O'Driscoll, augmented the club's growing honour list by taking the men's senior pair. Their main rivals, UCD's Shane Mulvaney and David O'Malley, were over three seconds behind at the finish.

 Commercial had a stirring win in the men's intermediate eight. UCD led to half way, just holding off Commercial, and it looked like there might be a battle between the two crews from there. But Commercial, stroked by Neil Gahan, moved away and won well in an excellent time.

 In the women's novice eight Trinity won well, and Lee were commanding in their victory in the women's intermediate double. 

Irish Rowing Championships, National Rowing Centre, Cork

 Day Two (Selected results)

Men

Eight - Intermediate: Commercial 5:43.182.

Four - Junior, coxed: 1 Cork A 6:29.20, 2 Portora 6:35.341, 3 Clonmel 6:40.716.

Pair - Senior: 1 Skibbereen 6:30.311, 2 UCD 6:33.546, 3 Portora 6:44.968.

Sculling

Single - Club: Clonmel (D Lynch) 7:15.463.

Women

Eight - Novice: Trinity 7:09.594.

Sculling, Double - Inter: Lee 7:22.252.

Single - Junior: 1 Skibbereen (E Hegarty) 8:05.674, 2 Neptune (C Feerick) 8:13.065, 3 Castleconnell (J Vascotto) 8:15.002.

Published in Rowing
Page 5 of 10

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.