Displaying items by tag: Balyholme YC

8th June 2015

Howth Yacht Club's Harry Bell is Top Optimist at Ballyholme

#optimist – Howth Yacht Club's Harry Bell was the winner of a cut–short Optimist Ulster Championships at Ballyholme Yacht Club yesterday. Like other east coast sailing events Satuday's schedule was blown out and three races were sailed on Sunday. Lough Derg Yacht Club's Sarah Levie was second in the 32–boat senior fleet and third was the Royal St. George's Hugh Kennedy. Results for the senior, junior and regatta fleets are downloadable below.

Published in Optimist

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104 Oppies at Ballyholme for Ulsters

Three fleets of Optimists, totalling 104 young sailors, gathered at Ballyholme YC last weekend for their Ulster Championships and faced a mix of conditions, everything from blue skies and medium breeze to rain and 30 knots.

Three races were completed on day one in the senior and junior fleets as the wind rose steadily during the day from 15 kts to 22 kts and gusted 25 kts at times. Some of the younger sailors struggled in the testing conditions but the improvement in the Regatta Fleet sailors was obvious as they persevered in the increasing winds..

Once again Daire Cournane successfully won all three races despite challenged at various times from Howth sailors Robert Dickson, Fergus Flood and Aoife Hopkins.

In the senior fleet Peter Mc Cann won race one followed by Philip Brownlow winning races three and four.

The junior fleet completed two races on day two. During the third race of the day a squall came through bringing with it driving rain and winds gusting 30 kts, combined with a large wind shift. The juniors finished the race but the decision was made to abandon further racing for the senior fleet.

The two senior fleet races were won by Seafra Guillfoyle and John Durcan and the overall winner of the Senior fleet for the Ulster Championships was Patrick Crosbie.

The winner of the Junior Fleet was Daire Cournane who completes a clean sweep of regional championships this season.

The Regatta Fleet, although diminished in size, was not diminished in enthusiasm and continued sailing throughout the squall on Sunday and even after the senior fleet had sailed in. These will be the ones to watch in the future.

Published in Youth Sailing

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Offshore wind

ESB know the importance of offshore wind in tackling climate change and delivering net zero. Ireland has a unique capability given its prime location to take advantage of the potential of offshore wind. ESB are working hard to develop offshore wind projects for the benefit of everyone across society in Ireland and the UK. This includes ongoing engagement with marine users and local communities so ESB can deliver these significant projects.

Offshore wind will play a major role globally in our fight against climate change. It will help to replace energy generated by burning fossil fuels with that from a clean, safe and secure renewable energy source. Ireland’s geographic location on the exposed edge of the Atlantic presents us with a significant opportunity to generate electricity from wind – both offshore and onshore.

Power from onshore wind farms currently provide over one-third of Ireland’s electricity needs. But, whilst its marine area is many times the size of its landmass, Ireland’s offshore wind potential is only starting to be realised. ESB have a coastline stretching over 3,000km but only one operational offshore wind farm – Arklow Bank, with a capacity of 25 MW. In contrast, Belgium’s coastline is only 63km long, but it has already developed more than 2,000 MW of offshore wind. In Great Britain, with a coastline four times the length of ours, offshore wind generation now equates to over 440 Arklow Banks, with an installed capacity of 11,0000 MW as of late 2021.

The Irish Government's target to install 5,000 MW of offshore wind capacity in our maritime area by 2030 is set out in the Climate Action Plan 2021. It also has the objective to source 80% of Ireland’s electricity needs from renewables by the same year. In line with this, ESB is applying its professional and proven engineering expertise to the challenges set within the Climate Action Plan.

ESB are committed to playing a strong role in developing Ireland’s offshore wind potential for the benefit of the people of Ireland. This will be done in consultation with marine users and local communities, and with due care for the marine environment.