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Displaying items by tag: Tall Ships Festival

#Jailed - A Dublin man has been sentenced to three years in prison following his conviction for assault on a tourist during the Tall Ships Festival in August 2012.

As Newstalk reports, Thomas Reilly of Dublin's North Strand was convicted by a jury in January after the court heard he had lured British visitor Colin Ryder to the water's edge at Howth's West Pier before pushing him into the water.

Ryder sank under a boat moored at the pier-side but was rescued after nearby youths threw him a rope to drag him to safety.

The sentencing comes in what was a second trial over the incident for Reilly, who has 68 previous convictions, after a jury failed to agree a verdict in May last year.

Newstalk has much more on the story HERE.

Published in News Update

#TallShips – A flotilla of Tallships are to descend along Dublin's North Wall Quay as part of the first ever Dublin Port River Festival, writes Jehan Ashmore.

As previously reported on Afloat.ie, the capitals newest premier 'riverfest' was officially launched today to mark the three-day festival this June Bank Holiday Weekend (Saturday 1 June to Monday 3 June).

Sail Training Ireland and the Dublin Port Compnay has promoted sailing for all ages to those on board the flotilla which is a combination of A & B class traditional tallships.

The Dublin bound flotilla departed Belfast this week, having attended the Titanic Maritime Festival and they are due to arrive this Friday 31 May (in advance) of the long-weekend riverfest. The hope is to make this initiative an annual sail-training programme to Dublin Port.

According to the festival website, the tallships will be open to the public are Soteria, Gulden Leeuw, Pelican of London, Johanna Lucretia and Irene. The latter pair recently took part in the 'Sail Home to Your Roots' project which culminated with an arrival at the Poolbeg YBC & Marina.

Joining in the festival fun are the Howth 17's which will race 'Between the Bridges' on the Liffey. Also not to be missed is the 'Parade of Sail' again on the river, where up to 60 traditional Old Gaffers sailing craft which will be celebrating the Golden Jubilee of the Old Gaffers Association.

The festival is not exclusively all matters maritime but also jammed packed for family entertainment with shore-side stalls, events and activities. For full details of the festival programme visit: www.dublinriverfest.com

Published in Tall Ships
In glorious sunshine an estimated 200,000 visitors flocked to see the Tall Ships in Waterford on the final day of the festival before tomorrow's departing 'Parade of Sail' spectacle writes Jehan Ashmore.

Scenes of the tallships moored alongside the north and south quays and the surrounding festivities are captured by Gary O'Mahony. SCROLL DOWN FOR PICS.

Tall_Shipsjehan

The Columbian Navy's Sailing Training Ship ARC Gloria. Photo: Jehan Ashmore

This is the second year in which the city has been the host port of the Tall Ships Race and the prestigious event is to return for a third time. The next occasion has not been confirmed but it would be several years away according to Sail Training International, the organisers of the famous race.

View Waterford's Parade of Sail Photo Gallery Here

Published in Tall Ships

About Brittany Ferries

In 1967 a farmer from Finistère in Brittany, Alexis Gourvennec, succeeded in bringing together a variety of organisations from the region to embark on an ambitious project: the aim was to open up the region, to improve its infrastructure and to enrich its people by turning to traditional partners such as Ireland and the UK. In 1972 BAI (Brittany-England-Ireland) was born.

The first cross-Channel link was inaugurated in January 1973, when a converted Israeli tank-carrier called Kerisnel left the port of Roscoff for Plymouth carrying trucks loaded with Breton vegetables such as cauliflowers and artichokes. The story, therefore, begins on 2 January 1973, 24 hours after Great Britain's entry into the Common Market (EEC).

From these humble beginnings however, Brittany Ferries as the company was re-named quickly opened up to passenger transport, then became a tour operator.

Today, Brittany Ferries has established itself as the national leader in French maritime transport: an atypical leader, under private ownership, still owned by a Breton agricultural cooperative.

Eighty five percent of the company’s passengers are British.

Key Brittany Ferries figures:

  • Turnover: €202.4 million (compared with €469m in 2019)
  • Investment in three new ships, Galicia plus two new vessels powered by cleaner LNG (liquefied natural gas) arriving in 2022 and 2023
  • Employment: 2,474 seafarers and shore staff (average high/low season)
  • Passengers: 752,102 in 2020 (compared with 2,498,354 in 2019)
  • Freight: 160,377 in 2020 (compared with 201,554 in 2019)
  • Twelve ships operating services that connect France, the United Kingdom, Ireland and Spain (non-Covid year) across 14 routes
  • Twelve ports in total: Bilbao, Santander, Portsmouth, Poole, Plymouth, Cork, Rosslare, Caen, Cherbourg, Le Havre, Saint-Malo, Roscoff
  • Tourism in Europe: 231,000 unique visitors, staying 2.6 million bed-nights in France in 2020 (compared with 857,000 unique visitors, staying 8,7 million bed-nights in 2019).