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Displaying items by tag: Team Hibernia

Hibernia Racing, The International Irish Marathon Offshore Powerboat Racing Team headed by driver and throttle man John Ryan are set to take on their toughest challenge to date; the Cowes Classic 2016 Offshore Powerboat Race. The race takes place this Sunday, September 4th, starting at Cowes on the Isle of Wight with 'Hibernia Racing' being the first Irish boat to ever enter the race.

The Hibernia team includes Phillip Fitzgibbon navigating, Denis Dillon dealing with logistics and on-board hydraulic monitoring. Jonathan Napier is co–driver, Jonathan was famously the last Concorde flight pilot.
The mechanics include Christoff, Piotr and Mark Soper from the boats engine manufacturer FPT. 

John Ryan team HiberniaJohn Ryan driver and throttle man of Team Hibernia – realistic about chances in Cowes Photo: Afloat.ie

The team is also supported by Dingle's Tom Crean's lager, the Isle of Wight Distillery's Mermaid Gin and Henri Lloyd clothing.

The 200–mile classic has long been recognised as one of powerboating’s toughest challenges, it's the longest running offshore powerboat event in the world and comparisons have been made with motorsport events such as Le Mans and the Indy 500.

Around 20 boats are expected to be in the line-up for this high speed challenge including some boats with over 3000 hp available to drive their boats at speeds in excess of 210 km per hour.

Ryan is realistic about the teams chances saying that "we're in this to genuinely compete against the best teams and boats in the world, we know that our boat doesn't have the top speed or power of a lot of the other competitors but we have proven our overall reliability and high performance with our recent Round Ireland World record so hopefully at the end of the race we'll be up there with the best, remember to win you first have to finish!

Published in Powerboat Racing

Latitude:52.08295
Longitude:-6.59018
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Published in Round Ireland Power

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Published in Round Ireland Power

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Published in Round Ireland Power

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 Longitude:-6.18073
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Published in Round Ireland Power

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Published in Round Ireland Power

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Team Hibernia are scheduled to start their Round Ireland Powerboat record challenge at 0500 on Sunday morning. They will depart Kinsale and head clockwise round Ireland. The 2009 record time to beat is 18 hours 38 minutes and 50 seconds. Read more about the challenge here. The team are targeting a 14–hour time. We will be following the boat on the spot tracker (below). See all updates on one handy link HERE

Published in Round Ireland Power

The Round Ireland Powerboat bid due to get underway this weekend arrived at its Kinsale departure point by truck this afternoon. The four man bid is scheduled for Sunday and the sleek aluminium craft must be back in the south coast harbour within 18 hours 38 minutes and 50 seconds to beat the seven–year–old record. Read more about the circumnavigation here

 

Published in Round Ireland Power

A bid to break the 2009 Round Ireland powerboat record will be made this weekend. Venture Cup entrant John Ryan and his Team Hibernia crew will make an attempt at the record on Sunday. Starting in Kinsale on the South Coast, Ryan and his four man crew will need to be back in the Munster harbour within 19 hours if they are to break the seven–year–old record set in a time of 18 hours 38 minutes and 50 seconds.

Hibernia Racing's 100 mph –ALLBLACK SL44 entry is built for marathon racing and has a range of 500–miles, making it possible for the circumnavigation to be made with just one refuel stop. The sleek aluminium built craft was testing in Cork Harbour a month ago and was powering around Dublin Bay in the past fortnight as preparation for the now cancelled Venture Cup.

The 2009 record holder Philip Fitzgibbon will be part of this weekend's attempt and joins the four–man crew as navigator. Sean McNamara and Denis Dillon complete the line–up.

'We''re going clockwise from Kinsale. I'm keen to get the Atlantic out of the way first', Ryan told Afloat.ie this afternoon.

Fitzgibbon and Mike Shanahan reclaimed their Round Ireland Powerboat Record powering over the Kinsale finish line to become the first team to set a sub 19–hour time for the circumavigation of Ireland in October 2009. The record was set in a 7.5 metre RIB powered by a 250hp engine.

Published in Round Ireland Power

Ferry & Car Ferry News The ferry industry on the Irish Sea, is just like any other sector of the shipping industry, in that it is made up of a myriad of ship operators, owners, managers, charterers all contributing to providing a network of routes carried out by a variety of ships designed for different albeit similar purposes.

All this ferry activity involves conventional ferry tonnage, 'ro-pax', where the vessel's primary design is to carry more freight capacity rather than passengers. This is in some cases though, is in complete variance to the fast ferry craft where they carry many more passengers and charging a premium.

In reporting the ferry scene, we examine the constantly changing trends of this sector, as rival ferry operators are competing in an intensive environment, battling out for market share following the fallout of the economic crisis. All this has consequences some immediately felt, while at times, the effects can be drawn out over time, leading to the expense of others, through reduced competition or takeover or even face complete removal from the marketplace, as witnessed in recent years.

Arising from these challenging times, there are of course winners and losers, as exemplified in the trend to run high-speed ferry craft only during the peak-season summer months and on shorter distance routes. In addition, where fastcraft had once dominated the ferry scene, during the heady days from the mid-90's onwards, they have been replaced by recent newcomers in the form of the 'fast ferry' and with increased levels of luxury, yet seeming to form as a cost-effective alternative.

Irish Sea Ferry Routes

Irrespective of the type of vessel deployed on Irish Sea routes (between 2-9 hours), it is the ferry companies that keep the wheels of industry moving as freight vehicles literally (roll-on and roll-off) ships coupled with motoring tourists and the humble 'foot' passenger transported 363 days a year.

As such the exclusive freight-only operators provide important trading routes between Ireland and the UK, where the freight haulage customer is 'king' to generating year-round revenue to the ferry operator. However, custom built tonnage entering service in recent years has exceeded the level of capacity of the Irish Sea in certain quarters of the freight market.

A prime example of the necessity for trade in which we consumers often expect daily, though arguably question how it reached our shores, is the delivery of just in time perishable products to fill our supermarket shelves.

A visual manifestation of this is the arrival every morning and evening into our main ports, where a combination of ferries, ro-pax vessels and fast-craft all descend at the same time. In essence this a marine version to our road-based rush hour traffic going in and out along the commuter belts.

Across the Celtic Sea, the ferry scene coverage is also about those overnight direct ferry routes from Ireland connecting the north-western French ports in Brittany and Normandy.

Due to the seasonality of these routes to Europe, the ferry scene may be in the majority running between February to November, however by no means does this lessen operator competition.

Noting there have been plans over the years to run a direct Irish –Iberian ferry service, which would open up existing and develop new freight markets. Should a direct service open, it would bring new opportunities also for holidaymakers, where Spain is the most visited country in the EU visited by Irish holidaymakers ... heading for the sun!