Left: Irish U–12 Squad at UK Optimist Nationals

Galway Bay Sailing Club is based in Renville Oranmore, approximately 7 miles from Galway City. The club is renowned for the warm welcome it extends to its members and visitors alike. It organises and facilitates the racing and sailing of dinghies, cruisers and multihulls for adults and junior members. The club also offers training and instruction to adults, juniors and non-members.

The clubhouse with bar and catering facilities opens on Sundays afternoons and also Tuesday and Wednesday nights from April to September to facilitate the various racing fleets During the remaining months it opens on Sundays for dinghy racing and on Wednesday nights for talks and social events. The club has played host to many successful Regional and National Regattas with racing taking place against the backdrop of beautiful Galway Bay.

Galway Bay Sailing Club (GBSC), Rinville, Oranmore, Co. Galway

(Details and image courtesy of Galway Bay Sailing Club) 

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Spoiled for Choice

There’s no shortage of one-design classes from which to choose and each gives its enthusiasts great competition, fun and camaraderie, writes Graham Smith in this review of the classes. A profile of each active class in Ireland is supplied below; just click on the title link (in bold) or the Class Association link to go directly to the information.

One-design racing is where it all starts. It is, after all, where all the top sailors earned their stripes, battling away for line honours without a thought for a handicapper’s calculator wiping away a hard-fought victory!

Indeed, you could count on less than one hand the number of top Irish sailors who didn’t cut their teeth in a one-design dinghy! Just think of Cudmore, Barrington, Watson, Wilkins, Hennessy and Dix to name a few and you realise that they honed their skills in everything from Enterprises to Lasers and a lot in between.

At present count, there are a little over 30 one-design classes in Ireland, split almost evenly between dinghies and keelboats, a statistic which might raise a few eyebrows. They range from the long-established Mermaids, IDRA14s and Dragons to the newer additions like Fevas, Topaz and RS Elite. They all fill a particular need and give their owners and crews considerable enjoyment.

Many have attracted their World or European Championships to Irish waters over the years and while 2009 is notable for a lack of such events here, the following year will see the Etchells Worlds at Howth and perhaps a few other international regattas too.

In addition to the review, we asked each class to complete a questionnaire giving details of their fleet numbers, whether they were on a growth pattern or holding their own, so we could highlight those ‘on the up’ and those remaining static in terms of numbers. The older traditional designs, as you might imagine, fall into the latter category, although that’s not a negative!

CLASS REVIEW  The State of the Classes – League Table (as at February 2009)

S = Static; U = Up/growing

275     Optimist   U

200+   Laser   S

189     Mermaid   S

160     Flying Fifteen   S

130     RS Feva   U

115     Shannon One Design    U

100+   Mirror   S

100+   Topper   U

99       Topaz   U

94       Laser SB3   U

87       GP14   U

85       Squib   S

70       Fireball   S

70       Ruffian   S

60       J24   S

60       Shipman   S

52       Dragon   S

50       RS400/200   S

50       420    U

43       Multihulls    U

42       Dragon    S

40       Water Wags    U

40       Wayfarer    S

34       IDRA14    U

33       Puppeteer    U

28       Etchells    S

27       E-Boat    U

26       Glen    S

25       Enterprise    S

18       Sigma 33    S

18       Howth 17    U

13       RS Elite    U

Welcome to the CRYC web site which we hope will be of interest to members and visitors alike. Established in 1864, the CRYC is one of the oldest inland waterway clubs in the British Isles. Located in the centre of Galway City it continues to provide facilities for water-based recreational activity for almost 300 members.

Corrib Rowing & Yachting Club, Earls’ Island, Distillery Road, Newcastle, Galway. Tel: 091 564560, email: [email protected]

(Details courtesy of Corrib Rowing & Yachting Club) 

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The North Coast Personal Water Craft (NCPWC) Club is the first Jet ski club and the first RYA Affiliated jetski club in Ireland. It is a non-profit making club ran run by 'jet-skiers' for 'jet-skiers' to ensure the continuation of the sport along the North Coast of Ireland and inland water of the River Bann and Lough Neagh. It was formed at the end of the 2005 by jet skiers.

Our aim is to promote the use of personal watercraft (jet-bikes and jet-skis) along the North Coast of Ireland, the River Bann and Lough Neagh by ensuring that all club members abide to local bye-laws, maritime laws and current legislation. We will allow our members to use our website to arrange 'meets' and social gatherings.

By promoting our sport as being safe and fun we will develop facilities for our members in conjunction with local authorities. We can provide training courses for PWC', thus promoting safety through a qualified RYA instructor.

All members are encouraged to attain a PWC certificate and must hold a valid certificate of insurance at all times prior to using the beach, River Bann or Lough Shore at Antrim for launching personal watercraft.

The North Coast PWC Club has and will continue to work closely with Limavady; Antrim & Coleraine Borough Council’s and will also work with any other organisations or bodies that have a valid interest in the use of Benone Beach, River Bann and Lough Neagh where we are active as a club.

(Details courtesy of North Coast Personal Watercraft Club) 

North Coast Personal Watercraft Club

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The Heritage Boat Association’s aspiration is to protect, promote and celebrate the floating heritage on the inland waterways of Ireland. What's remaining of our Floating Heritage provides us with a direct link to the past and includes both commercial and pleasure craft that plied the inland waterways through the different eras of the canal, lake and river systems.

If you are interested in Irish barges, canal boats, lighters, old wooden boats, steam tugs, steam yachts, sailing barges, historic boats that have ended up on the Irish inland waterways or our work, do contact us.
 
So - what is so interesting about Heritage Boats?

A Heritage Boat is described as being consistent with the provisions of the Heritage Act 1995, to mean a boat over 25 years old which is of significance because of it’s intrinsic construction or because of it’s association with the commercial, cultural, economic, industrial, military, political, social or other history of the country. 

'Celebrating Ireland's Floating Heritage'

Heritage Boat Association  

Professional Association of Diving Instructors – PADI

PADI is the world’s leading scuba diving training organisation.

With more than forty years experience and 5,300 dive shops and resorts worldwide, PADI training materials and services let you experience scuba diving from nearly anywhere.

Scuba diving with PADI Instructors, Dive Centers and Resorts can help transform your life through education, experience, equipment and environmental conservation.

The PADI Story – Two Friends, a Bottle of Scotch and an Idea

It’s hard to believe that the world’s largest scuba diving training organisation was dreamt up by two friends in Illinois over a bottle of Johnny Walker in 1966.

PADI Co-Founders, John Cronin, a scuba equipment salesman for US Divers, and Ralph Ericson, an educator and swimming instructor, were concerned about the scuba diving industry. They felt that the current scuba certification agencies were unprofessional, didn’t use state of the art instruction and made it unnecessarily difficult for people to enter the sport. John and Ralph knew there had to be a safer, easy way for people to learn to breathe underwater.

In 1966, John brought a bottle of Johnnie Walker Black Label and thirty dollars to Ralph’s Illinois apartment in Morton Grove. They decided it was time to start a scuba training organization. John insisted that the word ‘professional’ be in the name of the company. Ralph wanted an ‘association of diving instructors.’ After a few drinks, the acronym PADI was born.

The goal: Give more people a chance to enjoy the underwater world by offering relevant, instructionally-valid scuba diving training to create confident scuba divers who dive regularly.

In the early years, PADI grew slowly. By the late 1960s, PADI had 400 members and it was still a struggling entity. John Cronin had been promoted to Sales Manager at US Divers and had moved the family to Huntington Beach, California.

Cronin went to a huge National Sporting Goods Association show in New York City. While he was there, he met with Paul Tzimoulis, who later became the editor of Skin Diver Magazine. Paul suggested that PADI put the diver’s picture on the certification card. That was a strategic move that helped PADI’s eventual global recognition.

Cronin and Erikson hired Nick Icorn from US Divers’ engineering team, who worked with Erickson to develop a modular training program for the PADI Open Water Diver course. It started to catch on.

In the late 1970s and early 80s PADI began creating its own integrated, multi-media student and instructor educational materials for each course. This development spawned an incredible growth period for PADI and made it unique from other agencies.

By the late 1980s PADI was the leading scuba diving training organization in the world. With so many new people introduced to the activity, PADI felt a responsibility to teach divers about their interactions with the underwater environment. PADI had worked very hard over the years to keep the scuba diving industry as free from legislation as possible. Cronin knew the organization had a responsibility to protect the marine environment or risk the government doing so. John Cronin said: "We want to feel that our children, their children and generations to come will be able to enjoy the underwater world that has given us so much. There are so many significant problems facing mankind, but as divers, this is truly our cause. If scuba divers do not take an active role in preserving the aquatic realm, who will?"

Out of a true concern for the environment, the Project AWARE Foundation was formed.

PADI co-founder John Cronin passed away in 2003. His friend and PADI co-founder, Ralph Erickson, also passed away three years later. They proudly carried PADI’s torch for many years before they confidently put it in the hands of today’s generation, who continue to introduce the world to scuba diving.

PADI has issued more than millions of scuba certifications worldwide. There are more than 5,700 PADI Dive Shops and Resorts worldwide.

With close to 400 employees in PADI corporate offices around the world, PADI works hard to be the best partner to its members and is committed to:

1 Safe and responsible diver acquisition and retention
2 Quality member acquisition and retention
3 Financial prosperity
4 Worldwide alignment in message, products, systems and procedures

There is a space for Irish boating clubs and racing classes to use as their own bulletin board and forum for announcements and discussion. If you want to see a dedicated forum slot for your club or class, click here

Professional Association of Diving Instructors – PADI

Cruising under sail along the coasts of Ireland has a long and colourful history, but it was not until 1929 that the Irish Cruising Club was brought into being to act as a co-ordinating body for seagoing amateur sailors in all parts of a country which had only recently been partitioned.

Cruising clubs already existed in other parts of the world, usually founded in cities by like-minded ICC 1st Committee mtg enthusiasts at winter gatherings. But the new organisation had given itself a special flavour by arranging to bring about its establishment through a cruise-in-company by a small flotilla of five yachts on the southwest coast of Ireland. The inaugural meeting was held in Glengarriff at the head of Bantry Bay on the evening of Saturday July 13th 1929.

The leading inspiration for the establishment of the club came from Harry Donegan of Cork, supported by Billy Mooney of Dublin. Both were sailing enthusiasts of broad interests. Donegan was a founder member of the Royal Ocean Racing Club, having taken third place in the inaugural Fastnet Race with his cutter Gull in 1925, while Mooney was to be a class winner in the same event with his ketch Aideen in 1947.

Thus, offshore racing was seen by many of the early members as an integral part of their activities, and by the 1960s the ICC was organising Ireland's biennial Admiral's Cup teams. But international sailing was becoming an increasingly complex business, and it was apparent that the health of the club would be best served by concentrating solely on cruising and the services the club provided for its members and the cruising community.

By the 1970s, the club's rules were undergoing revision, and in 1992 its purpose was clarified:

The objects of the Club shall be to associate sailing yachtsmen, to encourage cruising with particular emphasis on cruising off the Irish coast, to gather and publish information useful to yachtsmen concerning tides, tidal streams, harbours, anchorages, lights, navigational aids, shore facilities and such like, and to record and/or publish logs of cruises and passages undertaken by members.

Ever since 1929, the Club's members have worked voluntarily towards the production of Sailing Directions which today cover the entire coast of Ireland in two volumes. Sailing Directions for the South & West Coasts of Ireland - which began life as the South and Southwest Coast book edited by Harry Donegan in 1930 – was published in its Eleventh Edition in 2006, while the Tenth Edition of the East & North Coast Directions – originally published as the East Coast book in 1930 under the editorship of Billy Mooney – was published in 2003.

Since 1931, the Irish Cruising Club has organised log competitions, inaugurated by its premier award, the Faulkner Cup, donated by northern member James Faulkner. The publication of a privately circulated Annual collates the members' cruising narratives, and today the Annual has become a profusely-illustrated 150-page book, published in time for Christmas.

Women members have always had equal rights in the club, and the first to win the Faulkner Cup was Elizabeth Crimmins in 1934. In 1939, the winner was Daphne French, for a remarkable cruise to the far end of the Baltic Sea in a little boat called Embla. So although the Irish Cruising Club - which has no premises of its own - is essentially based around a membership in Ireland cruising the Irish coast, its activities have always included a significant outward-looking element.

The ICC now has many challenge trophies, and each year's award-winning cruises include major international and transoceanic ventures, including voyages into high latitudes. However, the club continues to be an amateur organisation without any professional administration, and in order to make this possible, membership is limited to 550, with applications being accepted each November for consideration at the Club's committee meeting in January.

This article was kindly contributed by ICC member, WM Nixon, and provided courtesy of the Irish Cruising Club

Irish Cruising Club, Email: [email protected] 

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The Cruising Association of Ireland was set up with the aim of working with the Irish Sailing Association and the Royal Yachting Association [Northern Ireland], for the promotion and encouragement of cruising and of social union among its members. Click here for all the latest Cruising News.

The association was set up as a virtual association using internet based technology. This is a faster and more cost effective medium to use for communication, and internet users are unashamedly the main target for CAI membership.

The association has been established now for a number of years. In 2010 we are working towards a re-launch of this website at the end of the first quarter, and a new effort is being made in 2010 to establish cruising connections with the Yacht Clubs and Marina’s with a view to encouraging cruising Sailors to get out on the water.

 Development Areas

The Cruising Association of Ireland will focus on the development of the following areas in the coming year:

• Sharing of Information on cruising : Articles on Cruising topics, ports and destinations around the coast.
• Social Interaction among members : Promotion of Yacht Club talks of interest to Cruising Sailors, encouraging members to get out and cruise regularly in company.
• Events on and off the water : While the CAI does not “run” events directly, we will work with Yacht Clubs and Marina’s to encourage events of interest to Cruising Sailors. Click here for details of upcoming CAI Events.
• Representation: We will endeavour to work with statutory and non statutory authorities in resolving issues that affect cruiser sailors.

Cruising Association of Ireland, 22 St. Nessans Terrace, Dublin. Tel: +353 (0) 87 258 214, email: [email protected] 

There is a space for Irish boating clubs and racing classes to use as their own bulletin board and forum for announcements and discussion. If you want to see a dedicated forum slot for your club or class, click here

A Powerboat Racing Club based in Killaloe, Co. Clare, home of the famous Féile Brian Ború. We have members from all over Ireland and we are looking forward to an exciting season in 2009; with a full calendar of National Racing. It takes a team to make it all happen and we would love to hear from anyone interested in joining Midwest Powerboat Club.

Midwest Powerboat Club is dedicated to the development of Powerboat Racing in Ireland. Last year we ran Irelands first ISA sanctioned Closed Cell Immersion Test and first F'2 F'4 and P750 Powerboat Event. Both were held in Killaloe, Co. Clare We are planning to host two more National Powerboat Races this year and to have the Immersion Test at the first of these events.

Act now and become part of this exciting sport. Drop us a line at [email protected] and let us know how you would like to participate.

(Details and image courtesy of the Midwest Powerboat Club) 

Midwest Powerboat Club, c/o Brian Brosnan, Maglass, Ballymacelligott, Tralee, Co Kerry. Tel: 086 82 55 782, email: [email protected] (website inactive as at 7/10/09)

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The RYA is the national body in the UK for all forms of boating, including dinghy and yacht racing, motor and sail cruising, ribs and sports boats, powerboat racing, windsurfing, inland cruising and narrowboats, and personal watercraft.

What we do:

Lobbying – Protecting the interest of boaters
Expert Advice – For RYA members and affiliated clubs – expert advice at your fingertips.
Racing – From sail racing to powerboat racing
Disabled Sailing – Sailing; when able-bodied and disabled sailors can participate on equal terms.
Supporting Clubs – Clubs are the bedrock of sailing, powerboating and inland boating in the UK.
Professional Qualifications – Go global with RYA qualifications.
RYA Training Courses – RYA training courses and books - the best in the world.
Britain’s Champions – Nurturing and supporting Britain's sailing talent.
Growing the Sport – Getting people involved.
Safety – Helping to keep you safe on the water
RYA Publications – One of the great things about being on the water is that you never stop learning.
RYA Voucher Schemd – Ideal gift for friends and family.

Royal Yachting Association (RYA), RYA House, Ensign Way, Hamble, Hants SO31 4YA, UK. Tel: +44 (0) 2380 604 100