The Martello Tower in Dublin’s Blackrock is to be wrapped with a solar-powered “line of light”, showing possible future sea levels as part of a series around the Irish coast.

The “Línte na Farraige” (Lines of the Sea) project, which was initiated at Galway’s Spanish Arch and in Wexford harbour last year, is designed by Finnish artists, Pekka Niittyvirta and Timo Aho.

The project is financed from the inaugural Creative Climate Action fund, an initiative from the Creative Ireland Programme in collaboration with the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications.

The fund “supports creative, cultural and artistic projects that build awareness around climate change and empower citizens to make meaningful behavioural transformations”.

The art installation at the Martello tower in Blackrock Park, which will be lit early next week, consists of a solar-powered horizontal LED line of light.

It shows the future risks of rising seas and storm surges, in the year 2100 and under a high-risk scenario, where ice loss from Antarctica is greater than expected.

The installation is based on future predictions from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Report AR6, and historic storm surge data in Dublin Bay.

Project artists Pekka Niittyvirta and Timo Aho said that “art has the potential to convey scientific data, complex ideas and concepts, in a powerful way that words or graphs fall short of”.

“Visualising something that is incomprehensible for a human, even with the factual studies and data available when talking about causality and climate change, is difficult. We seem to be unable to accept things we have not physically experienced,”they said.

Councillor Mary Hanafin, Cathaoirleach of Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council said the Línte na Farraige project “ is a unique, yet stark reminder, that our seas are silently rising, and will continue to do so, undetectable to the naked eye”.

“ The Government’s national Climate Action Plan 2023 speaks to ambition that will only work if we all come together in a strengthened ‘social contract’ for climate action, working towards real solutions that are meaningful, inclusive, fair and accessible,”she said.

“ By working together, we can all help ‘lower the line’. I wish to thank the artists, the National Monuments Service, the Creative Climate Action programme and the wider project team for bringing this installation to Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council,”she said.

Frank Curran, Chief Executive of Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, said he is “delighted that the council is a local authority partner in the Línte na Farraige project”.

“ I believe that as we all work towards our 2030 and 2050 climate action targets, local authorities can be at the heart of this ambition, given our close links with local communities, our role in emergency response planning and our ongoing partnership with various Government departments and agencies,”he said.

The installation will run for a number of months from Wednesday, February 22nd, 2023. The council is also running an associated outdoor, public exhibition on the Línte na Farraige project at Moran Park, dlr LexIcon, Dún Laoghaire.

Minister for Tourism Catherine Martin said she hoped that the installation “will generate a much-needed dialogue about rising sea levels”.

“While it should give us all pause for thought, it must be remembered that the future is still in our hands. By making key changes in our personal behaviour we can mitigate against climate change and sea level rise and build a more sustainable and resilient future for us all,” she said.

Línte na Farraige involves a team including creators and artists, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, scientists based at Trinity College Dublin, Maynooth University and University College Cork.

Also involved is the Dublin Climate Action Regional Office, Wexford County Council, Galway City Council, Fingal County Council, and the Marine Institute.

Read also: Dublin and Cork are sinking

The First 31.7 Avalon was the winner of the second race of the AIB-sponsored DBSC Spring Chicken Series on Dublin Bay on Sunday. 

In a continuation of her good form, the 2022 DBSC Turkey Shoot Series champion is now lying in joint ninth place in the 37-boat fleet.

Second and third places, over a new windward leeward course configuration on Sunday, saw J80s Jay-Z and Derry Girls taking second and third in the light to medium air race.

Overall after two races sailed, John O'Gorman's Hot Cookie from the National Yacht Club leads from the J80, George 6.

In third place overall is Chris Power Smith's J122 Aurelia from the Royal St. George Yacht Club. 

Racing continues this Sunday morning off Dun Laoghaire Harbour.

Download results below

Live Dublin Bay webcam 

Yet again we’ve had a journalist in Ireland’s “Paper of Record” ventilating at the weekend about the widely-held belief that not only are world sea levels rising – which we all accept – but that these absolute sea level rises are happening twice as quickly in Dublin and Cork as they are elsewhere, which is hydrographic nonsense.

We also had a noted TV architect musing in print on how sensible it would be to “re-claim” land along Dublin’s secondary Tolka Estuary - presumably on its south side - in order to provide housing of a popular kind instead of the generally-loathed apartment blocks. This would thereby provide highly-desirable yet affordable family living beside the seaside.

In all, both pieces provided a fascinating insight into how words can be used in a secondary way to set the tone of any opinion piece. For instance, there’s the persistent bandying about of “re-claiming land from the sea”. That’s off target. Once upon a time, the world was all sea. So if we create new land, it’s infill, indeed it’s arguably theft against nature. But it’s certainly not “re-claiming”, even if that’s a difficult position to maintain when we’re up against the Biblical imperative of St John the Divine with his anticipatory Book of Revelations assertion that “there would be no more sea”. 

MAINTAINING EXISTING WATERFRONT SUBURBS

Be that as it may, the idea of some infill along the south side of the Tolka Estuary is attractive, as it would be a completely new parcel of land which interferes with no-one else’s established seafront access. As it is, many of the schemes for infill in Dublin Bay have blithely claimed over many years that they would provide people with “new seaside homes”. But the proposed locations of these new homes would mean that some long-established waterfront suburbs are no longer beside the sea at all, which rather negates the good intentions of the basic projects.

A proposed infill for new housing along Dublin’s Tolka Estuary (right) might be acceptable if it were on the south side, thereby avoiding the sea access infringement of established waterfront suburbs in Clontarf. But it has to be remembered that the daily tidal draining of the extensive Clontarf Basin provides a useful scour-dredging effect for the entrance to Dublin Port via the River Liffey Photo: courtesy Dublin Port

But, that said, it has to be borne in mind that the twice daily exit of the tide from the currently extensive “Clontarf Basin” in the Tolka Estuary plays a significant role in the scouring of the entrance of the sea channel into the Liffey – in other words, it’s a freely available dredging process to facilitate the continuing and vital activity of our largest port.

The other point about the relative sea levels in Dublin and Cork has been allowed to pass unchallenged so many times that we wonder if anyone bothers to read these newspaper think pieces with any real attention at all. For sure, the global sea level at the Equator does come in a bit higher than on the rest of the planet, an effect of the world’s daily rotation. So I suppose we should be grateful that it doesn’t spin off the waters of the Pacific Ocean in their entirety into Outer Space. But it does mean that global sea level rising is a much more acute problem in low-lying Polynesian island nations.

SEA LEVEL IS AN ABSOLUTE IN IRELAND

However, within an island the size of Ireland, there is no significant difference between the absolute heights of the sea north and south, east and west. So when it’s recorded that the sea has risen globally by 70ml during the past 20 years, but that in Dublin and Cork tide recorders are showing a 20 year rise of 130ml, then it can only mean that Dublin and Cork have been quietly sinking by 60ml since 2002.

As has been demonstrated in recent years, Cork Harbour flooding is influenced by many factors, but this projection for 2050 is simply based on rising sea level. 

The relative rise and fall of land masses is a geological and hydrographic fact. As the most recent ice age retreated to take away the ice-sheet weight from Ireland, some areas of land popped up almost visibly to gives us raised beaches and suchlike. And it’s reckoned that the geography of Greenland will need significant re-drawing as the weight of its enormous, many-miles-deep ice fields disappears - that is, if there’s anyone still around to take the necessary readings.

But meanwhile, in Ireland, we have to accept the implications of the fact that our Official Capital City and our Real Capital City are quietly going under. Knowing that it was the weight of ice which pushed down many parts of Ireland in times past, perhaps these modern localized tendencies could be blamed on the weight of self-importance in Dublin, and the weight of assumed superiority in Cork.

While admitting the vast civic and human problems which it would bring, rising sea levels in the Dublin area may provide some interesting opportunities – for instance, it might be useful to own the location of a potential fortress/customs station for the re-born Duchy of Howth beside the new watery frontier at Sutton Cross. 

Whatever, it might help the debate and the planning in some way if it could be accepted that almost half of the relative sea level rise in Dublin and Cork is due to area subsidence, while the other half is due to absolute global sea level rises. Thus it really is time that we brought in Dutch experts to advise in Dublin and Cork on how best to deal with the fact that the apparent tide level in these cities is rising twice as quickly as anywhere else.

The Dutch approached the problem of most of their country being increasingly below sea levels by many means, not least in ensuring that they have the tallest population in all Europe. If we’re going to keep our heads above water in Cork and Dublin, a selective breeding programme should be introduced immediately to raise the national height. That said, having been with some of the grandsons at the weekend, I think it may have already been quietly under way for the past sixteen years. There’s evolution for you.

Patrick Burke's First 40 Prima Forte from the Royal Irish Yacht Club produced a corrected time win of over a minute in a fine turnout of eight Cruisers Zero boats in Thursday's AIB DBSC Summer Series.

Racing took place in light southeasterly winds of about six knots and a flood tide on Dublin Bay.

The results put Burke just a single point behind the overall Thursday leader, Rockabill VI skippered by Paul O'Higgins of the RIYC.

O'Higgins did not compete last night with his JPK10.80 now positioned to West Cork for next week's Calves Week Regatta. 

Second in last night's Race 14 of the series was Chris Power-Smith's J122 Aurelia from the Royal St. George Yacht Club. Third was the late Vincent Farrell's First 40.7 Tsunami from the National Yacht Club. 

In a nine-boat Cruisers One IRC turnout, Timothy Goodbody's RIYC J109, White Mischief, won from clubmate Colin Byrne in the XP33 Bon Exemple. Third was Andrew Craig's Chimaera.

Lindsay J. Casey was the Cruisers Two race winner in the J97 Windjammer. In the Corby 25 Ruthless, Conor Ronan was second in a seven-boat turnout from Ian Bowring's Sigma 33 Springer.

In the one designs, as Afloat reports here, Ian Mathews and  Keith Poole were the Flying Fifteen winners. 

Full DBSC results below

In a fine 11-boat turnout in IRC One, Colin Byrne's Royal Irish XP33 Bon Exemple beat Paul Barrington's J109 Jalapeno from the National Yacht Club in Saturday's AIB DBSC Summer Series race on July 23rd.

Third was Barrington's clubmate John Hall in the J109 Something Else in the one-and-a-quarter-hour race. 

Winds on Dublin Bay were light and from the southeast. The Race Officer was Con Murphy.

Lindsay J. Casey's J97 Windjammer was the Cruisers II IRC division winner. The Royal St. George yacht, a double winner of the club's premier Waterhouse shield for the best yacht on handicap, took the gun from Conor Ronan's Corby 25 Ruthless. Third in the 7-boat race was Stephanie Bourke's Sigma 33 Boojum.

Kevin Byrne's  Royal St. George Formula 28 Starlet was the IRC 3 winner from Frazer Meredith's Asterix. Third was Freddie Wood's Black Sheep.

In the One Design fleets, Colin Galavan's Carpe Diem was the winner of a three-boat SB20 fleet.

Full results across all DBSC classes below.

Sixteen Flying Fifteens took to the water for the first July Thursday race of DBSC and needed a second attempt at starting to get the race underway. Race Officer John McNeilly set a simple “triangle – sausage course” using Bulloch, Island and Pier, with the “sausage” being between Pier and Island. There was then a short upwind leg from Pier to the finish. Despite John’s warning of the consequences of an ebbing tide a General Recall was signalled for the first start and thereafter the fleet got underway under a “U” Flag. It is only on review of the results for this report that I see that one boat fell foul of the “U” flag.

The wind was not in accordance with the forecast I use, coming from a SE direction, hence the use of Bulloch as the windward mark. With an ebbing tide all evening, the question was, “Where was the better wind”, which wasn’t in huge supply in the first place. The first beat had crews sitting on the windward deck but that was about as good as it got. At the pin end of the start that got away, we had two boats attempting a port-tack start. One was more successful than the other, Neil Colin & Margaret Casey (4028) clearing the entire fleet off the line. Ben Mulligan & Cormac Bradley (4081) didn’t quite achieve that and had to wend their way through the starboard tack boats to get clear air. Others at the pin end, coming from the committee boat end included Adrian Cooper & Joe McNamara (3896) and Ken Dumpleton & Joe Hickey (3955). These two would dominate the front end of the fleet for the whole night with Adrian & Joe McNamara leading the race around every mark bar the last one, when Ken & Joe took over that mantle.
Having worked their way to the inshore side of the course Colin and Mulligan found that others who had started off inshore were in slightly better shape. In this latter bunch we would find Gerry Ryan & crew (4045) Niall & Susan Coleman (4008), Niall Meagher & Nicki Matthews (3938) and Peter Murphy & Ciara Mulvey (3774). At the rounding of Bulloch the order was Cooper, Dumpleton, Ryan, Colin & Mulligan with Meagher, Coleman, Alistair Court & Conor O’Leary (3753) and Murphy & Mulvey breathing down Mulligan’s neck.

The long spinnaker leg to Pier saw the fleet spread across the course and initially those who went off to sea fared better, but further down the leg, having transitioned from inshore to offshore, Mulligan looked to have gained places, until breeze came in from the inshore side to see, Meagher, Court, Murphy (P) and Coleman squeeze him wide of the mark. Ahead of this group were Cooper, Dumpleton and Colin.
Mulligan stayed “out of step” from the rest of the fleet and worked the inshore side of the second beat to Island. At times it looked very good, but it didn’t last long enough and with the ebbing tide taking him up to the mark, an easing of sheets marked the final approach to Island. With the fading breeze, the leg to Pier seemed even longer than the first time and the spread of the fleet was even more significant. Cooper and Dumpleton initially took as slightly offshore route which got progressively more offshore as the leg proceeded. At on stage they looked as though they were making a beeline for Clontarf. Between them and Mulligan on the inshore side of the run could be found – Colin, Coleman, Meagher, Murphy (P) with Court marginally further inshore. From this initial position there was a lot of changes with Colin and Coleman gybing to come inshore. Court went offshore and then came back, while Murphy (P) stayed out longer before he too came back inside. Meanwhile Cooper and Dumpleton were still ploughing an offshore furrow. All this in fading breeze.

Colin’s gybe brought him much closer to Mulligan and Coleman followed suit, with both sitting inshore of Mulligan. Slightly later Murphy was in the same position. Mulligan got one or two zephyrs that the others didn’t get and sailed away from them. By this stage we were in the final run in to Pier. Dumpleton had taken Cooper’s place at the head of the fleet and these two arrived at Pier before two Ruffians and two Shipmans that would impact on the rounding of Pier for Mulligan, Coleman, Colin, Murphy (P) and Court. The latter four boats found themselves inside a red-hulled Ruffian who seemed determine to give away the least amount of room possible. Mulligan sailed around the outside of both Ruffians, red-hulled and white-hulled, and a Shipman and holding onto spinnaker till the last possible moment squeezed through a gap that opened up behind the first Shipman. This was enough to get him away from Pier on port tack, in clear air. A subsequent tack to occupy the weather slot relative to Coleman on the starboard tack to the finish, allowed Mulligan to steal third place – an unlikely result give the way the race had gone earlier.

Dumpleton and Copper led the fleet home, in that order and behind Mulligan the finishers, in sequence, were Coleman, Murphy (P), Court and Colin.

Flying Fifteens DBSC, Thursday 7th July.
1. Ken Dumpleton & Joe Hickey 3995
2. Adrian Cooper & Joe McNamara 3896
3. Ben Mulligan & Cormac Bradley 4081
4. Niall & Susan Coleman 4008
5. Peter Murphy & Ciara Mulvey 3774

Flying Fifteens DBSC Overall.
1. Neil Colin & Margaret Casey (24)
2. Ben Mulligan & Cormac Bradley (45)
3. Keith Poole & Others (49.5)
4. David Mulvin & Ronan Beirne (59.5)
5. Ken Dumpleton & Joe Hickey (60)

In Hayling Island starting today (Friday), the UK Flying Fifteen fleet has their Nationals and there is Irish representation in the form of John Lavery & Alan Green (4083), David Mulvin & Ronan Beirne (4068) and I assume (but am not certain) Shane McCarthy (4085). The latter has just won the Irish GP14 Nationals as a run-up to the GP14 Worlds, scheduled for August in Skerries. We wish them all fair winds.

Nearshore site investigations are underway on Dublin Bay between the areas of Poolbeg and Dun Laoghaire as part of the Codling Wind Park Project.

According to the latest Dublin Port Notice to Mariners (downloadable below), works will be undertaken from the 13th of June 2022 for a period of approximately three weeks by the following craft;

• Jack Up Barge OCM 80
• Ocean Trojan Call Sign EI-EX6
• Ocean Clipper Call Sign EI-WW5

 Vessels should not approach within 500m of the Jack-Up Barge and pass at minimum speed to reduce wash. Download Notice to Mariners below

All craft will display the required lights, shapes and maintain a listening watch on VHF Channel 16 and VHF Channel 12 whilst within the Dublin Port Jurisdiction. Mariners are reminded of their responsibilities under the International Collision Regulations in relation to the activities of vessels restricted in their ability to manoeuvre and engaged in underwater operations.

Vessels should not approach within 500m of the Jack-Up Barge and pass at minimum speed to reduce wash.

VTS will keep all vessels updated and advise of any relevant information on VHF Channel 12.

The Lord Mayor of Dublin, Alison Gilliland, took to the waters of Dublin Bay to take part in the annual ‘Casting of the Spear’ ceremony, the first time the tradition has been observed since before the pandemic.

The ‘Casting of the Spear’ is a tradition dating back 531 years for the incumbent Lord Mayor, who becomes Honorary Admiral of Dublin Port. The title of Honorary Admiral of Dublin Port has been bestowed on the Lord Mayor of Dublin for over 20 years.

Historical records show that the maritime tradition of the Casting the Spear dates back to 1488 when Thomas Mayler, who was then Lord Mayor of Dublin, rode out on horseback and cast a spear as far as he could into the sea – this was to mark the city’s boundaries eastwards. Centuries later, the re-enactment ceremony reminds us of Dublin’s role as a port city in medieval times and highlights Dublin Port’s remarkable history since its establishment as a trading post some 1,200 years ago.

Lord Mayor of Dublin Alison Gilliland said: ''I am absolutely thrilled to have had the honour of Casting of the Spear and marking the eastern boundary of our City. I feel privileged being the Honorary Admiral of the Port for the duration of my term of office.

This ancient tradition of marking the City's maritime boundary with a spear has always fascinated me. It also highlights the strategic economic importance of Dublin Port to our City and indeed our country and how it has grown and developed over the centuries.''

Dublin Port CEO Eamonn O’Reilly commented at the ceremony: “I would like to thank Lord Mayor Gilliland for her participation in this year’s annual Casting of the Spear ceremony as we celebrate our heritage as a port city. It is heartening to be able to return to these time-honoured traditions after the disruption of the last few years. Looking back, now more than 530 years, it is extraordinary to think that our city’s boundaries were established by Thomas Mayler’s spear in the waters of medieval Dublin. Today’s re-enactment symbolises Dublin Port’s continued commitment to preserving an understanding of the history that binds the port and the city together.”

Tim Goodbody's J109 White Mischief from the RIYC took his third win in the eight boat Cruisers One IRC race of tonight's AIB Dublin Bay Sailing Club (DBSC) Thursday night series.

Overall, after seven races sailed and with five to count, Goodbody leads clubmate Andrew Craig in the sistership Chimaera by three points. 

Third overall is the A35 Gringo sailed by Tony Fox of the National Yacht Club.

A medium westerly breeze saw a strong DBSC fleet turnout for the second June cruiser races on the Bay.

See full DBSC individual and overall results in all classes below. 

Three live Dublin Bay webcams featuring some DBSC race course areas are here

Leslie Parnell's First 34.7 Black Velvet of the RIYC took another win in tonight's sixth race of the AIB Dublin Bay Sailing Club (DBSC) Thursday night series.

The win puts Parnell into a four-point lead overall in a 13-boat Cruisers Two IRC division.

Rain showers dark clouds and light northwesterly breeze did nothing to dampen a fine DBSC fleet turnout for the first June cruiser races on Dublin Bay.

See full DBSC individual and overall results in all classes below. 

Three live Dublin Bay webcams featuring some DBSC race course areas are here