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Displaying items by tag: Sarah Forde

The Irish Seal Sanctuary celebrated the release of six grey seal pups from two different locations last weekend.
Dustin, Phoenix and Sean were released from Courtown Harbour, while Buddy Holly, Louise and Cookie were put into the water in Ballyferriter, Co Kerry with help from the Dingle Wildlife and Seal Sanctuary.
Sarah Forde, a volunteer at the Dingle sanctuary, told the Irish Independent that Buddy Holly was just 11kg in weight when he was brought in last October.
"Now, three months later, he's a healthy 44kg, the proper weight for a pup his age and in the next two years as he reaches maturity he'll grow to around 300kg," she said.
Louise and Cookie (pictured HERE) were found in a similar condition in beaches in Co Kerry after being abandoned by their mothers.
The Irish Seal Sanctuary's next release will be this Saturday 15 January when Cecil and Snowy, two seal pups rescued in Belmullet and rehabilitated at the sanctuary in Courtown, will be returned to the wild at Falmor Beach, Black Sod, Co Mayo.

The Irish Seal Sanctuary celebrated the release of six grey seal pups from two different locations last weekend.

Dustin, Phoenix and Sean were released from Courtown Harbour, while Buddy Holly, Louise and Cookie were put into the water in Ballyferriter, Co Kerry with help from the Dingle Wildlife and Seal Sanctuary.

Sarah Forde, a volunteer at the Dingle sanctuary, told the Irish Independent that Buddy Holly was just 11kg in weight when he was brought in last October.

"Now, three months later, he's a healthy 44kg, the proper weight for a pup his age and in the next two years as he reaches maturity he'll grow to around 300kg," she said.

Louise and Cookie (pictured HERE) were found in a similar condition in beaches in Co Kerry after being abandoned by their mothers.

The Irish Seal Sanctuary's next release will be this Saturday 15 January when Cecil and Snowy, two seal pups rescued in Belmullet and rehabilitated at the sanctuary in Courtown, will be returned to the wild at Falmor Beach, Black Sod, Co Mayo.

Published in Marine Wildlife

Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Yacht Race Information

The biennial Dun Laoghaire to Dingle race is a 320-miles race down to the east coast of Ireland, across the south coast and into Dingle harbour in County Kerry.

The race is organised by the National Yacht Club.

It never fails to offer a full range of weather, wind and tide to the intrepid entrants, ranging from a 32ft cruiser to a 79ft all-out racer.

Three divisions are available to enter: cruiser (boats equipped with furlers), racing (the bulk of the fleet) and also two-handed.

D2D Course change overruled

In 2019, the organisers considered changing the course to allow boats to select routes close to shore by removing the requirement to go outside Islands and Lighthouses en route, but following input from regular participants, the National Yacht Club decided to stick with the tried and tested course route in order to be fair to large and smaller boats and to keep race records intact.

RORC Points Calendar

The 2019 race was the first edition to form part of the Royal Ocean Racing Club “RORC” calendar for the season. This is in addition to the race continuing as part of the ISORA programme. 

D2D Course record time

Mick Cotter’s 78ft Whisper established the 1 day and 48 minutes course record for the Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Race in 2009 and that time stood until 2019 when Cotter returned to beat his own record but only just, the Dun Laoghaire helmsman crossing the line in Kerry to shave just 20 seconds off his 2009 time.