Displaying items by tag: Irish Pass

4th April 2020

Irish On board Virus Hit Cruise Ship Docks in Florida, USA

Most of the passengers (including Irish citizens) from the Zaandam and its (fleetmate) ship the Rotterdam will begin disembarking today (yesterday)

A cruise ship hit with the virus, RTE News reported, with around ten Irish citizens on board has docked in Florida in the USA (yesterday).

Most of the passengers from the Zaandam and its sister ship the Rotterdam will begin disembarking today.

They will be taken by bus to a nearby airport and flown home on charter flights.

After being refused access to various ports and left stranded at sea, the Zaandam and its sister ship finally docked last night in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Critically ill passengers were taken off first and transferred by ambulance to local hospitals.

Passengers with symptoms will remain on board the ship for treatment.

Panama Allows Virus-Affected Cruise Ship to Pass through Canal

The MS Zaandam was denied access to the Panama Canal for sanitary reasons according to RTE news which added Irish citizens on board. Asymptomatic cruise passengers would be allowed to transfer to MS Rotterdam. This ship also operated by Holland America Line (HAL) is AFLOAT adds (above) is seen berthed in Dublin Port when on a visit in recent years.

Permission has been given by Panama's Government to a cruise ship on which four passengers have died to travel through its canal, a day after blocking the liner over coronavirus fears, according to RTE News (last night).

Holland America Line's 238-metre (781-foot) MS Zaandam vessel, which has up to a dozen Irish citizens on board, can now continue its trip to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, but Panama's government underscored that no passengers or crewmembers would be allowed to set foot on Panamanian soil.

"Panama will guarantee biosecurity measures to protect the personnel who will participate in this manoeuvre and thus safeguard the health of Panamanians," the government said in a statement.

The Zaandam, which was previously on a South American cruise, was denied access to the Panama Canal for sanitary reasons, leaving passengers and crew wondering when they would get home.

In the meantime, Holland America, which is owned by Carnival Corp, sent the Rotterdam sister ship to the area as Panama's Maritime Authority said 401 asymptomatic passengers would be allowed to transfer from the Zaandam to the other ship.

For more on the story click here.

Afloat adds both cruiseships today remain at anchorage in the Pacific Ocean while offshore of Tobago Island, which lies south of the Panama Canal connecting to the Caribbean Sea.

Published in Cruise Liners

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The Kingstown to Queenstown Yacht Race or 'K2Q', previously the Fastnet 450

The Organising Authority ("OA") are ISORA & SCORA in association with The National Yacht Club & The Royal Cork Yacht Club.

The Kingstown to Queenstown Race (K2Q Race) is a 260-mile offshore race that will start in Dun Laoghaire (formerly Kingstown), around the famous Fastnet Rock and finish in Cork Harbour at Cobh (formerly Queenstown).

The K2Q race follows from the successful inaugural 'Fastnet 450 Race' that ran in 2020 when Ireland was in the middle of the COVID Pandemic. It was run by the National Yacht Club, and the Royal cork Yacht Club were both celebrating significant anniversaries. The clubs combined forces to mark the 150th anniversary of the National Yacht Club and the 300th (Tricentenary) of the Royal Cork Yacht Club.

Of course, this race has some deeper roots. In 1860 the first-ever ocean yacht race on Irish Waters was held from Kingstown (now Dun Laoghaire) to Queenstown (now Cobh).

It is reported that the winner of the race was paid a prize of £15 at the time, and all competing boats got a bursary of 10/6 each. The first race winner was a Schooner Kingfisher owned by Cooper Penrose Esq. The race was held on July 14th 1860, and had sixteen boats racing.

In 2022, the winning boat will be awarded the first prize of a cheque for €15 mounted and framed and a Trophy provided by the Royal Cork Yacht Club, the oldest yacht club in the world.

The 2022 race will differ from the original course because it will be via the Fastnet Rock, so it is a c. 260m race, a race distance approved by the Royal Cornwall Yacht Club as an AZAB qualifier.

A link to an Afloat article written by WM Nixon for some history on this original race is here.

The aim is to develop the race similarly to the Dun Laoghaire–Dingle Race that runs in alternate years.

Fastnet 450 in 2020

The South Coast of Ireland Racing Association, in association with the National Yacht Club on Dublin Bay and the Royal Cork Yacht Club in Cork, staged the first edition of this race from Dun Laoghaire to Cork Harbour via the Fastnet Rock on August 22nd 2020.

The IRC race started in Dun Laoghaire on Saturday, August 22nd 2020. It passed the Muglin, Tuscar, Conningbeg and Fastnet Lighthouses to Starboard before returning to Cork Harbour and passing the Cork Buoy to Port, finishing when Roches's Point bears due East. The course was specifically designed to be of sufficient length to qualify skippers and crew for the RORC Fastnet Race 2021.