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Displaying items by tag: Rowing boat

With the dress rehearsal last weekend at the European rowing championships in Brandenburg, Germany now over, athletes, including Irish rowers, proved their potential for the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro this summer using some of the latest rowing boats and equipment.

Did you ever wonder what it takes to make the perfect rowing shell? This rowing technology is explained by Glen Burston (Operation Manager Hudson) and Mark Emke (Head Coach Men Netherlands) in the video below. 

Published in Rowing
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A unique new tidal guide assisting river users to circumnavigate the city’s waterways was launched yesterday at the River Lee Hotel. CORKUMNAVIGATION is a pocket-sized map published by Cork’s community boatyard, Meitheal Mara. The guide is aimed at helping locals and visitors alike discover the city from a new angle by kayak, canoe or rowing boat. See link below to purchase the guide.

According to Cathy Buchanan of Meitheal Mara, ''very few people know that you can actually row or paddle all around the city, and experience a very different and special side of Cork. As several of the bridges are particularly low and some weirs quite high, they can only be passed at certain tides. With the CORKUMNAVIGATION guide you can successfully navi­gate the city’s 29 bridges and eight weirs at vari­ous stages of the tide.''

Niamh Twomey, Cork City Council Heritage Officer, added ''The River Lee is one of the great unexploited spaces in Cork, offering a beautiful route around the historic city centre. This guide will give the growing number of river users the opportunity to experience the natural and built heritage of Cork from the River Lee. The guide also includes quirky historical facts contributed by the late Cían Ó Sé.''

corkumnavigate your way around the city 4

Corkumnavigate Cork city's 29 bridges and eight weirs with this latest pocket guide.

Originating near Gougane Barra in the Shehy Mountains, the River Lee flows east towards Cork City where it splits into two channels, form­ing the city's central island. Medieval Cork was a network of small river channels, which over the centuries have been covered in to leave just the north and south channels open. The river derives its name from the Irish "Laoi", meaning torrent or flood.

CORKUMNAVIGATION is a Meitheal Mara project, sponsored by Cork City Council and the River Lee Hotel. Fieldwork for the project was conducted in 2010 by the Cork Centre for Architectural Education, UCC and CIT, and sponsored by the Heritage Council.

The CORKUMNAVIGATION guide is available from Meitheal Mara via Afloat's Marine Market. Click HERE

Published in Book Review

#coastguard – A search is ongoing for a man missing in Lough Erne last night after a boat with six people onboard overturned.

Belfast Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre received a 999 call at 6.15pm from a member of the public, close to Portora Boat Club, Enniskillen. The caller reported that a rowing boat had capsized off the boat club.

Two of the vessels for hire in the Lough had rescued five people but one is still missing. He is not believed to have been wearing a lifejacket.

Enniskillen Coastguard Team were sent to the scene to search the shoreline whilst RNLI lifeboats based in Enniskillen and Carrybridge were sent to search the water. The Irish Coast Guard helicopter based at Sligo has also joined the search along with a PSNI boat.

The five people recovered from the water where treated by the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service.

Gary Young Watch Manager said:
"An extensive search is continuing at this time and weather conditions are favourable in the area."

Published in Coastguard

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.

At A Glance – K2Q (Kingstown to Queenstown) Race 2024

The third edition of this 260-nautical mile race starts from the National Yacht Club on Dublin Bay on July 12th 2024 finishes in Cork Harbour.

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