Displaying items by tag: Russian Research Vessel

3rd March 2015

Russian Research Vessel And Naval Service Newest OPV at Cork Dockyard

#ResearchNavy - A Russian research vessel built during the Soviet era along with the Naval Service's newest patrol vessel LÉ Samuel Beckett (P61) are at Cork Dockyard, writes Jehan Ashmore.

Geolog Dmitriy Nalivkin of 1,935 tonnes was built in Turku, Finland during 1985. She originally had the Soviet symbolism of the 'hammer & sickle' and star on the funnel.

Three decades later and her current owners are understood to be the Marine Arctic Geological Expedition Murmansk (MAGE).

The 71m vessel is berthed alongside the quay at the facility in Rushbrooke so to have an exchange of crew personnel.

Among the other vessels at the shiprepair facility is the general cargoship Arklow Rambler also taking a riverside berth.

As previously alluded the LÉ Samuel Beckett, the 2,256 tonnes OPV is undergoing her first scheduled annual maintenance with work carried out in the dry-dock.

The OPV90 or 'Beckett' class vessel was built last year from the UK yard of Babcock Marine & Technology in Appledore north Devon.

She was commissioned in May and entered service also that month.

Published in Cork Harbour

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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.