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Displaying items by tag: Greenlink Interconnector Project

Following cable lay operations set to conclude this weekend, Greenlink Interconnector Ltd will perform cable burial and trenching activities along the planned interconnector route.

These activities will be undertaken between Saturday 13 April and Thursday 20 June, subject to weather and operational constraints.

Operations will take place along the planned interconnector route between the landfall location near Baginbun Beach in Co Wexford and the middle of the Irish Sea. Coordinates and maps can be found in Marine Notice No 21 of 2024, attached below.

The works will be performed by the trenching support vessel Symphony (callsign LXTT). This vessel will have a trenching vehicle deployed or a remotely operated vehicle for survey activities deployed over the side.

As the work vessel will be restricted in its ability to manoeuvre, all other vessels operating within this area are requested to keep a wide berth and pass at minimum speed to reduce vessel wash. The work vessel will be listening to VHF Channel 16 and can set any other channel as required.

For further details, including contact information, see the Marine Notice below.

Published in News Update

Following the recent pre-lay grapnel run, Greenlink Interconnector Ltd will be conducting offshore and nearshore operations for its electricity interconnector from Friday 22 March to Sunday 14 April, subject to weather and operational constraints.

Beach-pull operations in the nearshore are to be undertaken within around one nautical mile of Baginbun Beach. The cable lay operations following the beach pull operations, involving divers, will take place along the planned interconnector route from the landfall location at Baginbun Beach towards the middle of the interconnector route.

The operations will be conducted by three survey vessels: the multicat Forth Warrior (callsign 2JHR8), Connector (DP3) (callsign LXEV) and CRC Voyager (callsign MBZZ7).

These vessels carrying out the works will be restricted in their ability to manoeuvre, therefore all other passing vessels are requested to keep a wide berth and pass at minimum speed to reduce vessel wash. The vessels will display the appropriate lights and shapes if applicable (two black spheres and in the middle a black diamond shape, in a vertical line) and will monitor VHF Channel 16 at all times.

Coordinates and a map of the work area as well as contact details can be found in Marine Notice No 16 of 2024 attached below.

Published in News Update

As previously reported on Afloat.ie, Greenlink Interconnector Ltd is proposing to develop an electricity interconnector to allow for offshore cable installation and burial at a later stage.

A pre-lay grapnel run (PLGR) will be performed along the planned interconnector route to ensure clearance of debris from this Friday 15 March to next Tuesday 19 March, subject to weather and operational constraints.

During the PLGR, a grapnel shall be deployed on the planned cable route and dragged over the seabed. Whenever an increase in tension is recorded or in any case at five-kilometre intervals, the grapnel will be recovered cleaned and inspected. Afterwards, the grapnel will be redeployed to the seabed. The operation will be repeated until the complete route of about 80km has been finished.

The PLGR operations will take place along the planned interconnector route from the landfall location at Baginbun Beach towards the middle of the interconnector route.

Operations will be performed by the Forth Warrior (callsign 2JHR8). The vessel will have the PLGR grapnel deployed on the bow roller.

As the vessel will be restricted in its ability to maneuver, all other vessels operating within this area are requested to keep a wide berth and pass at minimum speed to reduce vessel wash. The vessel will be listening to VHF Channel 16 and can set any other channel as required.

Coordinates and a map of the work area as well as contact details can be found in Marine Notice No 15 of 2024, available to read or download HERE.

Published in News Update

Greenlink Interconnector Ltd (GIL) is proposing to develop an electricity interconnector between the southeast of Ireland, from Great Island in Co Wexford, to southwest Wales at Pembroke.

As part of these proposals, a pre-construction survey is expected to be carried out from today, Saturday 16 July to Tuesday 2 August, weather permitting.

The survey works will be conducted by the Geo Ocean V (callsign: 5BWE3), a multi-disciplined offshore survey vessel with hybrid propulsion fitted for geophysical and geotechnical survey work.

The vessel will have stern deployed equipment and will be restricted in manoeuvrability. All other vessels operating within this area are requested to keep their distance and pass at minimum speed to reduce vessel wash.

Throughout operations the Geo Ocean V will display all appropriate lights and shapes and will be listening to VHF Channel 16 but can set any other channel as required.

For coordinates and a map of the survey location as well as contact details, see Marine Notice No 45 of 2022 attached below.

Published in News Update

The Irish Cruiser Racing Association (ICRA) Information

The creation of the Irish Cruiser Racing Association (ICRA) began in a very low key way in the autumn of 2002 with an exploratory meeting between Denis Kiely, Jim Donegan and Fintan Cairns in the Granville Hotel in Waterford, and the first conference was held in February 2003 in Kilkenny.

While numbers of cruiser-racers were large, their specific locations were widespread, but there was simply no denying the numerical strength and majority power of the Cork-Dublin axis. To get what was then a very novel concept up and running, this strength of numbers had to be acknowledged, and the first National Championship in 2003 reflected this, as it was staged in Howth.

ICRA was run by a dedicated group of volunteers each of whom brought their special talents to the organisation. Jim Donegan, the elder statesman, was so much more interested in the wellbeing of the new organisation than in personal advancement that he insisted on Fintan Cairns being the first Commodore, while the distinguished Cork sailor was more than content to be Vice Commodore.

ICRA National Championships

Initially, the highlight of the ICRA season was the National Championship, which is essentially self-limiting, as it is restricted to boats which have or would be eligible for an IRC Rating. Boats not actually rated but eligible were catered for by ICRA’s ace number-cruncher Denis Kiely, who took Ireland’s long-established native rating system ECHO to new heights, thereby providing for extra entries which brought fleet numbers at most annual national championships to comfortably above the hundred mark, particularly at the height of the boom years. 

ICRA Boat of the Year (Winners 2004-2019)