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Displaying items by tag: Madis Lētsārs

A fundraising appeal has been issued for the family of the fisherman who died off the Donegal coast last weekend.

Madis Lētsārs (37), from the Baltic States, lost his life after falling from the deck of a crab vessel north of the Donegal island of Árainn Mhór last Saturday evening (Feb 4).

His crewmates on the Séimí recovered him from the water and made efforts to revive him but he did not survive.

The young crewman was the father of two children, and his cousin Janis Miklasovs has set up a GoFundMe page on behalf of Madis’s wife Liene.

“It is with a heavy heart I write this message, as you may already know we sadly lost our cousin Madis in a tragic accident,” Miklasovs writes.

“ Madis was only 37 years old with his whole life ahead of him. He worked around the clock to provide for his family,” he says.

“Madis leaves behind a loving wife & 2 children & we hope to support them in every way possible,” he says.

“I kindly ask if you could make a donation, no matter how small, as this will greatly help the family financially. Your support is key in relieving some of the stress the family are currently facing,”he says.

“Rest easy Madis, you will never be far from our thoughts and always in our hearts,” he says.

The GoFundMe page is here

Published in Fishing

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)