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A Sigma 33 One Design keelboat racing on Dublin Bay Photo: AfloatA Sigma 33 One Design keelboat racing on Dublin Bay Photo: Afloat

Displaying items by tag: Below the Surface

#LectureNorseDublin: The next and final monthly held 'Below the Surface' lecture the "Norse Dublin - The Fleet of Norse Dublin around 1000AD" is to be held on Wednesday 3 April (starting 8pm).

The talk to be presented by Professor Poul Holm TCD, who will mark the end of the Below the Surface series which began last November. The unique lecture series has provided the public an opportunity to attend and enjoy in celebrating Ireland's maritime heritage and archaeology.

As usual the talk is to take place on the famine replica ship, the Jeanie Johnston, docked at Custom House Quay in Dublin's city-centre. The venue provides an intimate space ideal for maritime tales, oozing seafaring ambience with the creaking sounds of the hull surrounding the audience.

The talks to date have touched on many aspects of our rich and controversial maritime history, from tales of pirates, queens and lost polar expeditions.

Tickets are available online by visiting: http://jeanie.visrez.com/engine/event/57

 

Published in Boating Fixtures

#Lecture -The next 'Below the Surface' series of monthly held maritime lectures is 6 March. The topic will be 'The Opening of the Atlantic World' – English Settlement in Ireland and North America in the 17th Century, by James Lyttleton.

As usual the lecture takes place below decks on board the replica 19th century famine emigrant barque, Jeanie Johnston, at her berth at Custom House Quay, in Dublin's Docklands.

Doors open at 7.15pm and the lecture starts at 8pm. Please ensure to arrive early as entry to venue may not be permitted on commencement of the lecture.

For further details contact 01 4730111 and to book online, tickets costing €15.00 per person click HERE.

Published in Boating Fixtures

#LecturePIRACY: Continuing the 'Below the Surface' of maritime lectures held monthly, the next talk is on 6 February, the topic will be 'Piracy and Predation in early 17th Century Ireland' presented by Connie Kelleher Phd, A Historical and Archaeological overview.

As usual the lecture takes place below decks on board the replica 19th century famine emigrant barque, Jeanie Johnston, at her berth at Custom House Quay, in Dublin's Docklands.

Doors open at 7.15pm and the lecture starts at 8pm. Please ensure to arrive early as entry to venue may not be permitted on commencement of the lecture. For further details contact 01 4730111 and to book online, tickets costing €15.00 per person click HERE.

Published in Boating Fixtures

#TALLSHIP EVENTS– Once again the unique venue of the tallship Jeanie Johnston plays host to maritime heritage lectures and live music sessions throughout early 2013,writes Jehan Ashmore.

Resuming the 'Below the Surface' lectures series on 2 January will be a talk about Grace O'Malley - Ireland's Maritime Icon, one of history's most extraordinary mariners, presented by Anne Chambers.

A month later on 2 February, Juliet Turner a singer/songwriter from Tummery, near Omagh, launches the inaugural session of the New Year. In the course of her career she has opened up for artists among them Bob Dylan, U2 and Bryan Adams. Other performers lined-up for the Jeanie Sessions are Caroline Moreau and The Dunne & Hernandez Duo.

So if you are looking for a gift idea for the history buff or music lover in your life then perhaps consider as a stocking filler, which are available to purchase. For further information on lecture and gig tickets visit: www.jeaniejohnston.ie/events-page.html

The 'Jeanie' is berthed at Custom House Quay close to the Sean O'Casey foot-bridge in Dublin's city centre. In addition the replica 19th century barque is also a museum which tells the story of mass emmigration during the famine.

Published in Boating Fixtures

#JEANIE LECTURES – Having started this month, the 'Below the Surface' series of six lectures is a celebration of Ireland's maritime heritage and archaeology. They are held on the first Wednesday of each month on board the replica 19th century barque Jeanie Johnston in Dublin Docklands. The next lecture on 5th December is about Sir Ernest Shackleton, one of Irelands greatest polar explorers.

The talk presented by historian and guide - Jonathan Shackleton will give a unique insight by delving into his family background of the polar explorer and for his reputation and growth in four expeditions to Antarctica.

Doors open at 7.15pm (lecture starts 8pm) and those attending will experience an intimate space ideal for maritime tales, oozing with seafaring ambience with the creaking sounds of the hull.

It is advisable to arrive early as entry to venue will not be possible upon commencement of the lecture venue.  The emmigrant famine museum ship is berthed alongside Custom House Quay. To book online tickets costing €15 each, click the link HERE

Published in Boating Fixtures

#LECTURES – "Below the Surface" is a new series of six monthly held maritime lectures which are aptly to take place on board the replica barque Jeanie Johnston. The tallship built in Blennerville a decade ago, is now a floating famine museum ship berthed at Custom House Quay in Dublin's Docklands.

The talks will touch on many aspects of our rich and controversial maritime history, from Viking fleets in Dublin bay, through pirates, queens and lost polar expeditions. All told in a most charming setting, while the River Liffey gently sways the hull beneath your chair.

All the lectures will be held on the first Wednesday (8pm) of every month, with the inaugural talk "Searching For Franklin" on 7 November. This will be presented by John Murray, who will examine the ill fated exploration to find the Northwest Passage, undertaken by Captain John Franklin .

Tickets are available online at www.jeaniejohnston.ie/below-the-surface-page.html For further information on the series click HERE

Published in Boating Fixtures

How to sail, sailing clubs and sailing boats plus news on the wide range of sailing events on Irish waters forms the backbone of Afloat's sailing coverage.

We aim to encompass the widest range of activities undertaken on Irish lakes, rivers and coastal waters. This page describes those sailing activites in more detail and provides links and breakdowns of what you can expect from our sailing pages. We aim to bring jargon free reports separated in to popular categories to promote the sport of sailing in Ireland.

The packed 2013 sailing season sees the usual regular summer leagues and there are regular weekly race reports from Dublin Bay Sailing Club, Howth and Cork Harbour on Afloat.ie. This season and last also featured an array of top class events coming to these shores. Each year there is ICRA's Cruiser Nationals starts and every other year the Round Ireland Yacht Race starts and ends in Wicklow and all this action before July. Crosshaven's Cork Week kicks off on in early July every other year. in 2012 Ireland hosted some big international events too,  the ISAF Youth Worlds in Dun Laoghaire and in August the Tall Ships Race sailed into Dublin on its final leg. In that year the Dragon Gold Cup set sail in Kinsale in too.

2013 is also packed with Kinsale hosting the IFDS diabled world sailing championships in Kinsale and the same port is also hosting the Sovereign's Cup. The action moves to the east coast in July with the staging of the country's biggest regatta, the Volvo Dun Laoghaire regatta from July 11.

Our coverage though is not restricted to the Republic of Ireland but encompasses Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales and the Irish Sea area too. In this section you'll find information on the Irish Sailing Association and Irish sailors. There's sailing reports on regattas, racing, training, cruising, dinghies and keelboat classes, windsurfers, disabled sailing, sailing cruisers, Olympic sailing and Tall Ships sections plus youth sailing, match racing and team racing coverage too.

Sailing Club News

There is a network of over 70 sailing clubs in Ireland and we invite all clubs to submit details of their activities for inclusion in our daily website updates. There are dedicated sections given over to the big Irish clubs such as  the waterfront clubs in Dun Laoghaire; Dublin Bay Sailing Club, the Royal Saint George Yacht Club,  the Royal Irish Yacht Club and the National Yacht Club. In Munster we regularly feature the work of Kinsale Yacht Club and Royal Cork Yacht Club in Crosshaven.  Abroad Irish sailors compete in Royal Ocean Racing Club (RORC) racing in the UK and this club is covered too. Click here for Afloat's full list of sailing club information. We are keen to increase our coverage on the network of clubs from around the coast so if you would like to send us news and views of a local interest please let us have it by sending an email to [email protected]

Sailing Boats and Classes

Over 20 active dinghy and one design classes race in Irish waters and fleet sizes range from just a dozen or so right up to over 100 boats in the case of some of the biggest classes such as the Laser or Optimist dinghies for national and regional championships. Afloat has dedicated pages for each class: Dragons, Etchells, Fireball, Flying Fifteen, GP14, J24's, J80's, Laser, Sigma 33, RS Sailing, Star, Squibs, TopperMirror, Mermaids, National 18, Optimist, Puppeteers, SB3's, and Wayfarers. For more resources on Irish classes go to our dedicated sailing classes page.

The big boat scene represents up to 60% of the sail boat racing in these waters and Afloat carries updates from the Irish Cruiser Racer Association (ICRA), the body responsible for administering cruiser racing in Ireland and the popular annual ICRA National Championships. In 2010 an Irish team won the RORC Commodore's Cup putting Irish cruiser racing at an all time high. Popular cruiser fleets in Ireland are raced right around the coast but naturally the biggest fleets are in the biggest sailing centres in Cork Harbour and Dublin Bay. Cruisers race from a modest 20 feet or so right up to 50'. Racing is typically divided in to Cruisers Zero, Cruisers One, Cruisers Two, Cruisers Three and Cruisers Four. A current trend over the past few seasons has been the introduction of a White Sail division that is attracting big fleets.

Traditionally sailing in northern Europe and Ireland used to occur only in some months but now thanks to the advent of a network of marinas around the coast (and some would say milder winters) there are a number of popular winter leagues running right over the Christmas and winter periods.

Sailing Events

Punching well above its weight Irish sailing has staged some of the world's top events including the Volvo Ocean Race Galway Stopover, Tall Ships visits as well as dozens of class world and European Championships including the Laser Worlds, the Fireball Worlds in both Dun Laoghaire and Sligo.

Some of these events are no longer pure sailing regattas and have become major public maritime festivals some are the biggest of all public staged events. In the past few seasons Ireland has hosted events such as La Solitaire du Figaro and the ISAF Dublin Bay 2012 Youth Worlds.

There is a lively domestic racing scene for both inshore and offshore sailing. A national sailing calendar of summer fixtures is published annually and it includes old favorites such as Sovereign's Cup, Calves Week, Dun Laoghaire to Dingle, All Ireland Sailing Championships as well as new events with international appeal such as the Round Britain and Ireland Race and the Clipper Round the World Race, both of which have visited Ireland.

The bulk of the work on running events though is carried out by the network of sailing clubs around the coast and this is mostly a voluntary effort by people committed to the sport of sailing. For example Wicklow Sailing Club's Round Ireland yacht race run in association with the Royal Ocean Racing Club has been operating for over 30 years. Similarly the international Cork Week regatta has attracted over 500 boats in past editions and has also been running for over 30 years.  In recent years Dublin Bay has revived its own regatta called Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta and can claim to be the country's biggest event with over 550 boats entered in 2009.

On the international stage Afloat carries news of Irish and UK interest on Olympics 2012, Sydney to Hobart, Volvo Ocean Race, Cowes Week and the Fastnet Race.

We're always aiming to build on our sailing content. We're keen to build on areas such as online guides on learning to sail in Irish sailing schools, navigation and sailing holidays. If you have ideas for our pages we'd love to hear from you. Please email us at [email protected]