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Displaying items by tag: Geophysical Survey

#MarineNotice - The latest Marine Notice from the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport (DTTAS) advises that Osiris Projects were last week scheduled to begin marine survey operations off the south coast in the Celtic Sea.

The marine surveys will extend from the shoreline at two locations in Co Cork across the sea to the shoreline at two locations in northern France.

The survey was set to start on Monday 1 June 2015 to last for approximately three weeks, weather permitting. The survey will be conducted by the MV Proteus (Callsign 2HBL7).

The marine surveys will extend from the shoreline at Ballinwilling Strand (main route) and Ballycroneen Beach (alternative route), across the Celtic Sea, passing the Isles of Scilly, to the French coast west of Roscoff at Moguériec (main route) and Pontusval (alternative route).

The corridor width for each landing will be 250 metres from the high water mark to the 10-metre contour, then the corridor will widen to 500m as the route moves to France.

The survey vessel may be found running both along the corridor, and in the general vicinity of the survey corridor. The survey areas are small boxes which are shown in the detail plan HERE.

Survey operations will involve towing survey equipment on and below the water surface, up to 300m behind the vessel. All vessels, particularly those engaged in fishing, are requested to give the MV Proteus and her towed equipment a wide berth and keep a sharp lookout in the relevant areas.

Full co-ordinates for the relevant work areas are detailed in Marine Notice No 25 of 2015, a PDF of which is available to read or download HERE.

Published in Marine Warning

#MarineNotice - The latest Marine Notice from the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport (DTTAS) advises that a hydrographic and geophysical survey operation will be undertaken by INFOMAR1 off the west coast of Ireland from tomorrow 23 July till 17 August.

The RV Celtic Voyager (Call sign EIQN) – which earlier this year was equipped with a new multibeam sonar – is expected to carry out the survey operations in Killary Harbour and its approaches, off the west coast, in Galway Bay and in an area northwest of Tralee Bay.

The work vessel will be towing a magnetometer sensor with a single cable of up to 100m in length. The vessel will display appropriate lights and markers and will be listening on VHF Channel 16 throughout the course of the survey.

Full details of co-ordinates and maps of the survey areas are included in Marine Notice No 45 of 2014, a PDF of which is available to read or download HERE.

Published in Marine Warning

#MarineNotice - The latest Marine Notice from the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport (DTTAS) advises that TE SubCom, on behalf of Hibernia Express, is scheduled to carry out a geophysical cable route survey extending south from Ballinspittle.

The survey involves multibeam echo-sounder bathymetry, side-scan sonar, magnetometer and sub-bottom profiling off the Irish coast from Ballinspittle, Co Cork, heading south to the 12nm limit and then into Ireland’s EEZ.

The survey will start on 21 July 2014 and will last for approximately four days, weather permitting. Works will be carried out by the vessel RV Ridley Thomas (Callsign V7JK2).

Inshore at Ballinspittle, shallow water survey operations will be carried out by RV Wessex Explorer (Callsign 2WWE).

Both vessels will be towing survey equipment up to 200m astern and will be restricted in their ability to manoeuvre while carrying out the survey. They will also be listening on VHF Channel 16 throughout the project.

All other vessels, particularly those engaged in fishing, are requested to give the RV Ridley Thomas and her towed equipment and the RV Wessex Explorer a wide berth, and keep a sharp lookout in the relevant areas.

Full details of co-ordinates and maps of the survey area are included in Marine Notice No 39 of 2014, a PDF of which is available to read or download HERE.

Published in Marine Warning

#MarineNotice - EGS International Ltd is scheduled today (13 June) to begin a two-day geophysical cable route survey involving multibeam echo-sounder bathymetry, side-scan sonar, magnetometer and sub-bottom profiling off the Irish coast at Killala Bay.

The survey follows from a longer exercise carried out in January this year, and will be focused inshore along a route into Killala Bay detailed by co-ordinates listed in Marine Notice No 34 of 2014, a PDF of which is available to read or download HERE.

The vessel SMS Coastal Cat (call sign EIJD6) is scheduled to carry out the work on a 12-hour operation basis and will display appropriate shapes during daylight operations and lights during night time operations and periods of reduced visibility.

This vessel will be towing survey equipment up to 200m astern and will be restricted in its ability to manoeuvre while carrying out the survey.

As such, all vessels in the area, particularly those engaged in fishing, are requested to give the SMS Coastal Cat and its towed equipment a wide berth and keep a sharp lookout in the relevant areas.

Published in Marine Warning

#MarineNotice - The latest Marine Notice from the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport (DTTAS) advises that a geophysical cable route survey will begin off the Irish coast at Killala Bay on Wednesday 21 May.

TE SubCom is scheduled to carry out the survey, which involving multibeam echo-sounder bathymetry, side-scan sonar, magnetometer and sub-bottom profiling at Killala Bay heading north to the 12nm limit.

The survey will last for approximately 1 week, weather permitting, and will be carried out by the vessel RV Ridley Thomas (Call sign V7JK2).

The vessel will be towing survey equipment up to 200m astern and will be restricted in its ability to manoeuvre whilst carrying out the survey. The RV Ridley Thomas and any assisting project vessels will be listening on VHF Channel 16 throughout the project.

All vessels, particularly those engaged in fishing, are requested to give the RV Ridley Thomas and its towed equipment a wide berth and keep a sharp lookout in the relevant areas.

Co-ordinates for the survey areas and further details are included in Marine Notice No 30 of 2014, a PDF of which is available to read or download HERE.

Published in Marine Warning

#MarineNotice - EGS International Ltd is scheduled to carry out a geophysical cable route survey involving multibeam echo-sounder bathymetry, side-scan sonar, magnetometer and sub-bottom profiling off the Irish coast at Killala Bay heading north to the 12nm limit.

The survey will start on Monday 13 January 2014 and will last for approximately one month, weather permitting.

The route of the survey from the 12-nautical-mile territorial limit into Killala Bay is detailed in Marine Notice No 11 of 2014, a PDF of which is available to read and download HERE.

The vessels SMS Coastal Cat (call sign EIJD6) and EGS Pioneer (call sign 2EGS9) are scheduled to carry out the work on a 12-hour and 24-hour operation basis respectively, and will display appropriate shapes during daylight operations and lights during night time operations and periods of reduced visibility.

The vessels will be towing survey equipment up to 200m astern and will be restricted in their ability to manoeuvre while carrying out the survey, and all vessels are requested to give this operation a wide berth. All project vessels will be listening on VHF Channel 16 throughout the project.

All vessels, particularly those engaged in fishing, are requested to give the SMS Coastal Cat and EGS Pioneer, and their towed equipment, a wide berth and keep a sharp lookout in the relevant areas.

Published in Marine Warning

#MarineNotice - Osiris Projects is carrying out a geophysical survey off the east coast of Ireland for the next two weeks, according to the latest Marine Notice from the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport.

The survey began yesterday 26 August, and will last around 19 days, weather permitting. The works involve a side-scan sonar, magnetometer, multi-beam echo-sounder bathymetry and sub-bottom profiling throughout the entire survey area.

The vessel MV Chartwell (Call sign MHGV6) is scheduled to carry out the work during 24-hour operations and will display appropriate day shapes and lights during reduced visibility and night operations.

MV Chartwell will be listening on VHF Channel 16 throughout the project and will also be transmitting on AIS.

The work vessel will be towing survey equipment up to 200m and will be restricted in her ability to manoeuvre. All vessels, particularly those engaged in fishing, are requested to give the MV Chartwell and her towed equipment a wide berth and keep a sharp lookout in the relevant areas.

Full details of co-ordinates of the relevant survey area are included in Marine Notice No 43 of 2013, a PDF of which is available to read or download HERE.

Published in Marine Warning

#MarineNotice - The Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport (DTTAS) has issued a Marine Notice advising that a hydrographic and geophysical survey operation is taking place off the south coast till 4 June.

The RV Celtic Voyager (Call sign EIQN) - which performed a similar task off the Clare coast last month - is carrying out the survey operations in an area along the Cork coast marked out in Marine Notice No 18 of 2013, a PDF of which is available to read or download HERE.

The vessel will be towing a magnetometer sensor with a single cable of up to 100m in length. As usual, the vessel will display appropriate lights and markers, and will be listening on VHP Channel 16 throughout the project.

Published in Marine Warning

#MarineNotice - Marine Notice No 15 of 2013 from the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport (DTTAS) advises mariners that a hydrographic and geophysical survey operation is being undertaken by INFOMAR for the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland till 25 April.

The RV Celtic Voyager (Call sign EIQN) is carrying out the survey operations within an area bounded by co-ordinates included in the notice, available as a PDF to read or download HERE.

The vessel is towing a magnetometer sensor with a single cable of up to 100m in length. It is also displaying appropriate lights and markers, and will listen in on VHF Channel 16 throughout the project.

Meanwhile, Marine Notice No 16 of 2013 advises that Shell E&P Ireland is deploying a Waverider buoy off northwest Co Mayo to help predict sea conditions for the laying of an offshore umbilical to the Corrib Gas Field later this year.

The buoy is yellow in colour and will flash yellow five times every 20 seconds. The notice includes an image of what the buoy looks like in the water, as well as the co-ordinates of its placement.

All vessels are requested to give the wave buoy a wide berth.

Published in Marine Warning
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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]