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Displaying items by tag: Public naming competition

The Government is considering carrying out a public naming competition for two inshore patrol cutters that the State has acquired from New Zealand. The pair of 'Lake' class cutters were originally commissioned for the Royal New Zealand Navy in 2009.

Simon Coveney, the Minister of Defence has proposed the innovative idea, however there will be safeguards implemented to prevent a recurrence of what took place in the UK of the 'Boaty McBoatface' debacle when the outcome of a public online vote turned farcical, however the research vessel was officially named the RRS Sir David Attenborough

The new patrol cutters will be introduced into the Naval Service where the majority of the fleet reflects the names of famous male Irish writers, they are the L.E.Samuel Beckett, James Joyce and George Bernard Shaw. In addition the third of the OPV90 class L.E. William Butler Yeats, Afloat adds is similarly named to that of Irish Ferries cruiseferry, the W.B. Yeats.

The Independent.ie which has more on the story, reports that Mr Coveney is believed to favour that at least one of the warships be named after a woman. This would enable the public to be offered a slate of options – from Maria Edgeworth, Lady Gregory, Katharine Tynan or Peig Sayers.

As for male writers they could include such legendary figures as Bram Stoker, Seamus Heaney, Austin Clarke and Padraic Colum.

Published in Navy

About Match Racing

A match race is a race between two competitors, going head-to-head.

In yacht racing, it is differentiated from a fleet race, which almost always involves three or more competitors competing against each other, and team racing where teams consisting of 2, 3 or 4 boats compete together in a team race, with their results being combined.

A match race consists of two identical boats racing against each other. With effective boat handling and clever use of wind and currents, a trailing boat can escape the grasp of the leader and pass. The leader uses blocking techniques to hold the other boat back. This one-on-one duel is a game of strategy and tactics.

About the World Match Racing Tour

Founded in 2000, the World Match Racing Tour (WMRT) promotes the sport of match racing around the world and is the longest running global professional series in the sport of sailing. The WMRT is awarded ‘Special Event’ status by the sport’s world governing body – World Sailing – and the winner of the WMRT each year is crowned World Sailing Match Racing World Champion. Previous champions include Sir Ben Ainslie (GBR), Taylor Canfield (USA), Peter Gilmour (AUS), Magnus Holmberg (SWE), Peter Holmberg (ISV), Adam Minoprio (NZL), Torvar Mirsky (AUS), Bertrand Pace (FRA), Jesper Radich (DEN), Phil Robertson (NZL) and Ian Williams (GBR). Since 2000, the World Match Racing Tour and its events have awarded over USD23million in prize money to sailors which has helped to contribute to the career pathway of many of today’s professional sailors