Menu

Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

Displaying items by tag: Afloat Rower of the Month

1st December 2017

Afloat Honours Paul O'Donovan

#Rowing: Paul O’Donovan is the Afloat Rower of the Month for November. The Skibbereen man beat all comers to show himself the top  single sculler at the Ireland Trial. He teamed up with his Olympic crewmate and brother, Gary, in a fast double on the Sunday.

 Paul O’Donovan is the world champion in the lightweight single sculls. He was a UCD Alumni Award winner in November, the youngest ever. He is 23.

Rower of the Month awards: The judging panel is made up of Liam Gorman, rowing correspondent of The Irish Times, and David O'Brien, editor of Afloat magazine. Monthly awards for achievements during the year will appear on afloat.ie. Keep a monthly eye on progress and watch our 2017 champions list grow.

Published in Rowing

#Rowing: Monika Dukarska is the Afloat Rower of the Month for October. The Killorglin woman became the world champion in the solo (single) at the Fisa World Coastal Rowing Championships in Monaco. She won the final by 26 seconds, leaving the Olympic medallist from London 2012, Alexandra Tsiavou of Greece, in her wake. Tsiavou had won her own battle with Edwig Alfred, the champion of France.

 Dukarska, who is 26, won this title first in 2009 while still a teenager.

Rower of the Month awards: The judging panel is made up of Liam Gorman, rowing correspondent of The Irish Times, and David O'Brien, editor of Afloat magazine. Monthly awards for achievements during the year will appear on afloat.ie and the overall national award will be presented to the person or crew who, in the judges' opinion, achieved the most notable results in, or made the most significant contribution to rowing during 2016. Keep a monthly eye on progress and watch our 2016 champions list grow.

Published in Rower of Month

# ROWING: The Afloat Rower of the Month for November is Paul O’Donovan. The 18-year-old lightweight sculler covered the five-kilometre time trial on Newry Canal faster than any other competitor in the National Assessment. The Skibbereen man finished fourth in the single sculls at the World Junior Championships in 2011. He is now on scholarship to University College, Dublin.

Rower of the Month awards: The judging panel is made up of Liam Gorman, rowing correspondent of The Irish Times and David O'Brien, Editor of Afloat magazine. Monthly awards for achievements during the year will appear on afloat.ie and the overall national award will be presented to the person or crew who, in the judges' opinion, achieved the most notable results in, or made the most significant contribution to rowing during 2012. Keep a monthly eye on progress and watch our 2012 champions list grow.

Published in Rower of Month

About Commander Bill King, Solo Circumnavigator

William Donald Aelian King was the last surviving submarine commander in the Second World War - in charge of the British Navy's T-class Telemachus that sank a Japanese sub in the Strait of Malacca, between Malaysia and Sumatra, in 1944.

Decorated many times for his service by the end of the war, King became a trailblazing solo sailor.

At the age of 58, he was the oldest participant in The Sunday Times Golden Globe Race sailing Galway Blazer II, a junk-rigged schooner he designed himself.

After a number of abortive attempts, including an incident with "a large sea creature", he finally completed his solo circumnavigation of the globe in 1973.

Beyond his aquatic escapades, King settled with his wife Anita (who died in 1984, aged 70) at Oranmore Castle outside Galway after the war, where he later developed a pioneering organic farm and garden to help tackle his wife's asthma.

The round-the-world sailor and Galway native Bill King died on Friday, 21 September, 2012, aged 102.