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Displaying items by tag: Abhainn

#RNLI - Volunteers from Arklow RNLI in Co Wicklow are to feature in RTÉ's Irish language programme Abhainn.

The TV series features the rivers of Ireland, and this episode (to be broadcast in September) looks at the Avoca River from its source high up in Wicklow Mountains to the river mouth at Arklow.

An RTÉ film crew spent the afternoon and evening of Thursday 5 June filming at what is the oldest of the RNLI's lifeboat stations in Ireland.

During the day the film crew had the opportunity to experience firsthand and get a glimpse of the level of training required by the highly skilled and efficient RNLI volunteers in their lifesaving work, which can often be difficult and sometimes dangerous.

New station operations manager John Tyrrell said: "Filming with RTÉ was a great opportunity to showcase the commitment of volunteers not only in Arklow but in the many other coastal and inland water communities across Ireland."

He added that the RNLI wouldn’t exist without fundraising. The charity is totally reliant on the generosity of the public and indebted to the work of fundraisers at station branches as well as those raising money inland.

"It is because of the willingness and selfless nature of our volunteers, who will readily swap leisure, comfort and sleep for cold, wet and fatigue, that the charity can provide an on-call, 24-hour lifeboat search and rescue service here," said Tyrrell.

Published in RNLI Lifeboats

#OnTheTV - A new series of Abhainn begins this evening on RTÉ One as the Irish-language TV programme explores Ireland's second-longest river, the River Barrow.

Described by the Kilkenny People as one of Ireland's most picturesque rivers, the programme will follow the near 200km journey from Glenbarrow Waterfall in Laois and along the Kilkenny-Carlow border - stopping along the way at such spots as Cushendale Woolen Mills - till it joins with the Nore at New Ross.

Future editions of the series will focus on the Blackwater and the Erne, taking viewers on a visually stunning journey revealing the unique personality of each river and the stories both ancient and new that tell us who we really are.

The new series of Abhainn begins on RTÉ One tonight Monday 28 January at 7.30pm.

Published in Maritime TV

About Conor O'Brien, Irish Circumnavigator

In 1923-25, Conor O'Brien became the first amateur skipper to circle the world south of the Great Capes. O'Brien's boat Saoirse was reputedly the first small boat (42-foot, 13 metres long) to sail around the world since Joshua Slocum completed his voyage in the 'Spray' during 1895 to 1898. It is a journey that O' Brien documented in his book Across Three Oceans. O'Brien's voyage began and ended at the Port of Foynes, County Limerick, Ireland, where he lived.

Saoirse, under O'Brien's command and with three crew, was the first yacht to circumnavigate the world by way of the three great capes: Cape Horn, Cape of Good Hope and Cape Leeuwin; and was the first boat flying the Irish tri-colour to enter many of the world's ports and harbours. He ran down his easting in the Roaring Forties and Furious Fifties between the years 1923 to 1925.

Up until O'Brien's circumnavigation, this route was the preserve of square-rigged grain ships taking part in the grain race from Australia to England via Cape Horn (also known as the clipper route).

At a Glance - Conor O'Brien's Circumnavigation 

In June 1923, Limerick man Conor O’Brien set off on his yacht, the Saoirse — named after the then newly created Irish Free State — on the two-year voyage from Dun Laoghaire Harbour that was to make him the first Irish amateur to sail around the world.

June 1923 - Saoirse’s arrival in Madeira after her maiden passage out from Dublin Bay

2nd December 1924 - Saoirse crossed the longitude of Cape Horn

June 20th 1925 - O’Brien’s return to Dun Laoghaire Harbour

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