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Displaying items by tag: Beast from the East

Ireland could be set for the return of the ‘Beast from the East’ with meteorologists eyeing an upcoming weather phenomenon with concern, as Independent.ie reports.

Experts say that a so-called sudden stratospheric warming forecast for the coming days could cause the jet stream, which helps moderate Ireland’s climate, to meander more — bringing an outbreak of cold and dry weather later this month.

Similar conditions brought about the ‘Beast from the East’ blizzard in late February 2018 that blanketed much of the country with snow ahead of Storm Emma, which caused significant damage to harbours around Ireland and the UK.

Dun Laoghaire Harbour was among the worst affected, with the storm eroding coastal defences from both the West and East Piers that took more than two years to be remediated.

Howth’s historic Howth 17s also bore the brunt of the storm, as Force 12 gales blew the roof off a storage shed housing seven of the boats – though only two of them suffered serious damage.

Independent.ie has more on the story HERE.

Published in Weather

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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