Displaying items by tag: Griffin Project

14th April 2024

Baltimore SC’s Joseph Griffiths Makes the Cut for RORC Griffin Project 2024

Baltimore Sailing Club’s Joseph Griffiths will be joining the two Northern Ireland youth sailors selected for the Griffin Project 2024.

As previously reported on Afloat.ie, the Griffin Project is a Royal Ocean Racing Club (RORC) initiatve which gives young sailors the opportunity to try offshore sailing, learn best practices for yachting and improve their overall crewmanship.

As part of the project, Griffiths will receive coaching from world-class sailors such as Dee Caffari, Shirley Robertson, Steve Hayles and Ian Walker as one of an exclusive club of 20 sailors selected across the UK and Ireland, including Emma McKnight from Strangford Lough Yacht Club and Daniel Corbett from County Antrim Yacht Club.

Munster Technological University, where the West Cork sailor is an undergraduate studying architectural technology, said: “Joseph has displayed a great attitude and ability to be a good team player ashore and afloat and we are delighted he is getting this exciting opportunity.”

Published in West Cork

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Northern Ireland Sailors Selected for RORC’s Griffin Project in 2024

Northern Ireland youth sailors Emma McKnight from Strangford Lough Yacht Club and Daniel Corbett from County Antrim Yacht Club are among just 20 across the UK selected for the Griffin Project 2024.

The Griffin Project is a Royal Ocean Racing Club (RORC) initiatve which gives young sailors the opportunity to try offshore sailing, learn best practises for yachting and improve their overall crewmanship.

As part of the project, Emma (25) and Daniel (18) will receive coaching from world-class sailors such as Dee Caffari, Shirley Robertson, Steve Hayles and Ian Walker.

They will also be given opportunities to put what they have learnt into practice in races such as Cowes to Saint-Malo. This will inevitably contribute to their development as sailors in challenging and at times unfamiliar environments.

Selection for the Griffin Project was hugely competitive. Over 300 sailors from around the world applied to be part of the project, as previously reported on Afloat.ie, but only 20 were ultimately successful.

For more on Emma and Daniel and the Griffin Project, see the RYA website HERE.

Published in RORC

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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