Displaying items by tag: Luc Fourichon

17th November 2010

Glenans Irish Sailing Club to Reunite with Les Glenans in France

Members of Ireland's biggest sail training organisation, Glenans Irish Sailing Club have voted unanimously to reintegrate with the French-based sailing association Les Glenans.
The reintegration will reunite two associations which share the common aim of bringing people together through a love of sailing and the sea. It will give the Irish members access to Les Glenans' Europe wide sailing activities and allow Les Glenans to offer a unique Irish sailing experience to its 14,000 members.
The decision will allow the Glenans sailing school activity to continue in Ireland at both bases in Collanmore and Baltimore, and it secures the financial future of the Irish organisation which has experienced an increasingly difficult trading environment since the start of the recession.
Paul Rossiter, Chairman of Glenans Irish Sailing Club welcomed the unanimous vote in favour of the reintegration. "This sends a clear signal to Les Glenans that our members are strongly in favour of reuniting our interests", he said. "Les Glenans is the perfect partner," he added. "We share the same values and objectives, and the same DNA."
Luc Fourichon, the President of Les Glenans said "One of our main aims is to create, by sailing, links between members from various countries and various walks of life. Our Irish friends are very welcome on board. Let's sail together"
Under the agreement Les Glenans will take over the assets and liabilities of Glenans Irish Sailing Club. The Club's two Irish sail training bases at Baltimore, County Cork and at Collanmore Island, in Clew Bay, County Mayo will continue to operate with new investment in equipment and facilities planned.
The Irish bases will become part of Les Glenans network of sailing bases across France and Italy. Ireland will form one of Les Glenans five administrative sectors, with Irish members having full voting rights in the enlarged association.

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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