Displaying items by tag: Wexford Kite Surfing Festival

20th August 2012

Irish Kitesurfing Nationals in Wexford This Weekend

#KITESURFING - The annual Wexford Kite Surfing Festival on Duncannon Beach will once again play host to the Irish National Kite Surfing Championships this weekend 25-26 August.

Presented by the Irish Kitesurfing Association (ISKA) and Wexford-based start-up school Hooked Kitesurfing, the two-day content will present the best in junior, men's and women's kitesurfing in course racing and freestyle events.

As organiser Niall Roche tells Visit Wexford, the global field of competitors will for the first time be reflected with an international judging panel.

"It’s a real boost for the festival and indeed for kitesurfing in Ireland," he says. "This event will be the biggest kitesurfing event on the national calendar this year, we are expecting over 50 kitesurfers to compete."

And aside from the action on the water, the festival weekend includes fun for all the family from water zorbing to archery, face painting, power kite lessons for kids and a beach party with barbecue. Details of events and competition times are available HERE.

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Ireland's Kitesurfers Headed to Wexford Fest

The Irish National Kite Surfing Festival will be part of the action at the Wexford Kite Surfing Festvial in Duncannon next weekend.

http://www.afloat.ie/watersport/kitesurfing/

Kitesurfers from all over Ireland will compete in course racing and a freestyle competition in their bid to claim the national championship.

But the two day event also offers entertainment for all the family - from archery and bungee trampolines for the more adventurous, to face painting, hula hoops and bouncy castles for the young (and young at heart).

The Irish National Kite Surfing Festival will be part of the action at the Wexford Kite Surfing Festvial in Duncannon next weekend.

Kitesurfers from all over Ireland will compete in course racing and a freestyle competition in their bid to claim the national championship.

But the two day event also offers entertainment for all the family, from archery and bungee trampolines for the more adventurous to face painting, hula hoops and bouncy castles for the young - and young at heart.

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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