Displaying items by tag: annual

10th December 2014

Irish Sailing Annual 2015 – Out Now!

#afloatmag – The 2015 Irish Sailing Annual is published next Monday and packed with details of the forthcoming season plus a review of 2014. Details of the full colour annual below:

News
VOR reporter's prize then BANG!; Dun Laoghaire sailor becomes RORC Commodore; Arklow gets new marina; Volvo award for MGM Boats; 75 years of Sutton dinghies; Farewell to Joe English; Dubarry's Crosshaven born at sea; Greystones fishing 'alive' plus lots more maritime news from around the coast

Irish Sailing Association News
2015 will be pivotal year for sailing's national governing body writes ISA President David Lovegrove

Marine Industry news
BJ Marine makes big moves in busy 2014

2015 Sailing Preview
Three, Two, One... 2015 Here We Come!

2014 Sailing Review
Irish Sailing Review: A Year Of Hope, Regeneration & Success by WM Nixon

Afloat's class of 2014

Reviewing Ireland's sailors of the month for 2014

Howth Yacht Club's Autumn league

Brian Turvey, Commodore of Howth Yacht Club, looks back on a rejuvenated Dublin series

Royal Cork October league

Rob McConnell's Archambault A35 was the IRC1 winner at the CH Marine Autumn League at Royal Cork Yacht Club writes Claire Bateman

Inland Waters

The Barrow blueway -what is it?

Brokerage

The latest boats and equipment in Ireland's marine marketplace

Classifieds

A selection of Afloat.ie's online classified adverts

Dubarry Nautical Crossword

A nautical crossword with a great boating prize of Dubarry deck shoes

Soundings

Maybird and Vogue Benefit Lifeboat

Published in News Update

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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