Displaying items by tag: club sailing

6th May 2017

ISA Predicts Team Racing Is Set To ‘Go Viral’

#TeamRacing - Last weekend’s Student Yachting Worlds selection in Howth shows the health of team racing among the collegiate set, especially among those sailing for fun.

But team racing as a discipline is more than just an opportunity for lapsed or lower-skilled sailors to get their jollies on the water — it’s an untapped pool of potential club members with the itch to sail on a regular basis.

Indeed, the Irish Sailing Association says team racing “is an excellent format to promote more sailing” and notes that more and more clubs are procuring boats for precisely this purpose.

The short racing format and potential for regular intra- and inter-club meets also cultivates the elusive ‘fun factor’ that could keep younger sailors as active club members for years to come.

To this end, the ISA is holding a team racing development meeting at the National Yacht Club in Dun Laoghaire from 7pm on Wednesday 24 May to discuss the potential of building team racing within Ireland’s sailing clubs and help the concept ‘go viral’.

Interested clubs should contact [email protected] by Friday 12 May.

Published in Team Racing

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Howth Yacht Club Launches 2011 Sailing Programme

Howth Yacht Club will launch its programme of open sailing events for 2011 at the club house tomorrow evening.

In addition to running club sailing throughout the year, and both junior and adult sailing courses to get more involved in the sport, HYC will also be hosting more than 20 open events this year.

These are set to include local, provincial, national and international championships, which are hopes to attract visitors from all over Ireland and beyond.

For more details visit the Howth Yacht Club website at www.hyc.ie.

Howth Yacht Club will launch its programme of open sailing events for 2011 at the club house tomorrow evening (Thursday 31 March).

In addition to running club sailing throughout the year, and both junior and adult sailing courses to get more involved in the sport, HYC will also be hosting more than 20 open events this year.

These are set to include local, provincial, national and international championships, which are hopes to attract visitors from all over Ireland and beyond.

For more details visit the Howth Yacht Club website at www.hyc.ie.

Published in Howth YC

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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