#GRAND CANAL – Works will commence on an Ardclough Flood Alleviation Scheme on 30th January 2012 necessitating closure of the 13th Level of the Grand Canal at Ardclough, Co. Kildare east of Henry Bridge. The canal will be closed to boat traffic until 17th March 2012.

There will also be no through access on the towpath between Henry Bridge and Aylmer Bridge during this period.

#BOATS FOR SALE – Whether you are looking to step straight into a race prepared X-34 for winning regattas or a well prepared 34 footer for performance cruising an X-34 on the Afloat boats for sale site,  represents an excellent opportunity to acquire astylish, great all-rounder built in 2011. The yacht is for sale at £145,750.

Brokers X Yachts Ireland say this model has a white hull with optional grey waterline stripes and matching canvas work, while down below she has the mahogany hand rubbed satin finish varnish work with contrasting light upholstery throughout. She is provided with a new set of cruising North Sails and the base pack of B&G instruments can easily be added to for either a race or cruising owner. For a test sail and more details check out the boat here

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Our Boats for Sale website has been updated. We've listened to the needs of you, the buyers and sellers to bring you the site Ireland needs for boat sales.

Firstly, our aim is to generate Ireland's largest stock of quality boats for sale, in order to do this we've introduced a modest charge of €10 to list your boat for 60 days. We've simplified the steps involved to advertise your boat, and once you've walked through them here are some of the advantages your boat has to gain maximum exposure...

• Our aim is to offer Ireland's largest range of quality boats for sale.
• With upwards of 3,000 visitors per day and 70% of traffic from search engine queries, Afloat.ie is the number one boating portal site in Ireland.
• Your boat will be added to Ireland's largest boating mailing list with over 10,000 subscribers, giving your boat more exposure both at home and abroad
• There's tips too for buyers and sellers covering choosing a boat, asessing value, financing a boat, advertising a boat for sale and the necessary paperwork.
• Our aim is to provide an independent quality alternative where Irish boat buyer can meet Irish boat seller at a cost-effective price.

#CURRACH – Two traditional Irish currachs are being built on the banks of the river Liffey and will be afloat on the Irish sea in the first week of the new year. The special project undertaken by East Wall Sports Club aims to highlight the ancient Irish craft of boat building.  

The launch at the Club on January 7th follows a month-long currach workshop where a team have been hand-building the boats under the careful guidance of artist and boat-builder, Mark Redden, who learnt the craft from Jackie Mons and Cork currach builder Padraig O Duinnin.  

Mark told 98fm radio the currach represents more than a simple water craft: “It stands for the quality of ancient design, a legacy left to us by our forbearers and a resourcefulness applicable to today’s life. We’re drawing on all of this to build two Connemara curachs by the 7th of January!”

It is hoped these new additions in Dublin’s currach fleet will produce crews that will compete in the regattas of the west coast. Des Moriarty one of the 
original team and photographer for the project continued “the launch will mark 2012 as the year of the currach and the team and club welcome everyone with an interest to come on the 7th, see them launch into the Irish sea hear more about the build and project from Mark and off course enjoy some great food and music!”

More on this story from 98fm here and Dublin People here. The East Wall Sports Club facebook page is here

#SAILING–Any Sailing Club with ambitions of staging the Irish Cruiser Racer Association (ICRA) National Championships will have to look as far ahead as 2015.

ICRA – the 2011 Club of the Year – laid out its stall until 2014 at the eighth annual conference in Dun Laoghaire at the weekend and the momentum is already building at Howth Yacht Club (HYC) who stage the 2012 National Championships at the beginning of next season.

The country's biggest yacht club has a potential sponsor in the wings and Saturday's conference also heard from the Club's Norbert Reilly that HYC is adding feeder events around the two day championships from May 25/27 to double the attraction of the North Dublin venue.

The Corby Cup will be sailed the weekend prior to the Nationals (19-20 May) and the Irish sea offshore body, ISORA, will stage a feeder race from Conwy in Wales to Howth. Both initiatives will encourage UK boats to travel to Dublin for the ICRA series.

Typically the ICRA event attracts over 100 boats in four different classes.

In spite of a dip in the size of the Cruiser fleet in Howth in recent years local boats are still taking some of the big prizes nationally with Reilly's Crazy Horse the 2011 Volvo Dun Laoghaire and DBSC Cruiser Challenge winner and Pat Kelly's J109 Storm picking up the weekend conference's top 'Boat of the Year' prize.

Ashore there are plans to make the event family oriented and a 'ladies lunch' is also planned.

The weekend's ICRA conference decided to do away with the crew limit rule for the seven race series in Howth as the association focuses on getting more crews out on the water to enjoy cruiser racing.

The ICRA Nationals goes West for a return visit to Tralee Bay Sailing Club in June 2013 and in 2014 the National Championships will be staged by the Royal Irish Yacht Club in Dun Laoghaire.

In the normal cycle of things 'the ICRAs' should be heading to the south coast again in 2015 but so far, the conference heard, the association is open to offers.

The 2012 ICRA Notice of Race for the Howth Championships will be available on Afloat.ie shortly

#BOATSHOW–The Irish Marine Federation (IMF) holds its Annual General Meeting at 18.00 on Wednesday, 30th November at the National Yacht Club, Dun Laoghaire.

Top of the agenda, in these challenging times, is the staging of next year's boat show which the board are keen to press ahead with in spite of the downturn. Options being discussed are a scaled back show as well as an on the water focus.

The AGM is open to all members of the IMF,  whose subscriptions are up to date.

The meeting will be followed by drinks at the NYC bar.

#BOATS FOR SALE – A Quarter Ton yacht for sale at €8,000 is 'a great club racer' that 'normally cleans up in Class 3', that's according to a new advertisment on Afloat's Boats for Sale site this morning. The yacht Manzanita has been 'reduced to sell' by owner George Kenefick, the recently crowned All Ireland Sailing Champion.

Earlier this month a similar yacht, a Bolero 26, Bandit, sold quickly prompting seller Ian Travers to write and record his thanks for the interest generated from the advert on the Afloat boats for sale site (cost €10).

Quarter Ton racing looks like a popular style of sailing for the current times. A leading example, Supernova took top prize at this year's Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta and both the 2011 ICRA Nationals and the Sovereign's Cup championed the small boat cause.

The latest addition to the boats for sale site is 'a steal for the price' says Kenefick who makes the 1977 vintage craft sound like an ideal winter project for a Dublin Bay or Cork Harbour campaign in 2012.

The boat had a new 'Formula' rig in 2006 and new mainsheet track in 2008 with new Harken cam cleats.

The boat was resprayed in 2005 but now needs a few touch ups.

All sails are from McWilliam Sailmakers. A mast head kite and a small kite are inlcuded.

The boat is lying in Hamble UK on a Trailer but you can see photos of her on the full advert here.

 

#BOAT OF THE YEAR – The Irish Cruiser Racing Association (ICRA) has announced a short list of 16 boats for its annual boat of the year award. The list includes the campaign of recently crowned All Ireland Sailing Champion George Kenefick's Quarter Tonner, Tiger.

The list also includes two other quarter tonners, noting the increase in popularity of the revived retro class, inlcuding the Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta winner, Supernova.

Also shortlisted are three Howth Boats inlcuding the recent winner of class zero of the DBSC Cruiser Challenge, the Mills 36 Crazy Horse (Norbert Reilly).

West coast fans will be pleased to see Galway's Joie de Vie, the J109 overall winner of the Clifden based WIORA week.

Offshore interests are represented by the Multiple ISORA winner Matt Davis's Raging Bull from Skerries.

The winner will be announced at the ICRA Conference at the Royal Marine Hotel in Dun Laoghaire on November 26th 2011.

Cast your vote: Afloat's readers poll is on the left hand column of our homepage!

The full list published by ICRA this afternoon is as follows.

BOAT	MODEL	CLUB	OWNER
ALLURE	Corby 25	KYC	Brian Goggin
ANTIX	Ker 39	RCYC	Anthony O'Leary
CRAZY HORSE	Mills 36	HYC	Norbert Reilly
DUX	X302	HYC	Anthony Gore-Grimes
EOS	X-36 Sport	KYC	David Scott
HARD ON PORT	Quarter-ton	RStGYC	Flor O'Driscoll
IMPETUOUS	Corby 25	HYC	Noonan/Chambers
JOIE DE VIE	J109	GBSC	Glenn Cahill
RAGING BULL	Sigma 400	Skerries	Matt Davis
SEAHAWK	Sigma 33ood	KYC	Clem McElligot
STORM	J-109	HYC	Peter Kelly
SUNBURN	Sunfast 32	HYC	Kevin Byrne
SUPERNOVA	Quarter-ton	RIYC	McCormack/Lawless/Shannon
TIGER	Quarter-ton	RCYC	Kenefick/Kenefick/O'Brien
YANKS $ FRANCS	Corby 25	RCYC	Vinnie O'Shea
WHITE MISCHIEF	Sigma 33ood	RIYC	Tim Goodbody

Celebrating its 25th year, the organisers of Scotland's Boat Show 2011 at Kip Marina say it was a record breaker from the start and they say established itself 'as the largest show in Scotland and the third major boat show in the UK'.

Opening its gates at 10am last Friday and  the first boat being sold just 10 minutes later.  Organisers confirmed to Afloat.ie that the numbers of visitors from both Ireland - north and south - was up on previous years. The buoyant feed back is a fillip for the marine leisure indsutry here and in the UK.

A busy pontoon during the show

The records continued to fall from there on with first day attendances more than double the previous year – a statistic which was to repeat throughout the show - ending up with a massive 12,000 visitors more than any previous show and bucking the trend elsewhere for declining visitor numbers at boat shows.

Scotland's Boat Show 2011 attracted visitors from all over Scotland, the North & South of England, Ireland and even from Europe but none could compare with the couple who arrived from New Zealand having added the show to their European itinerary after reading about it on the internet! They even had a chance to watch their beloved All Blacks play courtesy of Boat Electrics who were demonstrating satellite TV systems!

Throughout the show as the thousands of visitors flocked to Kip Marina to view the best and brightest of the boating world, it became apparent that exhibitors were also enjoying a bumper weekend – the Directors of Inspiration Marine who sell Hanse, Dehler and Moody yachts said "This is better than Southampton! We have done more business here in three days than we did in 10 days on the South Coast"

Prosser Marine MD Stan Prosser said "The 2011 Scotland's Boat Show has proved beyond doubt that if you are in the boating business anywhere, you need to be in Scotland every October!"

Boat sales during the show totalled an incredible £1.3m and, with many dealers having a diary full of viewings still to come, that figure will rise steeply over the coming weeks.

Scotland's Boat Show was officially opened by Education Secretary Mike Russell MSP who said of the shows 25th Anniversary, "Twenty-five years is a long time and the show has gone from strength to strength. What is really important is the strong impact it has on the local economy. We are talking about very serious money being spent here this weekend.

Kip Marina's Managing Director Gavin McDonagh said "With possibly the busiest day in Kip Marina's 40 year history, it is proof that the show has become the premier boat show in the North of the UK. We are delighted that all the exhibitors who have made the journey straight here from Southampton Boat Show had such a rewarding show and look forward to welcoming many more next year!

With so many attractions at this year's show – over 150 boats for sale, from a £500 dinghy to a half a million pound luxury motor yacht, more than 30 marine trade companies from all over the UK exhibiting the latest trends and products in the world of boats plus the chance to see 'Quantum of Solace' the 43' Sunseeker Superhawk powerboat from the James Bond film of the same name, a full range of Aston Martin and Rolls Royce motor cars together with the limited edition Volvo Ocean Racer 4x4's.

There is movement in the marine market. That's the view from Irish boat dealers at this week's Southampton Boat Show who, after a torrid few seasons, are finding there's a pick up in boat sales but only when the price is right.

In 2007 there were 70 Irish yacht and boat sales staff manning stands in Southampton, this week that figure was down by about 60%. No one needs reminding of recession and the drop off in boat sales has been a reflection of the hard times.

Confidence is returning to the market in spite of the dire warnings about currency crises and dealers are now beginning to take trade ins again but they're still cautious as they have little room for error.

The good news though for boat owners is that there is now some great value in the market and the Southampton Boat show is an example of that. A core of about 15 Irish dealers are doing business there, thanks in no small part to the availability of marine finance again.

Boat Dealers James Kirwan (left) and Bernard Gallagher from BJ Marine on a new Benenteau Seanse in Southampton yesterday. BJ Marine are Irish Beneteau distributors

Interestingly, finance deals for values over €500,000 are 'brisk' but they remain sluggish for amounts under that, according to Afloat.ie's source.

That's surprising with the value of new craft on offer, such as a 2011 Beneteau Oceanis 48 footer at €209,000. A decade ago a boat with half that kit and of similar size would have been priced well over IR£350k. BJ Marine currently have three interested Irish parties in the 48 footer this week.

In essence dealers say that if you're prepared to drop your price on your trade in then you can probably make it back on a new purchase.

But just how much do asking prices need to drop? The amount varies between boat types but recently James Kirwan of BJ Marine sold a Beneteau Oceanis 39.3 for approximately €80k. An Oceanis 411 of the same vintage went for roughly €90k.

Alan Barton of MGM Boats in Kinsale sold a 2008 Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 39i recently for 125k. Two examples of nearly new Jeanneau Merry Fisher motorboats, a popular flybridge model in Ireland, fetched 75k and 85k approximately.

Martin Salmon (left) and Joe Hill welcome Alan Barton (centre) as the lastest broker to MGM Boats Ltd. Barton is running MGM Boats new brokerage office in Kinsale

Ironically, boat dealers have even been able to make progress through these bad times. Boats have not been as badly affected by the recession as other 'toys'. ' Unlike cars or property a boat is neither left hand drive or rooted to a particular spot making them easier to relocate and dispose of without resorting to fire sale prices' says BJ Marine's Bernard Gallagher.

In fact the worse the news grew about Ireland, the more business Irish dealers were able to do did as international buyers took advantage of the siutation to bag a bargain.

The trend is confirmed in part by the amount of search traffic coming from Scandinavia on leading Irish Boats for Sale sites such as Afloat.ie.

Swedish buyers are buying boats from 15k to 500k but most interest from Sweden is in five year old yachts in the 30-40 foot category.

Mark White, John O'Kane and Glyn Dewey from MGM Boats on the new Aquador 25 in Southampton. MGM are the UK and Irish distributors for the Finnish made Aquador motorboat marque

In terms of asset types, the old adage that if you want to make money buy a house, lose money buy a car or keep money buy a boat does not quite ring true thanks to the property crash but there's still some truth in it for boats.

'Over the last seven years I bought two apartments, a load of shares and the boat. The apartments are under water, the shares are gone but the boat's still worth something' that's what one rueful Irish boat owner told Afloat.ie yesterday.

The advent of boats for sale websites is allowing Europeans a European wide selection to choose from and Ireland has been the focus because of the good value.

Such has been the exodus of used boats from Ireland to overseas markets that Gallagher says there is a dearth of quality used large craft for sale in Ireland now.

The Southampton boat Show continues until Sunday but be warned the cost of flights from Dublin directly to Southampton for a day return this weekend are running at over €300!

 

In a recent reconnoitre carried out by members of the Heritage Boat Association (HBA) and the Portlaw Heritage Group, long lost structures of our boating heritage were located and identified.

Four boats of the Heritage Boat Association, including Heritage Barges 68M and 72M, navigated the Clodiagh to Portlaw recently, the first time that barges have moored at the old Quay in 75 years.

They discovered the Portlaw Graving Docks at the Quay and based on the information in some of the historical documents at the Heritage Centre, these may date from as early as the 1820s and been built before the town. On the same site are the remains of a stone workshop and behind the cut stone quay, they found an old cobbled yard and track.

These structures are close to the old Lock Gate, whose design is reputed to be unique in the British Isles. The gate formed the entrance to the Portlaw Canal where raw materials were carried by barge into the Cotton Mill and the finished product was sent from here on the first stage of the journey to countries all over the world.

All concerned were excited about finding these structures which may pre-date the building of the town of Portlaw. Gerry Burke of the Heritage Boat Association stated "Finds like these are not only important to our boating heritage but give us insights into the social aspects of our ancestors and their amazing skills in creating innovative industrial artefacts by hand. It is important they are preserved for both their tourism value and for future generations to appreciate."

Brian Goggin, who writes about Irish Waterways' history, said "Portlaw's foundation as an industrial town is intimately linked with the use of the River Clodiagh, but there is little published information about the navigation or about how boats used it. These new discoveries add an extra dimension to our understanding and extend the boundaries of the area that should be conserved."

The Heritage Boat Association's aspiration is to protect, promote and celebrate the floating heritage on the inland waterways of Ireland. Our floating heritage provides us with a direct link to the past and includes both commercial and pleasure craft that plied the inland waterways.