Displaying items by tag: COP23 Bonn

2nd December 2017

Kish Bank Basin Oil Prospect: Calls To Cease Further Explorations For Oil

Kish Bank Oil Prospect: Green Party representatives Una Power and Sinead Mercier protesting in the Forty Foot, Sandycove on south Dublin Bay. Dalkey is another coastal suburb where Dublin Bay meets Killiney Bay.

#DublinBayOil - The Dublin Bay suburb of Sandycove writes Dublin Gazette could be affected by offshore oil drilling that would damage local “delicate habitats”, according to local Green Party reps.

Una Power, Green Party Representative for Killiney-Shankill is calling on the government to cease further exploration for fossil fuels off the coast of Dun Laoghaire.

Oil exploration is set to start at Kish Bank, just 10km from Killiney Beach.

“This must be stopped,” Ms Power told the Dublin Gazette.

Providence Resources Plc, the Irish-based Oil and Gas Exploration Company, holds a licence (details click link) and (related PDF download), granted by the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment to allow for the planning, consent and drilling of an exploration well on the Kish Prospect.

Ms Power said that it is “incredibly worrying that the Government are continuing to grant licenses to explore for fossil fuels, knowing the challenges Ireland faces in meeting our climate change targets, and the negative environmental and health impacts fossil fuels have”.

“We’re calling on the Government to stop the granting of licenses. Oil exploration is set to start at Kish Bank, just 10km from Killiney Beach – this must be stopped.”

The Green Party introduced the Prohibition of Fossil Fuels (Keep It In the Ground) Bill 2017 last week, which seeks an end to further oil and gas exploration in Irish territory as the COP23 conference in Bonn continues.

Afloat adds on the Providence Resources website they state, in February 2013 the company decided to voluntarily surrender the Foreshore Licence following discussions with the Irish government , when it became clear that there had been a transposition error in relation to the EIA Directive. In 2014, the transposition error was finally corrected.

The surrendered Foreshore Licence as previously covered on Afloat, followed the controversial oil project also known as the 'Dalkey Island Prospect' given the close proximity of the Kish Bank Prospect.

To read more on the story from the Dublin Gazette, click here.

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About the 29er Skiff Dinghy

The 29er is a one-design double-handed, single trapeze skiff for youth sailors.

There is an active class in Ireland, just one of the 38-countries from across all continents now racing the high-performance skiff.

The 29er is one of the latest dinghy classes to arrive in Ireland and has a 50/50 split between boys and girls.

The class like to describe the boat as "The most popular skiff for sailors who want to go fast!".

Derived from the Olympic class 49er class and designed by Julian Bethwaite the 29er was first produced in 1998.

Two sailors sail the 29er, one on trapeze.

The 6.25-metre high rig features a fractional asymmetrical spinnaker; a self-tacking jib decreases the workload of the crew, making manoeuvres more efficient and freeing the crew to take the mainsheet upwind and on two-sail reaches.

The 15.00 m2 spinnaker rigging set-up challenges crews to be fit and coordinated, and manoeuvres in the boat require athleticism due to its lack of inherent stability and the high speed with which the fully battened mainsail and jib power up.

The 74kg weight hull is constructed of fibreglass-reinforced polyester in a foam sandwich layout.

The fully battened mainsail and jib are made from a transparent Mylar laminate with orange or red Dacron trimming, while the spinnaker is manufactured from ripstop Nylon.

The mast is in three parts - an aluminium bottom and middle section, with a polyester-fibreglass composite tip to increase mast bend and decrease both overall weights, and the capsizing moment a heavy mast tip can generate. Foils are aluminium or fibreglass.

About the ILCA/Laser Dinghy

The ILCA, formerly known as the Laser, is the most produced boat in the world, with 220,000 units built since 1971.

It's easy to see why the single-handed dinghy has won the title of the most widely distributed boat of all time.

The Laser is a one-design dinghy, the hulls being identical but three rigs that can be used according to the size and weight of the sailor.

The class is international, with sailors from 120 countries. The boat has also been an Olympic class since 1996, being both the men's and women's singlehanded dinghy.

Three rigs are recognised by the International Laser Class Association (ILCA):

ILCA 4: sail of 4.70m2

ILCA 6: sail of 5.76 m2

ILCA 7: sail of 7.06 m2