Displaying items by tag: Jubilee Flotilla

3rd June 2012

Bangor Couple Join Jubilee Flotilla After Epic Journey

#JUBILEE FLOTILLA - A couple from Bangor in Co Down will cruise their boat among the hundreds of vessels packed in the River Thames today for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee flotilla.

As BBC News reports, Robin and Evelyn Clark believe they are the only couple from Bangor who will be cruising in the British capital along with more than 1,000 other boats of all shapes and sizes.

But they will be joined by friends and family as they motor along the Thames from Putney in Southwest London to Tower Bridge.

It will mark the end of an epic adventure from the couple, who cruised all the way from Lough Neagh via Belfast and Portrush, across the Irish Sea by way of the Isle of Man, along the coast of Wales and around Land's End to the South Coast of England.

Speaking of memorable sights along their journey, Robin Clark said: "The wildlife, the seals, porpoises off the coast of the Northern Ireland coast and the dolphins have to be the highlight."

The Clarks will have something else to remember later today, as the flotilla pageant promises a carnival atmosphere not seen in London for decades.

BBC News has more on the story HERE.

Published in News Update

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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