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Displaying items by tag: US training ships

#UStrainingShips –Afloat.ie can now confirm following our previous report, that the US training ship T.S. Empire State (1962/14,557grt) had made a 'sail-past' only visit of Dublin Bay this morning while en route to Copenhagen.

The vessel is no stranger to Dublin Port having called on previous occasions.

The brief appearance of the former general cargoship on US Independence Day, involved the vessel circling around the southern end of the bay before departing off the Baily Lighthouse.

On board are male and female students from the Maritime College of the State University College of New York (SUNY) who are undertaking their Summer Sea Term, which is held annually.

 

Published in Dublin Bay

#UStrainingShips -Today been the 4th July, the United States celebrates its Independence Day where patriotic events take place also overseas and on board a pair of training vessels in Irish waters, writes Jehan Ashmore.

As previously reported on Afloat.ie, the two US training ships visited Cork recently, SSV Corwith Cromar and TS Empire State (1962/14,557grt) though the latter vessel this morning arrived into Dublin Bay.

As part of her annual Summer Sea Term, she is scheduled to visit several European ports and among them the next port is call is understood to the Danish capital of Copenhagen.

The arrival into Dublin Bay of the cadetship with students from the Maritime College of the State University College of New York (SUNY) is somewhat surprising, though for the last three days she undertook training exercises held off Cork Harbour with overnight anchorage taken offshore.

It remains to be confirmed if the former general cargoship which has visited Dublin Port previously is set to make an un-scheduled call.

Or this could merely be a 'sail-past' of Dublin as part of the route taken of the Empire State during her passage through the Irish Sea, past Scotland and onward to Scandinavia.

Also following a transatlantic sail from the US East coast, the other training vessel, the steel-hulled 1988 built SSV Corwith Cramer which made her first visit to Cork. She remains berthed at Cork City Marina where she was open to the public last Sunday.

On Tuesday a talk "One Ocean: Lightening Talks on Ocean Discovery" was held on board with researchers from the US and Ireland. She is due to depart on Sunday.

 

Published in Dublin Bay

#UStrainingShips - A pair of US training vessels, one under sail the other motor-propelled have made new and continued old ties with Cork Harbour, writes Jehan Ashmore.

Following a transatlantic sail from the US East coast, the SSV Corwith Cramer which as previously reported made her first visit to Cork City is berthed at the marina and was made open to the public yesterday.

The 1988 built sail training vessel belongs to the Sea Education Association (SEA) and the school ship will spend over a week on the river Lee. She is expected to depart next Sunday and continue her first visit to ports on the European mainland.

Meanwhile, the other US vessel reported earlier is the veteran merchant training ship T.S. Empire State (1962/14,557grt) which has been berthed in lower Cork Harbour at Cobh has since departed.

Having said that, the former general-cargoship now a training ship of the Maritime College of the State University College of New York (SUNY) remains currently at anchor off Cork Harbour.

The ship has made Cork her Irish port of call on several occasions in addition to Dublin. Her cadets are preparing to embark on the next leg of her annual Summer Sea Term where the Danish capital of Copenhagen is her next port of call.

 

Published in Cork Harbour

Dublin Bay 21s

An exciting new project to breathe life into six defunct 120-year-old Irish yachts that happen to be the oldest intact one-design keelboat class in the world has captured the imagination of sailors at Ireland's biggest sailing centre. The birthplace of the original Dublin Bay 21 class is getting ready to welcome home the six restored craft after 40 years thanks to an ambitious boat building project was completed on the Shannon Estuary that saved them from completely rotting away.

Dublin Bay 21 FAQs

The Dublin Bay 21 is a vintage one-design wooden yacht designed for sailing in Dublin Bay.

Seven were built between 1903 and 1906.

As of 2020, the yachts are 117 years old.

Alfred Mylne designed the seven yachts.

The total voting population in the Republic's inhabited islands is just over 2,600 people, according to the Department of Housing.

Dublin Bay Sailing Club (DBSC) commissioned the boat to encourage inexpensive one-design racing to recognise the success of the Water Wag one-design dinghy of 1887 and the Colleen keelboat class of 1897.

Estelle built by Hollwey, 1903; Garavogue built by Kelly, 1903; Innisfallen built by Hollwey, 1903.; Maureen built by Hollwey, 1903.; Oola built by Kelly, 1905; Naneen built by Clancy, 1905.

Overall length- 32'-6', Beam- 7'-6", Keel lead- 2 tons Sail area - 600sq.ft

The first race took place on 19 June 1903 in Dublin Bay.

They may be the oldest intact class of racing keelboat yacht in the world. Sailing together in a fleet, they are one of the loveliest sights to be seen on any sailing waters in the world, according to many Dublin Bay aficionados.

In 1964, some of the owners thought that the boats were outdated, and needed a new breath of fresh air. After extensive discussions between all the owners, the gaff rig and timber mast was abandoned in favour of a more fashionable Bermudan rig with an aluminium mast. Unfortunately, this rig put previously unseen loads on the hulls, resulting in some permanent damage.

The fleet was taken out of the water in 1986 after Hurricane Charlie ruined active Dublin Bay 21 fleet racing in August of that year. Two 21s sank in the storm, suffering the same fate as their sister ship Estelle four years earlier. The class then became defunct. In 1988, master shipwright Jack Tyrrell of Arklow inspected the fleet and considered the state of the hulls as vulnerable, describing them as 'still restorable even if some would need a virtual rebuild'. The fleet then lay rotting in a farmyard in Arklow until 2019 and the pioneering project of Dun Laoghaire sailors Fionan De Barra and Hal Sisk who decided to bring them back to their former glory.

Hurricane Charlie finally ruined active Dublin Bay 21 fleet racing in August 1986. Two 21s sank in the storm, suffering the same fate as a sister ship four years earlier; Estelle sank twice, once on her moorings and once in a near-tragic downwind capsize. Despite their collective salvage from the sea bed, the class decided the ancient boats should not be allowed suffer anymore. To avoid further deterioration and risk to the rare craft all seven 21s were put into storage in 1989 under the direction of the naval architect Jack Tyrrell at his yard in Arklow.

While two of the fleet, Garavogue and Geraldine sailed to their current home, the other five, in various states of disrepair, were carried the 50-odd miles to Arklow by road.

To revive the legendary Dublin Bay 21 class, the famous Mylne design of 1902-03. Hal Sisk and Fionan de Barra are developing ideas to retain the class's spirit while making the boats more appropriate to today's needs in Dun Laoghaire harbour, with its many other rival sailing attractions. The Dublin Bay 21-foot class's fate represents far more than the loss of a single class; it is bad news for the Bay's yachting heritage at large. Although Dún Laoghaire turned a blind eye to the plight of the oldest intact one-design keelboat fleet in the world for 30 years or more they are now fully restored.

The Dublin Bay 21 Restoration team includes Steve Morris, James Madigan, Hal Sisk, Fionan de Barra, Fintan Ryan and Dan Mill.

Retaining the pure Mylne-designed hull was essential, but the project has new laminated cold-moulded hulls which are being built inverted but will, when finished and upright, be fitted on the original ballast keels, thereby maintaining the boat’s continuity of existence, the presence of the true spirit of the ship.

It will be a gunter-rigged sloop. It was decided a simpler yet clearly vintage rig was needed for the time-constrained sailors of the 21st Century. So, far from bringing the original and almost-mythical gaff cutter rig with jackyard topsail back to life above a traditionally-constructed hull, the project is content to have an attractive gunter-rigged sloop – “American gaff” some would call it.

The first DB 21 to get the treatment was Naneen, originally built in 1905 by Clancy of Dun Laoghaire for T. Cosby Burrowes, a serial boat owner from Cavan.

On Dublin Bay. Dublin Bay Sailing Club granted a racing start for 2020 Tuesday evening racing starting in 2020, but it was deferred due to COVID-19.
Initially, two Dublin Bay 21s will race then three as the boat building project based in Kilrush on the Shannon Estuary completes the six-boat project.
The restored boats will be welcomed back to the Bay in a special DBSC gun salute from committee boat Mac Lir at the start of the season.
In a recollection for Afloat, well known Dun Laoghaire one-design sailor Roger Bannon said: "They were complete bitches of boats to sail, over-canvassed and fundamentally badly balanced. Their construction and design was also seriously flawed which meant that they constantly leaked and required endless expensive maintenance. They suffered from unbelievable lee helm which led to regular swamping's and indeed several sinkings.

©Afloat 2020