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Displaying items by tag: Anglesea MP

P&O Ferries sacking of 800 staff which has “struck fear” into North Wales ferry workers, Anglesey (Ynys Môn) MP Virginia Crosbie has warned.

On Thursday (last week), P&O Ferries announced the sacking of 800 staff with immediate effect, who were to be replaced by agency workers in order for the company to remain a “viable business”, an act condemned by the UK Government.

Virginia Crosbie MP told the House of Commons of the uncertainty this has left among other ferry workers, including those in her constituency who have close ties to those that had worked for P&O.

Mrs Crosbie said: “I say all this to outline the fact that the bonds between my constituents and the employees of P&O are incredibly strong, and also that P&O’s recent actions have struck fear into our local ferry workers.

“I have spent time on the phone with constituents who work for Stena, including David Gwatkin, a steward on board the Stena Adventurer and a union representative.

The NorthWalesChronicle reports more on the ferryport town.

Afloat adds the Holyhead-Dublin Port ferry which operates in tandem with Stena Estrid, is currently in Cammell Laird shipyard on Merseyside for routine annual dry-docking.

While Stena Estrid is operating as the service's only ferry, as relief ferry Stena Nordica Afloat previously reported, has since been redeployed to the North Channel. This is to boost Belfast-Cairnyran capacity with added sailings, following more than a week of suspended P&O sailings on the Cairnryan-Larne link.

The Stena Adventurer which is normally the Irish Sea central corridor's second route ferry had departed Holyhead on 9 March when it sailed to the Birkenhead based shipyard.

Published in Ferry

Irish Sailing Classes and Association – There’s no shortage of one-design classes from which to choose and each gives its enthusiasts great competition, fun and camaraderie, writes Graham Smith in this review of the classes. 

One-design racing is where it all starts. It is, after all, where all the top sailors earned their stripes, battling away for line honours without a thought for a handicapper’s calculator wiping away a hard-fought victory!

Indeed, you could count on less than one hand the number of top Irish sailors who didn’t cut their teeth in a one-design dinghy! Just think of Cudmore, Barrington, Watson, Wilkins, Hennessy and Dix to name a few and you realise that they honed their skills in everything from Enterprises to Lasers and a lot in between.

At present count, there are a little over 30 one-design classes in Ireland, split almost evenly between dinghies and keelboats, a statistic which might raise a few eyebrows. They range from the long-established Mermaids, IDRA14s and Dragons to the newer additions like Fevas, Topaz and RS Elite. They all fill a particular need and give their owners and crews considerable enjoyment.

Many have attracted their World or European Championships to Irish waters over the years and while 2009 is notable for a lack of such events here, the following year will see the Etchells Worlds at Howth and perhaps a few other international regattas too.

In addition to the review, we asked each class to complete a questionnaire giving details of their fleet numbers, whether they were on a growth pattern or holding their own, so we could highlight those ‘on the up’ and those remaining static in terms of numbers. The older traditional designs, as you might imagine, fall into the latter category, although that’s not a negative!

CLASS REVIEW  The State of the Classes – League Table (as at February 2009)

S = Static; U = Up/growing

275     Optimist   U

200+   Laser   S

189     Mermaid   S

160     Flying Fifteen   S

130     RS Feva   U

115     Shannon One Design    U

100+   Mirror   S

100+   Topper   U

99       Topaz   U

94       Laser SB3   U

87       GP14   U

85       Squib   S

70       Fireball   S

70       Ruffian   S

60       J24   S

60       Shipman   S

52       Dragon   S

50       RS400/200   S

50       420    U

43       Multihulls    U

42       Dragon    S

40       Water Wags    U

40       Wayfarer    S

34       IDRA14    U

33       Puppeteer    U

28       Etchells    S

27       E-Boat    U

26       Glen    S

25       Enterprise    S

18       Sigma 33    S

18       Howth 17    U

13       RS Elite    U