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Displaying items by tag: Dublin, City Quay

The annual Irish Seaman's National Memorial service this year was again cancelled given ongoing Covid circumstances, however a small low-key ceremony did take place along Dublin's south quays, writes Jehan Ashmore.

Attending the ceremony last Friday at City Quay, was the president of the Maritime Institute of Ireland, Joe Varley, who laid a wreath on behalf of the Institute at the Seafarers Memorial monument.

In addition a second wreath was laid by Rose Kearney on behalf of the Stella Maris Seafarers Mission with their club and centre located across the Liffey, on Beresford Place near to Busaras.

Normally the ceremony which is also attended by other maritime organisations, is to remember those Irish Seafarers who were lost while serving on Irish merchant ships during World War II.

The ceremony which is organised by the M.I.I., had in the previous month marked its 80th anniversary as the Maritime Institute of Ireland was incorporated during WW2 in October 1941.

Asides the role of the Institute, they opened the Maritime Museum in Dun Laoghaire in 1978 which is located aptly in the former Church of Ireland Old Mariners' Church. The atmospheric 180 year-old historic building (near the East Pier) is located opposite of the DLRCoCo's LexIcon Library.

To read much more about the history of the M.I.I. and the National Maritime Museum of Ireland which includes a gift shop and library, click here.

Published in Ports & Shipping

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