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Displaying items by tag: youth development

#ANGLING - Tuesday's Enniscorthy Guardian writes about the revival of coarse fishing in Ireland, spearheaded by Gerry McStraw, chairman of Carlow Coarse Angling Club.
McStraw runs a tackle and bait business in Graiguecullen on the River Barrow, which has made a comeback after years of heavy poaching, and become a safe environment for families to enjoy.
Bream, hybrids, roach, dace and perch are now in abundance in the river - with bag weights of up to 50 lb of roach possible - while the pike pose a worthy challenge for the determined angler.
Carlow Sports Partnership will award a special bursary to the club on Wednesday 30 November in recognition of its work not only in protecting the river but also in youth development.
The Enniscorthy Guardian has more on the story HERE.

#ANGLING - Tuesday's Enniscorthy Guardian writes about the revival of coarse fishing in Ireland, spearheaded by Gerry McStraw, chairman of Carlow Coarse Angling Club.

McStraw runs a tackle and bait business in Graiguecullen on the River Barrow, which has made a comeback after years of heavy poaching, and become a safe environment for families to enjoy.

Bream, hybrids, roach, dace and perch are now in abundance in the river - with bag weights of up to 50 lb of roach possible - while the pike pose a worthy challenge for the determined angler.

Carlow Sports Partnership will award a special bursary to the club on Wednesday 30 November in recognition of its work not only in protecting the river but also in youth development.

The Enniscorthy Guardian has more on the story HERE.

Published in Angling
Collaboration with other sail training bodies to establish a regular Tall Ships festival in Ireland is one of the long term goals of Sail Training Ireland's new youth development manager.
As previously reported on Afloat.ie, Michael Byrne took up the new post at Dublin Port last week. His first tasks include fundraising, planning structures for membership,  administering bursaries for sail training experience and preparing for the Tall Ships visit to Waterford next month.
But he has also signalled his intent in the long term to "co-operate and engage with other sail training associations and organisations with the view to establishhing a recurring STI-endorsed Tall Ships maritime festival every three-to-five years."
Byrne also hopes to sponsor and support sail trainees on boats around the world to give them invaluable experience at sea.
For more information visit www.irishsailtraining.com.

Collaboration with other sail training bodies to establish a regular Tall Ships festival in Ireland is one of the long term goals of Sail Training Ireland's new youth development manager.

As previously reported on Afloat.ie, Michael Byrne took up the new post at Dublin Port last week. His first tasks include fundraising, planning structures for membership, administering bursaries for sail training experience and preparing for the Tall Ships visit to Waterford next month.

But he has also signalled his intent in the long term to "co-operate and engage with other sail training associations and organisations with the view to establishhing a recurring STI-endorsed Tall Ships maritime festival every three-to-five years."

Byrne also hopes to sponsor and support sail trainees on boats around the world to give them invaluable experience at sea.

For more information visit www.irishsailtraining.com.

Published in Tall Ships

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