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Displaying items by tag: Fisu

University College Cork (UCC) will compete in the FISU world sailing fleet racing championships on Lake Garda, Italy, later this week. 

UCC was selected to represent Ireland after the Irish University Sailing Association (IUSA) completed a 'rigorous' selection process.

The nominated team was subsequently approved, endorsed, and supported by Irish Sailing to represent the country. This is the first time that an Irish Sailing Team will compete in the FISU world sailing fleet racing championships.

Established over seventy-five years ago, the International University Sports Federation (FISU) is the global organisation which provides world-class international sporting events to third-level students from across the globe. While working closely with Student Sport Ireland (SSI), four Irish student teams will compete in the 2024 FISU games in their different sporting disciplines and locations across Europe over the summer months, one of which is an Irish University Sailing Team that will compete in Lake Garda.

As It is mandatory for a team Coach and Manager to travel with the team, Scott Flanigan (an Irish Olympic sailor at the 2012 games in London) will support the Irish team at the event. Scott has been working closely with the Irish student Skipper Michéal O’Suilléabhain and his team recently to ensure all appropriate training and preparation is completed before the Lake Garda event.

CEO for Irish Sailing, Tim Bourke, commented, ‘It’s fantastic to see Ireland will be represented at such a prestigious global event. The team are preparing well, and with the support of Student Sport Ireland on the administrative side liaising with the event organisers, it has been a team effort to ensure a capable and prepared representation from Ireland’.

Published in Youth Sailing

#Rowing: Sam McKeown of Queen’s University, Belfast, won gold in the single sculls at the World University Rowing Championships in Shanghai. McKeown, representing Britain, topped the podium, with  China’s Zhi Chen and Joel Naukkarinen of Finland taking silver and bronze.

Fisu World University Rowing Championships, Shanghai

Men

Single Sculls – A Final: 1 Britain (S McKeown) 6:57.74, 2 China (Chen Zhi) 7:00.24, 3 Finland (J Naukkarinen) 7:03.89.

Published in Rowing

Marine Wildlife Around Ireland One of the greatest memories of any day spent boating around the Irish coast is an encounter with marine wildlife.  It's a thrill for young and old to witness seabirds, seals, dolphins and whales right there in their own habitat. As boaters fortunate enough to have experienced it will testify even spotting a distant dorsal fin can be the highlight of any day afloat.  Was that a porpoise? Was it a whale? No matter how brief the glimpse it's a privilege to share the seas with Irish marine wildlife.

Thanks to the location of our beautiful little island, perched in the North Atlantic Ocean there appears to be no shortage of marine life to observe.

From whales to dolphins, seals, sharks and other ocean animals this page documents the most interesting accounts of marine wildlife around our shores. We're keen to receive your observations, your photos, links and youtube clips.

Boaters have a unique perspective and all those who go afloat, from inshore kayaking to offshore yacht racing that what they encounter can be of real value to specialist organisations such as the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group (IWDG) who compile a list of sightings and strandings. The IWDG knowledge base has increased over the past 21 years thanks in part at least to the observations of sailors, anglers, kayakers and boaters.

Thanks to the IWDG work we now know we share the seas with dozens of species who also call Ireland home. Here's the current list: Atlantic white-sided dolphin, beluga whale, blue whale, bottlenose dolphin, common dolphin, Cuvier's beaked whale, false killer whale, fin whale, Gervais' beaked whale, harbour porpoise, humpback whale, killer whale, minke whale, northern bottlenose whale, northern right whale, pilot whale, pygmy sperm whale, Risso's dolphin, sei whale, Sowerby's beaked whale, sperm whale, striped dolphin, True's beaked whale and white-beaked dolphin.

But as impressive as the species list is the IWDG believe there are still gaps in our knowledge. Next time you are out on the ocean waves keep a sharp look out!