Menu

Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

Displaying items by tag: Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta

Despite Jerry Dowling's Bád/Kilcullen having four race wins from seven races sailed, the Royal Irish crew can't quite shake off the opposition in the 12-boat SB20 fleet of Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta.

Colin Galavan used his recent World Championship exposure in the Netherlands last month by taking two Saturday afternoon wins to ruin his clubmates' perfect score and close the gap to three points with two races left to sail on Sunday.

Moving up into third place is James Gorman from the National Yacht Club.

Racing was postponed for one hour on the penultimate day to allow strong winds to abate, a decision that proved correct as Dublin Bay yielded perfect summer sailing conditions in the afternoon.

The breeze was south-westerly at 15 knots, with some strong gusts and big wind shifts off the Blackrock shoreline to make for some exciting racing.

The 2023 regatta, the ninth edition of Ireland's largest regatta, concludes on Sunday with two final races for most classes and a great festival of sailing across the waterfront and Dun Laoghaire town as four sailing clubs come together for the biennial event; Dun Laoghaire Motor Yacht Club, Royal Irish Yacht Club, Royal St. George Yacht Club and National Yacht Club.

Published in Volvo Regatta

Vintage boats of the Elan marque have been making themselves so comfortable at the front of Non-Spinnaker IRC1 of Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta that they had seemed to be taking an "After you" approach to the leading places, but this (Saturday) evening it is Johnnie Phillips' Elan 333 Playtime (National YC) which is clear ahead after a run of wins, and the full deck of Elans have been interrupted by Michael Murphy's Sigma 38 State O'Chassis (RIYC) sliding into second overall, with the Elans White Pearl (David Greene, Malahide YC) and Percy (John Roberts, Pwllheli) third and fourth.

IRC Non-Spin 2

Burke Murray's Sigma 33 Leeuwin from Howth firmed up her overall lead in Non-Spin 2 by being able to discard a third from today's scoreboard, and currently sits on 3 points to the 6 of Dun Laoghaire's UFO 31 Menapia (J Sweeney & P Madigan), and the 8 of Derek O'Reilly;s UFO 34 Kon Tiie from across the channel in Whitehaven. Leeuwin's crew enjoyed today - they won the final race by four minutes.

Published in Volvo Regatta

The arrival of more normal sailing conditions saw noted Hamble River visitor Ian Southworth with his Quarter Tonner Protis right in the groove, taking wins all the way on Saturday in IRC3 of Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta on Dublin Bay.

And it is now Classic Quarter Tonners all the way too in filling the frame, with Courtown's Martin Mahon second overall in Snoopy and Cove Sailing Club's Kieran Dorgan carrying the honours for Cork Harbour with third OA for Illegal, a Ceccareli creation originally from Italy.

Courtown's Snoopy, sailed by Martin Mahon is second overall in the IRC 3 division of Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta Photo: Michael ChesterCourtown's Snoopy, sailed by Martin Mahon is second overall in the IRC 3 division of Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta Photo: Michael Chester

In fact, in some ways, IRC3 is the most visitor-laden class of all - the top-placed Dublin Bay boat is Michal Matulka's Trapper 300 Eleint at tenth.

Michal Matulka's Trapper 300 EleintMichal Matulka's Trapper 300 Eleint from Dublin Bay Photo: Afloat

The 2023 regatta, the ninth edition of Ireland's largest sailing event, concludes on Sunday with two final races for most classes and a great festival of sailing across the waterfront and Dun Laoghaire town as four sailing clubs come together for the biennial event; Dun Laoghaire Motor Yacht Club, Royal Irish Yacht Club, Royal St. George Yacht Club and National Yacht Club.

Published in DL Regatta: Cr 3

The quirky Classic Half Tonner Swuzzlebubble (James Dwyer, RCYC) may have found the ferocity of the winds in Friday's early races not quite to her taste, but with Olympian Andy Beadsworth on the mainsheet, she was flying today, winning everything that happened in IRC2 Division of Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta.

Stephen Quinn's Lambay RulesStephen Quinn's J97 Lambay Rules Photo: Bob Bateman

Slightly down the fleet, however, there's a changed picture, as Howth's two J/97s, Stephen Quinn's Lambay Rules and Colin Kavanagh's Jeneral Lee, have moved themselves into second and third overall through consistency. However, it should be noted that Swuzzlebubble's wins have by no means been horizon jobs - she took the final race by just 45 seconds from Brendan Foley's First Class 8 Alligbr (RStGYC).

Brendan Foley's First Class 8 Allig8r (RStGYC)Brendan Foley's First Class 8 Allig8r (RStGYC) Photo: Afloat

The 2023 regatta, the ninth edition of Ireland's largest sailing event, concludes on Sunday with two final races for most classes and a great festival of sailing across the waterfront and Dun Laoghaire town as four sailing clubs come together for the biennial event; Dun Laoghaire Motor Yacht Club, Royal Irish Yacht Club, Royal St. George Yacht Club and National Yacht Club.

Published in DL Regatta: Cr 2

We've sometimes thought that the Archambault 35 has more in her than has so far been revealed, but John Minnis and his team from RUYC headed by helm Gareth Flannigan now seem to have lifted Final Call II onto a completely new level in IRC 1 at Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta.

There, in her up-graded form, she is blithely seeing off the challenge of the cream of Ireland's J/109s and sundry other rockstar boats. A scoreline of 1,2,1,1 after five races with a third place discarded speaks for itself, though admittedly, the times were sometimes squeakily close - in today's final race, she bested John Maybury J/109 Joker II by just 11 seconds.

John Maybury J/109 Joker II (left) and Mike & Richie Evans's J/99 Snapshot (HYC) in a tight duel in Friday's big breeze in IRC 1 at Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta Photo: Bob BatemanJohn Maybury's J/109 Joker II (left) and Mike & Richie Evans's J/99 Snapshot (HYC) in a tight duel in Friday's big breeze in IRC 1 at Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta Photo: Bob Bateman

Overall, the points are more decisive, as Final Call is on 5 to the 12 of the Goodbody family's J/109 White Mischief (RIYC) and the 13 of Mike & Richie Evans's J/99 Snapshot (HYC).

The Goodbody family's J/109 White Mischief The Goodbody family's J/109 White Mischief Photo: Bob Bateman

The 2023 regatta, the ninth edition of Ireland's largest sailing event, concludes on Sunday with two final races for most classes and a great festival of sailing across the waterfront and Dun Laoghaire town as four sailing clubs come together for the biennial event; Dun Laoghaire Motor Yacht Club, Royal Irish Yacht Club, Royal St. George Yacht Club and National Yacht Club.

Published in DL Regatta: Cr 1

It was Super Saturday on Dublin Bay for VDLR23 Day 3, with brisk but very manageable sailing conditions matched by a brisk throughput of three races by the Race Teams, setting up everything nicely on track for two intense races in the Grand Finale tomorrow (Sunday).

A southeast-to-south breeze at premium competition strength provided some notably close finishes, made even more so by the application of the handicap system of your choice, but for now we concentrate on IRC.

Pete Smyth's Sunfast 3600 Searcher Photo: Michael ChesterPete Smyth's Sunfast 3600 Searcher Photo: Michael Chester

Class 0 has seen a real ding-dong developing between two very different boats, Paul O'Higgins JPK 10.80 Rockabill VI (RIYC) and Pete Smyth's Sunfast 3600 Searcher (NYC).

With one discard now in use, Rockabill is on 5 pts to the 7 of Searcher after winning the final race of the day from Searcher by 49 seconds.

Shaun Douglas's First 40.7 Game ChangerShaun Douglas's First 40.7 Game Changer Photo: Michael Chester

Also in the frame is that grand veteran from Belfast Lough, Shaun Douglas's First 40.7 Game Changer (RUYC), whose crew delighted themselves by winning Race 4 by twenty seconds from Rockabill, while Game Changer's newer sister, the First 40 Prima Forte (Patrick Burke, RIYC) is on equal points at 14, but is notched at fourth through the count-back.

The 2023 regatta, the ninth edition of Ireland's largest sailing event, concludes on Sunday with two final races for most classes and a great festival of sailing across the waterfront and Dun Laoghaire town as four sailing clubs come together for the biennial event; Dun Laoghaire Motor Yacht Club, Royal Irish Yacht Club, Royal St. George Yacht Club and National Yacht Club.

Published in DL Regatta: Cr 0

Day 3 of the Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta saw the Flying Fifteens return to the race management of David Wilkins and the South Bull course, which was pushed further northwards. The sunshine helped with the sense of the breeze which was still up. A 1-hour postponement had been signalled ashore, possibly because in the expectation of a major wind shift or maybe to allow the slightly softer breeze to come in.

The day saw three different race winners, with Lee Statham redeeming his swimming yesterday by taking the first race of the day with crew Andy Paul. Second home were regatta leaders Shane McCarthy and Alan Green, with Phil Lawton & Neil O'Hagan third. Fourth, again were Tom Galvin & Cormac Bradley.

In the second race of the day, an OCS was signalled and while boats went back, not all the transgressors did. Among those on the naughty step were Galvin and Statham. In the actual race the wind started changing about halfway up the second beat, swinging severely south and making the run into a glorious 3-sail reach. On the water the 1-2-3 was McCarthy, Statham and Galvin. However, the actual result saw Lawton elevated to second, with Niall Meagher & Nicki Mathews third.

The RO relocated his committee boat for the last race, which was sailed in a good south-easterly. A clean start saw the fleet off on a long beat. At the top mark the order was McCarthy, Meagher, Galvin, Lawton and Statham and we enjoyed a great run down to the gate.......which McCarthy sailed through en route to a finish, with Meagher and Lawton following. In between, Bradley confirmed to Galvin that the course was 2A, meaning 2 laps, and Statham/Paul shared that view by also dropping spinnaker.

It gave Galvin/Bradley a commanding win on the water, with Statham/Paul second, Lawton/O'Hagan third, Meagher fourth and McCarthy 5th.

McCarthy & Green still lead with Lawton & O'Hagan second and Statham & Paul and Galvin & Bradley tied on points!! All to play for!

Published in Volvo Regatta

After five races sailed in the Beneteau 211 class, Royal Irish's Andrew Bradley in Chinook leads the 11-boat class by two points going into Sunday's final races of the 2023 Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta

The Chinook crew have overtaken early leader Joe Smyth in Yikes, who sits in second place on seven points, and Pat Shannon in Beeswing is third on 13 points in a one-two-three-for the Royal Irish.

Racing was postponed for one hour on the penultimate day to allow strong winds to decrease, which proved correct as Dublin Bay yielded perfect summer sailing conditions in the afternoon.

The breeze was in a westerly quadrant at 15 knots, with strong gusts and significant wind shifts off the Dun Laoghaire shoreline to make for some exciting racing.

The 2023 regatta, the ninth edition of Ireland's largest sailing event, concludes on Sunday with two final races for most classes and a great festival of sailing across the waterfront and Dun Laoghaire town as four sailing clubs come together for the biennial event; Dun Laoghaire Motor Yacht Club, Royal Irish Yacht Club, Royal St. George Yacht Club and National Yacht Club.

Published in Volvo Regatta

Anthony O'Leary's Antix crew from Royal Cork Yacht Club maintain their lead after five races sailed at the Cape 31 Irish Nationals at Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta.

Antix, who were the UK's top Corinthian Cape 31 crew at Royal Lymington in June, counted a win in race four followed by a third place this afternoon in the six-boat fleet that they are discarding to be two points clear going into Sunday's final races.

Howth's Dan O'Grady sailing Aja has been overtaken for second place by Mike Bartholomew's Tokoloshe who sits on eight points.

Racing was postponed for one hour on the penultimate day to allow strong winds to abate, a decision that proved correct as Dublin Bay yielded perfect summer sailing conditions in the afternoon.

The breeze was in a south-westerly direction at 15 knots, with some strong gusts and big wind shifts off the Blackrock shoreline to make for some exciting racing on the South Bull course.

The 2023 regatta, the ninth edition of Ireland's largest sailing event, concludes on Sunday with two final races for most classes and a great festival of sailing across the waterfront and Dun Laoghaire town as four sailing clubs come together for the biennial event; Dun Laoghaire Motor Yacht Club, Royal Irish Yacht Club, Royal St. George Yacht Club and National Yacht Club.

Results are provisional and subject to protest.

Published in Volvo Regatta

With four wins from six races sailed, Josh Porter and Cara McDowell lead the Fireball class by six clear points into the final two races of the 2023 Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta on Sunday.

Second place in the 13-boat fleet is held by Sligo Yacht Club's Adrian Lee and Ossian Geraghty, who earned his first race win in Saturday afternoon's Race Five on the sheltered Salthill Course in the northwest Dublin Bay area.

Lying third is the DMYC's Frank Miller on 17 points.

Racing was postponed for one hour on the penultimate day to allow strong winds to abate, a decision that proved correct as Dublin Bay yielded perfect summer sailing conditions in the afternoon.

The breeze was south westerly at 15 knots, with some strong gusts and big wind shifts off the Blackrock shoreline to make for some exciting racing for the dinghy course.

Results are provisional and subject to protest.

The 2023 regatta, the ninth edition of Ireland's largest regatta, concludes on Sunday with two final races for most classes and a great festival of sailing across the waterfront and Dun Laoghaire town as four sailing clubs come together for the biennial event; Dun Laoghaire Motor Yacht Club, Royal Irish Yacht Club, Royal St. George Yacht Club and National Yacht Club.

Published in Volvo Regatta
Page 3 of 17

Irish Fishing industry 

The Irish Commercial Fishing Industry employs around 11,000 people in fishing, processing and ancillary services such as sales and marketing. The industry is worth about €1.22 billion annually to the Irish economy. Irish fisheries products are exported all over the world as far as Africa, Japan and China.

FAQs

Over 16,000 people are employed directly or indirectly around the coast, working on over 2,000 registered fishing vessels, in over 160 seafood processing businesses and in 278 aquaculture production units, according to the State's sea fisheries development body Bord Iascaigh Mhara (BIM).

All activities that are concerned with growing, catching, processing or transporting fish are part of the commercial fishing industry, the development of which is overseen by BIM. Recreational fishing, as in angling at sea or inland, is the responsibility of Inland Fisheries Ireland.

The Irish fishing industry is valued at 1.22 billion euro in gross domestic product (GDP), according to 2019 figures issued by BIM. Only 179 of Ireland's 2,000 vessels are over 18 metres in length. Where does Irish commercially caught fish come from? Irish fish and shellfish is caught or cultivated within the 200-mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ), but Irish fishing grounds are part of the common EU "blue" pond. Commercial fishing is regulated under the terms of the EU Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), initiated in 1983 and with ten-yearly reviews.

The total value of seafood landed into Irish ports was 424 million euro in 2019, according to BIM. High value landings identified in 2019 were haddock, hake, monkfish and megrim. Irish vessels also land into foreign ports, while non-Irish vessels land into Irish ports, principally Castletownbere, Co Cork, and Killybegs, Co Donegal.

There are a number of different methods for catching fish, with technological advances meaning skippers have detailed real time information at their disposal. Fisheries are classified as inshore, midwater, pelagic or deep water. Inshore targets species close to shore and in depths of up to 200 metres, and may include trawling and gillnetting and long-lining. Trawling is regarded as "active", while "passive" or less environmentally harmful fishing methods include use of gill nets, long lines, traps and pots. Pelagic fisheries focus on species which swim close to the surface and up to depths of 200 metres, including migratory mackerel, and tuna, and methods for catching include pair trawling, purse seining, trolling and longlining. Midwater fisheries target species at depths of around 200 metres, using trawling, longlining and jigging. Deepwater fisheries mainly use trawling for species which are found at depths of over 600 metres.

There are several segments for different catching methods in the registered Irish fleet – the largest segment being polyvalent or multi-purpose vessels using several types of gear which may be active and passive. The polyvalent segment ranges from small inshore vessels engaged in netting and potting to medium and larger vessels targeting whitefish, pelagic (herring, mackerel, horse mackerel and blue whiting) species and bivalve molluscs. The refrigerated seawater (RSW) pelagic segment is engaged mainly in fishing for herring, mackerel, horse mackerel and blue whiting only. The beam trawling segment focuses on flatfish such as sole and plaice. The aquaculture segment is exclusively for managing, developing and servicing fish farming areas and can collect spat from wild mussel stocks.

The top 20 species landed by value in 2019 were mackerel (78 million euro); Dublin Bay prawn (59 million euro); horse mackerel (17 million euro); monkfish (17 million euro); brown crab (16 million euro); hake (11 million euro); blue whiting (10 million euro); megrim (10 million euro); haddock (9 million euro); tuna (7 million euro); scallop (6 million euro); whelk (5 million euro); whiting (4 million euro); sprat (3 million euro); herring (3 million euro); lobster (2 million euro); turbot (2 million euro); cod (2 million euro); boarfish (2 million euro).

Ireland has approximately 220 million acres of marine territory, rich in marine biodiversity. A marine biodiversity scheme under Ireland's operational programme, which is co-funded by the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund and the Government, aims to reduce the impact of fisheries and aquaculture on the marine environment, including avoidance and reduction of unwanted catch.

EU fisheries ministers hold an annual pre-Christmas council in Brussels to decide on total allowable catches and quotas for the following year. This is based on advice from scientific bodies such as the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea. In Ireland's case, the State's Marine Institute publishes an annual "stock book" which provides the most up to date stock status and scientific advice on over 60 fish stocks exploited by the Irish fleet. Total allowable catches are supplemented by various technical measures to control effort, such as the size of net mesh for various species.

The west Cork harbour of Castletownbere is Ireland's biggest whitefish port. Killybegs, Co Donegal is the most important port for pelagic (herring, mackerel, blue whiting) landings. Fish are also landed into Dingle, Co Kerry, Rossaveal, Co Galway, Howth, Co Dublin and Dunmore East, Co Waterford, Union Hall, Co Cork, Greencastle, Co Donegal, and Clogherhead, Co Louth. The busiest Northern Irish ports are Portavogie, Ardglass and Kilkeel, Co Down.

Yes, EU quotas are allocated to other fleets within the Irish EEZ, and Ireland has long been a transhipment point for fish caught by the Spanish whitefish fleet in particular. Dingle, Co Kerry has seen an increase in foreign landings, as has Castletownbere. The west Cork port recorded foreign landings of 36 million euro or 48 per cent in 2019, and has long been nicknamed the "peseta" port, due to the presence of Spanish-owned transhipment plant, Eiranova, on Dinish island.

Most fish and shellfish caught or cultivated in Irish waters is for the export market, and this was hit hard from the early stages of this year's Covid-19 pandemic. The EU, Asia and Britain are the main export markets, while the middle Eastern market is also developing and the African market has seen a fall in value and volume, according to figures for 2019 issued by BIM.

Fish was once a penitential food, eaten for religious reasons every Friday. BIM has worked hard over several decades to develop its appeal. Ireland is not like Spain – our land is too good to transform us into a nation of fish eaters, but the obvious health benefits are seeing a growth in demand. Seafood retail sales rose by one per cent in 2019 to 300 million euro. Salmon and cod remain the most popular species, while BIM reports an increase in sales of haddock, trout and the pangasius or freshwater catfish which is cultivated primarily in Vietnam and Cambodia and imported by supermarkets here.

The EU's Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), initiated in 1983, pooled marine resources – with Ireland having some of the richest grounds and one of the largest sea areas at the time, but only receiving four per cent of allocated catch by a quota system. A system known as the "Hague Preferences" did recognise the need to safeguard the particular needs of regions where local populations are especially dependent on fisheries and related activities. The State's Sea Fisheries Protection Authority, based in Clonakilty, Co Cork, works with the Naval Service on administering the EU CFP. The Department of Agriculture, Food and Marine and Department of Transport regulate licensing and training requirements, while the Marine Survey Office is responsible for the implementation of all national and international legislation in relation to safety of shipping and the prevention of pollution.

Yes, a range of certificates of competency are required for skippers and crew. Training is the remit of BIM, which runs two national fisheries colleges at Greencastle, Co Donegal and Castletownbere, Co Cork. There have been calls for the colleges to be incorporated into the third-level structure of education, with qualifications recognised as such.

Safety is always an issue, in spite of technological improvements, as fishing is a hazardous occupation and climate change is having its impact on the severity of storms at sea. Fishing skippers and crews are required to hold a number of certificates of competency, including safety and navigation, and wearing of personal flotation devices is a legal requirement. Accidents come under the remit of the Marine Casualty Investigation Board, and the Health and Safety Authority. The MCIB does not find fault or blame, but will make recommendations to the Minister for Transport to avoid a recurrence of incidents.

Fish are part of a marine ecosystem and an integral part of the marine food web. Changing climate is having a negative impact on the health of the oceans, and there have been more frequent reports of warmer water species being caught further and further north in Irish waters.

Brexit, Covid 19, EU policies and safety – Britain is a key market for Irish seafood, and 38 per cent of the Irish catch is taken from the waters around its coast. Ireland's top two species – mackerel and prawns - are 60 per cent and 40 per cent, respectively, dependent on British waters. Also, there are serious fears within the Irish industry about the impact of EU vessels, should they be expelled from British waters, opting to focus even more efforts on Ireland's rich marine resource. Covid-19 has forced closure of international seafood markets, with high value fish sold to restaurants taking a large hit. A temporary tie-up support scheme for whitefish vessels introduced for the summer of 2020 was condemned by industry organisations as "designed to fail".

Sources: Bord Iascaigh Mhara, Marine Institute, Department of Agriculture, Food and Marine, Department of Transport © Afloat 2020