Displaying items by tag: Spectator Stand

27th June 2017

Dublin Riverfest Reaches Record Super Saturday Spectator Figures

#SpectatorStand - Looking back on the fifth Dublin Port Riverfest held over the June bank holiday the Liffey event attracted record crowds thronging the North Wall Quay, writes Jehan Ashmore.

On the Saturday alone a record 41,500 visitors attended out of an estimated 100,000 that were expected to the festival that coincided with mostly favourable weather! This was no doubt an added bonus for those boarding the customary line-up of tallships.

The free-admission tallships totalling eight included schooners which kept the crews busy. Among them was notably the replica Russian tallship Shtandard and the festival highlight of the 'Parade of Sail'.

In addition to dry-land based retro drive-in movies and a children's entertainment zone that featured a rock-climbing wall... Perhaps this will assist those budding sailors to climb the rigging!

As for dignitaries, Lord Mayor of Dublin and Honorary Admiral of Dublin Port, Brendan Carr officially opened the festival that saw people of all ages gather for the tallships and quayside marquees where food outlets were available as part of a newly expanded festival site.

Also new for Riverfest was a purpose-built spectator stand that was a novel feature for an Irish maritime festival. The stand was especially erected to overlook the tallships, the flyboarding antics of Jet Man and of course those ThunderCats!... as previously covered here on Afloat.

This was Thundercats Dublin debut which saw these high speed craft race daily. Crowds were drawn to include those viewing from the aforementioned spectator stand as the boats whizzed on the Liffey. Almost directly to the rear of this temporary structure stands the looming presence of the new headquarters of the Central Bank of Ireland, see related river-restaurant ship story.

Also on hand for Riverfest goers were water-based activities, from stand up paddle boarding (SUP-ing) to sailing and kayaking. In addition from the pontoon located next to the Tom Clarke toll bridge there were boat tours of the river providing an alternative on the water experience.

Published in Tall Ships

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Beneteau 31.7 sailing in Ireland

In Ireland, the Beneteau First 31.7 Ireland One Design Class Association encourages and develop the use of the Beneteau First 31.7 yacht as a one-design keelboat, mainly for racing.

Each year the association stages national championships with boats coming from different sailing across Ireland. The main centre is Dun Laoghaire Harbour where the bulk of the fleet (15 boats) are based at the National Yacht club but are moored at Dun Laoghaire Marina.

The Beneteau 31.7 boat is not new to Dublin Bay, as boats of this size and type have competed in DBSC in the Cruiser 2 class for some years.

However during the 2006 season, due to their increased numbers, DBSC granted the class its own racing start, thereby facilitating one-design racing for this cruiser/racer.

Since then it has become one of the biggest one-design keelboat classes on the Bay.

One-design rules were drawn up to discourage modifications, maintain a level playing field and set a generally ‘Corinthian’ ethos.

To preserve the cruising dimension, the boat races with cushions aboard.

Numbers entered in DBSC have settled down to approx 15-18 boats, and regular Thursday and Saturday attendances over the season are usually of the order of 14 to 16 boats, reflecting good participation by members. Racing is close and competitive.

In addition to scratch results, ECHO results are also posted. This combines the best of both worlds, providing one-design racing which the members like, while also providing an incentive and interest in turning out for those boats who may not always approach podium position on scratch.

At A Glance – Beneteau First 31.7 Specifications

L.O.A 9.61 m
Hull length 9.50 m
L.W.L. 8.80 m
Beam 3.23 m
Draught min (Deep draught keel) Cast iron 1.90 m
Ballast weight (Deep draught keel) 1 025 kg
Air draught (max) 13.90 m
Light displacement (EC) 3 750 kg
Fuel capacity 30 l
Freshwater capacity 160 l
Engine power 21 HP