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Displaying items by tag: Rower of Month

#Rowing: The Afloat Rowers of the Month for April are the Enniskillen girls’ and boys’ junior 18 eights which won at Commercial and Neptune regattas, respectively. The young women won the final race at  Commercial, beating the hosts in a fine contest which drew the curtain on more than two days of action at Islandbridge. Enniskillen’s boys’ junior 18 eight had beaten Coláiste Iognáid at Neptune regatta on the Saturday.

 Enniskillen’s fine run recently has included outstanding placings in the Schools’ Head of the River in London, where the girls placed fourth and the boys sixth – and sixth fastest overall.

Rower of the Month awards: The judging panel is made up of Liam Gorman, rowing correspondent of The Irish Times and David O'Brien, Editor of Afloat magazine. Monthly awards for achievements during the year will appear on afloat.ie. Keep a monthly eye on progress and watch our 2019 champions list grow.

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#Rowing: The Afloat Rower of the Month for February is Molly Curry. In a set of weeks in which action on the water was severely limited because of windy weather, the Ireland trials at the National Rowing Centre were welcome – and of high quality. World Rowing Champions Paul O’Donovan and Sanita Puspure won in fine style, while the standard of junior rowing was notable. Curry, from Coleraine Grammar School, showed good form. She was the top woman junior in the time trial and went on to compete in the same 2,000 metre race as Puspure.

Rower of the Month awards: The judging panel is made up of Liam Gorman, rowing correspondent of The Irish Times and David O'Brien, Editor of Afloat magazine. Monthly awards for achievements during the year will appear on afloat.ie. Keep a monthly eye on progress and watch our 2019 champions list grow.

Published in Rower of Month

#Rowing: Sanita Puspure and Paul O’Donovan are the Rowers of the Month for January 2019.

 The two world champions turned up for action at the Irish Indoor Rowing Championships at the University of Limerick – and both set new records for the event.

 O’Donovan set a new mark as a lightweight of six minutes 6.2 seconds, while Puspure recorded 6:35.9. This matched her best and also set a new Irish record.

Rower of the Month awards: The judging panel is made up of Liam Gorman, rowing correspondent of The Irish Times and David O'Brien, Editor of Afloat magazine. Monthly awards for achievements during the year will appear on afloat.ie. Keep a monthly eye on progress and watch our 2019 champions list grow.

Published in Rower of Month

#Rowing: The Rower of the Month for August is Sam McKeown. The Queen’s University, Belfast, student won gold in the single sculls final at the World University Rowing Championships in Shanghai. The Portadown man, representing Britain, came in ahead of Chinese and Finnish opponents.

 It was another month when Irish rowers were prominent: a young team represented Ireland at the World Junior Championships, while Paul and Gary O’Donovan added a silver medal to their haul as they headed up the Ireland team at the European Championships.

 Rower of the Month awards: The judging panel is made up of Liam Gorman, rowing correspondent of The Irish Times and David O'Brien, Editor of Afloat magazine. Monthly awards for achievements during the year will appear on afloat.ie. Keep a monthly eye on progress and watch our 2018 champions list grow.

Published in Rower of Month

#Rowers of the Month: Paul O’Donovan and Gary O’Donovan are the Afloat rowers of the month for June. Both brothers showed outstanding form at Cork Regatta. Paul O’Donovan won the single sculls. In the heats, Gary had not been the next fastest, but come the final the elder O’Donovan brother was second only to Paul. The two raced in the double, where they were tested by Fintan and Jake McCarthy, but came through with the win.

 The O’Donovans were run close by David O’Malley and Shane Mulvaney. The UCD pair were outstanding at Cork Regatta. They won the pairs title, beating world lightweight champions Shane O’Driscoll and Mark O’Donovan, and they slotted into the UCD four which also won. O’Malley and Mulvaney form the Ireland lightweight pair in a strong team for the World Under-23 Championships this month. The O’Donovans, who went on to reach the final at Henley Royal Regatta, head for the World Cup in Lucerne next weekend (July 13th to 15th). Good luck to all those competing in this busy month.

Rower of the Month awards: The judging panel is made up of Liam Gorman, rowing correspondent of The Irish Times and David O'Brien, Editor of Afloat magazine. Monthly awards for achievements during the year will appear on afloat.ie. Keep a monthly eye on progress and watch our 2018 champions list grow.

Published in Rower of Month

#Rowing: The Afloat Rower of the Month for January is Sanita Puspure. The Old Collegians competitor produced a creditable time of six minutes 39.8 seconds for 2,000 metres at the Irish Indoor Rowing Championships. Sam McKeown beat his own time to set a new record of 5:53.0 and lead the men’s rankings, while Puspure headed up a good set of performances by women. Aileen Crowley, Emily Hegarty, Aifric Keogh and Fiona Murtagh all recorded figures under seven minutes.

Rower of the Month awards: The judging panel is made up of Liam Gorman, rowing correspondent of The Irish Times and David O'Brien, Editor of Afloat magazine. Monthly awards for achievements during the year will appear on afloat.ie. Keep an eye on progress and watch our 2018 champions list grow.

Published in Rower of Month

# ROWING: Paul O’Donovan is the Afloat Rower of the Month for June. The UCD man had a remarkable start to his career as a senior international, beating former world champion Duncan Grant to win their heat of the lightweight single sculls at the World Cup regatta at Dorney Lake. He qualified for the final by taking second place in the semi-final, and while he found it difficult to find his rhythm in the final, the 19-year-old Skibbereen man had already made his mark. He will represent Ireland at the World Under-23 Championships in Linz in Austria later this month.

Rower of the Month awards: The judging panel is made up of Liam Gorman, rowing correspondent of The Irish Times and David O'Brien, Editor of Afloat magazine. Monthly awards for achievements during the year will appear on afloat.ie and the overall national award will be presented to the person or crew who, in the judges' opinion, achieved the most notable results in, or made the most significant contribution to rowing during 2013. Keep a monthly eye on progress and watch our 2013 champions list grow.

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The Afloat Rowers of the Month for July are the UCD men’s senior eight which brought back the Big Pot to the college for the first time since 1973 at the National Rowing Championships. The big crew of Simon Craven, Peter Grogan, Colm Pierce (the club captain), David Neale, Finbar Manning, Sean Jacob, Gearoid Duane and stroke Tom Doyle were coxed by Jenny Lynch and coached by Pat McDonagh. They were clear winners over NUIG/Grainne Mhaol on the day and are worthy winners of the Afloat Rowers of the Month.

Rower of the Month awards: The judging panel is made up of Liam Gorman, rowing correspondent of The Irish Times, President of Rowing Ireland Anthony Dooley and David O'Brien, Editor of Afloat magazine. Monthly awards for achievements during the year will appear on afloat.ie and the overall national award will be presented to the person or crew who, in the judges' opinion, achieved the most notable results in, or made the most significant contribution to rowing during 2011. Keep a monthly eye on progress and watch our 2011 champions list grow.

Published in Rowing

Howth 17 information

The oldest one-design keelboat racing class in the world is still competing today to its original 1897 design exclusively at Howth Yacht club.

Howth 17 FAQs

The Howth 17 is a type of keelboat. It is a 3-man single-design keelboat designed to race in the waters off Howth and Dublin Bay.

The Howth Seventeen is just 22ft 6ins in hull length.

The Howth 17 class is raced and maintained by the Association members preserving the unique heritage of the boats. Association Members maintain the vibrancy of the Class by racing and cruising together as a class and also encourage new participants to the Class in order to maintain succession. This philosophy is taken account of and explained when the boats are sold.

The boat is the oldest one-design keelboat racing class in the world and it is still racing today to its original design exclusively at Howth Yacht club. It has important historical and heritage value keep alive by a vibrant class of members who race and cruise the boats.

Although 21 boats are in existence, a full fleet rarely sails buy turnouts for the annual championships are regularly in the high teens.

The plans of the Howth 17 were originally drawn by Walter Herbert Boyd in 1897 for Howth Sailing Club. The boat was launched in Ireland in 1898.

They were originally built by John Hilditch at Carrickfergus, County Down. Initially, five boats were constructed by him and sailed the 90-mile passage to Howth in the spring of 1898. The latest Number 21 was built in France in 2017.

The Howth 17s were designed to combat local conditions in Howth that many of the keel-less boats of that era such as the 'Half-Rater' would have found difficult.

The original fleet of five, Rita, Leila, Silver Moon, Aura and Hera, was increased in 1900 with the addition of Pauline, Zaida and Anita. By 1913 the class had increased to fourteen boats. The extra nine were commissioned by Dublin Bay Sailing Club for racing from Kingstown (Dún Laoghaire) - Echo, Sylvia, Mimosa, Deilginis, Rosemary, Gladys, Bobolink, Eileen and Nautilus. Gradually the boats found their way to Howth from various places, including the Solent and by the latter part of the 20th century they were all based there. The class, however, was reduced to 15 due to mishaps and storm damage for a few short years but in May 1988 Isobel and Erica were launched at Howth Yacht Club, the boats having been built in a shed at Howth Castle - the first of the class actually built in Howth.

The basic wooden Howth 17 specification was for a stem and keel of oak and elm, deadwood and frames of oak, planking of yellow pine above the waterline and red pine below, a shelf of pitch pine and a topstrake of teak, larch deck-beams and yellow pine planking and Baltic spruce spars with a keel of lead. Other than the inclusion of teak, the boats were designed to be built of materials which at that time were readily available. However today yellow pine and pitch pine are scarce, their properties of endurance and longevity much appreciated and very much in evidence on the original five boats.

 

It is always a busy 60-race season of regular midweek evening and Saturday afternoon contests plus regattas and the Howth Autumn League.

In 2017, a new Howth 17 Orla, No 21, was built for Ian Malcolm. The construction of Orla began in September 2016 at Skol ar Mor, the boat-building school run by American Mike Newmeyer and his dedicated team of instructor-craftsmen at Mesquer in southern Brittany. In 2018, Storm Emma wrought extensive destruction through the seven Howth Seventeens stored in their much-damaged shed on Howth’s East Pier at the beginning of March 2018, it was feared that several of the boats – which since 1898 have been the very heart of Howth sailing – would be written off. But in the end only one – David O’Connell’s Anita built in 1900 by James Clancy of Dun Laoghaire – was assessed as needing a complete re-build. Anita was rebuilt by Paul Robert and his team at Les Ateliers de l’Enfer in Douarnenez in Brittany in 2019 and Brought home to Howth.

The Howth 17 has a gaff rig.

The total sail area is 305 sq ft (28.3 m2).

©Afloat 2020