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29th April 2010

Dame Ellen is Round the Island Race Starter

Dame Ellen is Round the Island Race Starter

Cowes, Isle of Wight, UK: Owing to the tide on Race Day 19th June, this year sees a very early first start of 0500hrs  for the J.P. Morgan Asset Management Round the Island Race. It’s early but it will make for an amazing spectacle as the sunrise coincides with the hundreds of boats milling around the start line off the Royal Yacht Squadron in Cowes on the Isle of Wight. To add to the excitement, the Island Sailing Club is delighted to confirm that Dame Ellen MacArthur, the world’s most celebrated yachtswoman and veteran of the Round the Island Race, will fire the starting cannon to set the fleet on its way.  Ellen will then be joining one of the four Ellen MacArthur Trust boats entered in the Race with the crews made up of young people recovering from cancer and leukemia.


Ellen follows an illustrious list of previous Race starters including the sailing legend Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, double Olympic sailing medallists’ Shirley Robertson OBE & Sarah Webb OBE and celebrity gardener and TV presenter Alan Titchmarsh MBE during his time as the High Sheriff of the Isle of Wight.


Libby Greenhalgh delivers the Raymarine Weather Briefing

Understanding the weather patterns and the tidal activity at key points during the J.P. Morgan Asset Management Round the Island Race is vital for competitors to achieve their best possible result on the day.  Race Partner Raymarine will once again be providing weather, tide and tactics tips which are freely available to all competitors via SMS, email and a face-to-face Weather Briefing which takes place at the Island Sailing Club at 1800 hours on Friday 18th June.


This year top meteorologist Libby Greenhalgh will be providing the weather and tidal data which is available online from Wednesday 16th June, giving competitors vital day by day updates to plan their race strategy.  A Met Office trained and experienced forecaster, Libby works for Skandia Team GBR, the RYA’s Olympic sailing squad, providing education, planning and forecasting for the team.  She was an integral part of the highly successful British Sailing team at the Olympic Games at Qingdao and combines her detailed understanding of the weather with a strong heritage in offshore and inshore racing.  An experienced sailor to Olympic standard herself, she now races in everything from J105s, a boat in which they won Cowes Week, to Mumm 30s, and is a regular racer in the Solent.  As well as being an accomplished sailor herself, she comes from an impressive sailing family – her brothers Peter Greenhalgh is an Olympic medallist in the 49er class, and Robert is a Volvo Round the World sailor now campaigning in the Oman Sail Mumm 30 team.  Her father David is also a regular competitor in the J.P. Morgan Asset Management Round the Island Race.


In her role as the Raymarine weather forecaster for this year’s race, Libby says the information will combine vital weather forecasting advice alongside tidal data, as for many competitors, the tidal effect is key.  She will use Raymarine’s award-winning RayTech RNS navigation software to demonstrate the weather forecast for Race Day, complete with the progression of tides, currents, wind speed and direction for the Isle of Wight and surrounding waters.  


Working with Steve Adams from Yachting TV, Libby says, “We’ll be filming from a variety of strategically important points on the Isle of Wight in the days pre the Race, which will be available for competitors to view online from the Raymarine website. This will show the effect of weather and tide in a variety of conditions, enabling skippers, navigators and crew to make informed decisions about their best strategy, depending on the weather conditions on the day and the tide at that time. Even experienced racers get it wrong sometimes, such as hitting the boiler, so we’ll be talking through race strategy at all levels, with time breaks so smaller and slower boats get as much help as the faster record-breakers.”


The pre-Race weather briefing, which takes place in the bar at the Island Sailing Club will be repeated on big screens in the downstairs bar to accommodate the number of attendees who regularly attend this vital briefing.  The key points and summaries will also be available on Raymarine’s website and competitors can sign up for SMS notifications by logging onto http://www.raymarine.co.uk/news-and-events/rtir-2010/weather-briefings.


Fun & frolics in the Race Village as we play ball with the World Cup!


Whether you’re a landlubber or a Race competitor, the J.P. Morgan Asset Management Round the Island Race has plenty of on-shore activity to keep everyone amused and entertained this year.


The Race Village, situated in Cowes Yacht Haven (CYH), will be hosting the only outside big screen on the Isle of Wight so that everyone can come and watch the England v Algeria World Cup game on Friday 18th June at 1930hrs. Entry is free but numbers will be limited by the CYH management.


There is a packed schedule of events taking place in the Race Village over the Friday and Saturday and again entrance is free.  Highlights will include live music, public hospitality tents, an Arts and Craft Zone and a Health Zone with a Smoothie tent and free massages.


To keep abreast of all the latest Race news and read about some of this year’s entries, follow us on Twitter http://twitter.com/RoundtheIsland and keep checking the website for new postings at http://www.roundtheisland.org.uk


ENDS

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Dublin Bay

Dublin Bay on the east coast of Ireland stretches over seven kilometres, from Howth Head on its northern tip to Dalkey Island in the south. It's a place most Dubliners simply take for granted, and one of the capital's least visited places. But there's more going on out there than you'd imagine.

The biggest boating centre is at Dun Laoghaire Harbour on the Bay's south shore that is home to over 1,500 pleasure craft, four waterfront yacht clubs and Ireland's largest marina.

The bay is rather shallow with many sandbanks and rocky outcrops, and was notorious in the past for shipwrecks, especially when the wind was from the east. Until modern times, many ships and their passengers were lost along the treacherous coastline from Howth to Dun Laoghaire, less than a kilometre from shore.

The Bay is a C-shaped inlet of the Irish Sea and is about 10 kilometres wide along its north-south base, and 7 km in length to its apex at the centre of the city of Dublin; stretching from Howth Head in the north to Dalkey Point in the south. North Bull Island is situated in the northwest part of the bay, where one of two major inshore sandbanks lie, and features a 5 km long sandy beach, Dollymount Strand, fronting an internationally recognised wildfowl reserve. Many of the rivers of Dublin reach the Irish Sea at Dublin Bay: the River Liffey, with the River Dodder flow received less than 1 km inland, River Tolka, and various smaller rivers and streams.

Dublin Bay FAQs

There are approximately ten beaches and bathing spots around Dublin Bay: Dollymount Strand; Forty Foot Bathing Place; Half Moon bathing spot; Merrion Strand; Bull Wall; Sandycove Beach; Sandymount Strand; Seapoint; Shelley Banks; Sutton, Burrow Beach

There are slipways on the north side of Dublin Bay at Clontarf, Sutton and on the southside at Dun Laoghaire Harbour, and in Dalkey at Coliemore and Bulloch Harbours.

Dublin Bay is administered by a number of Government Departments, three local authorities and several statutory agencies. Dublin Port Company is in charge of navigation on the Bay.

Dublin Bay is approximately 70 sq kilometres or 7,000 hectares. The Bay is about 10 kilometres wide along its north-south base, and seven km in length east-west to its peak at the centre of the city of Dublin; stretching from Howth Head in the north to Dalkey Point in the south.

Dun Laoghaire Harbour on the southside of the Bay has an East and West Pier, each one kilometre long; this is one of the largest human-made harbours in the world. There also piers or walls at the entrance to the River Liffey at Dublin city known as the Great North and South Walls. Other harbours on the Bay include Bulloch Harbour and Coliemore Harbours both at Dalkey.

There are two marinas on Dublin Bay. Ireland's largest marina with over 800 berths is on the southern shore at Dun Laoghaire Harbour. The other is at Poolbeg Yacht and Boat Club on the River Liffey close to Dublin City.

Car and passenger Ferries operate from Dublin Port to the UK, Isle of Man and France. A passenger ferry operates from Dun Laoghaire Harbour to Howth as well as providing tourist voyages around the bay.

Dublin Bay has two Islands. Bull Island at Clontarf and Dalkey Island on the southern shore of the Bay.

The River Liffey flows through Dublin city and into the Bay. Its tributaries include the River Dodder, the River Poddle and the River Camac.

Dollymount, Burrow and Seapoint beaches

Approximately 1,500 boats from small dinghies to motorboats to ocean-going yachts. The vast majority, over 1,000, are moored at Dun Laoghaire Harbour which is Ireland's boating capital.

In 1981, UNESCO recognised the importance of Dublin Bay by designating North Bull Island as a Biosphere because of its rare and internationally important habitats and species of wildlife. To support sustainable development, UNESCO’s concept of a Biosphere has evolved to include not just areas of ecological value but also the areas around them and the communities that live and work within these areas. There have since been additional international and national designations, covering much of Dublin Bay, to ensure the protection of its water quality and biodiversity. To fulfil these broader management aims for the ecosystem, the Biosphere was expanded in 2015. The Biosphere now covers Dublin Bay, reflecting its significant environmental, economic, cultural and tourism importance, and extends to over 300km² to include the bay, the shore and nearby residential areas.

On the Southside at Dun Laoghaire, there is the National Yacht Club, Royal St. George Yacht Club, Royal Irish Yacht Club and Dun Laoghaire Motor Yacht Club as well as Dublin Bay Sailing Club. In the city centre, there is Poolbeg Yacht and Boat Club. On the Northside of Dublin, there is Clontarf Yacht and Boat Club and Sutton Dinghy Club. While not on Dublin Bay, Howth Yacht Club is the major north Dublin Sailing centre.

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