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Displaying items by tag: Dublin Bay Old Gaffers

So many boat events are scheduled in Ireland for this weekend that the powers-that-be should maybe take notice, and make it into the Bank Holiday that everyone seems to think it is. The official one at the beginning of May is too early, and has never really taken off, as many people just leave Ireland altogether and fly south for the sun, which is no help for any Irish organisation.

Dublin Bay Old Gaffers Association and hospitable Poolbeg Yacht and Boat Club in Ringsend are past masters at making folk in from the sea very welcome indeed, and the poster more than hints at the entertainment being lined up along the Liffey for three days hence and beyond.

Dublin Bay Classic & Traditional Boats Focus This Weekend Is At Poolbeg In Dublin Port

Published in Dublin Bay Old Gaffers

Although the beautiful Lough Corrib is one of the most important features of County Galway and has played a key role in the life and transport in the West since time immemorial, it is not connected to Ireland's main inland waterways system network based around the Shannon, Erne and Barrow.

As Afloat reported previously, this has always added to a certain air of mystery to the large and handsome western lake, but Karl Brady, Senior Archaeologist with the Underwater Unit of the Heritage, has been researching it in detail over many years, and some of his and his team's most remarkable discoveries will be revealed in a Dublin Bay Old Gaffers' Association. "All Are Welcome" lecture this Thursday, April 18th at 8.0pm in the usual venue, Poolbeg Yacht and Boat Club.

The talk in aid of the RNLI will take place at the Poolbeg Yacht and Boat Club on April 18th at 8 p.m., and all are welcomeThe talk in aid of the RNLI will take place at the Poolbeg Yacht and Boat Club on April 18th at 8 p.m., and all are welcome

Published in Dublin Bay Old Gaffers

Logboats and craft dating from 2,500 BC to the 11th century on Galway’s Corrib is the theme of a lecture by State archaeologist Karl Brady to the Dublin Bay Old Gaffers' Association later this month.

Brady is a senior archaeologist with the State’s Underwater Archaeology Unit and has worked on many discoveries in Irish inland and coastal waters over some years, including cannon recovered from Spanish Armada wrecks.

Viking axes and Bronze Age spearheads are among the items found, along with vessel remains, after a hydrographic survey of Lough Corrib in which he was involved.

The talk in aid of the RNLI will take place at the Poolbeg Yacht and Boat Club on April 18th at 8 p.m., and all are welcome.

The talk in aid of the RNLI will take place at the Poolbeg Yacht and Boat Club on April 18th at 8 p.m., and all are welcomeThe talk in aid of the RNLI will take place at the Poolbeg Yacht and Boat Club on April 18th at 8 p.m., and all are welcome

Published in Dublin Bay Old Gaffers

About Brittany Ferries

In 1967 a farmer from Finistère in Brittany, Alexis Gourvennec, succeeded in bringing together a variety of organisations from the region to embark on an ambitious project: the aim was to open up the region, to improve its infrastructure and to enrich its people by turning to traditional partners such as Ireland and the UK. In 1972 BAI (Brittany-England-Ireland) was born.

The first cross-Channel link was inaugurated in January 1973, when a converted Israeli tank-carrier called Kerisnel left the port of Roscoff for Plymouth carrying trucks loaded with Breton vegetables such as cauliflowers and artichokes. The story, therefore, begins on 2 January 1973, 24 hours after Great Britain's entry into the Common Market (EEC).

From these humble beginnings however, Brittany Ferries as the company was re-named quickly opened up to passenger transport, then became a tour operator.

Today, Brittany Ferries has established itself as the national leader in French maritime transport: an atypical leader, under private ownership, still owned by a Breton agricultural cooperative.

Eighty five percent of the company’s passengers are British.

Key Brittany Ferries figures:

  • Turnover: €202.4 million (compared with €469m in 2019)
  • Investment in three new ships, Galicia plus two new vessels powered by cleaner LNG (liquefied natural gas) arriving in 2022 and 2023
  • Employment: 2,474 seafarers and shore staff (average high/low season)
  • Passengers: 752,102 in 2020 (compared with 2,498,354 in 2019)
  • Freight: 160,377 in 2020 (compared with 201,554 in 2019)
  • Twelve ships operating services that connect France, the United Kingdom, Ireland and Spain (non-Covid year) across 14 routes
  • Twelve ports in total: Bilbao, Santander, Portsmouth, Poole, Plymouth, Cork, Rosslare, Caen, Cherbourg, Le Havre, Saint-Malo, Roscoff
  • Tourism in Europe: 231,000 unique visitors, staying 2.6 million bed-nights in France in 2020 (compared with 857,000 unique visitors, staying 8,7 million bed-nights in 2019).