Displaying items by tag: prize

7th February 2012

Amateur Photo Contest Celebrates Shannon's Biodiversity

#LIFE ON THE SHANNON - MulkearLIFE has launched its amateur photo competition for 2012, with a prize fund of €1,000 on offer.

The contest celebrates the 20th anniversary of the EU LIFE programme and has the theme of ‘Exploring the Biodiversity of the Lower Shannon’. Images may cover any aspect of the theme, and can be submitted in any style from macro to landscape, black and white or colour.

There is no end to what type of image can be submitted. It could be an image of water, trees, plants, fish, invertebrates, fungi, mammals, birds, lichen, domestic animals - basically any living organism.

Though not essential, images that portray biodiversity in and along rivers, streams and waterways throughout the Lower Shannon region would be preferred.

Entry is free, and entrants can submit up to three images. Prizes will be offered in two categories: Children/Young Adults and Adults.

In addition, the overall winner will receive one full day's training in wildlife and landscape photography from a leading wildlife photographer later in 2012.

Full details of how to enter the competition are available on the MulkearLIFE website HERE. The closing date is 1 May 2012 at 5pm.

Published in Inland Waterways

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5th February 2012

Ireland to Showcase 'Planet's Biggest Waves' on 2012 Kite Surf Tour

#KITESURFING - Ireland will be one of four stops on the 2012 Kite Surf Pro World Championship Tour to decide the best wave kitesurfers in the world, Surfer Today reports.

Kicking off in Cascais, Portugal in June before heading to Mauritius in September, the tour will come to Ireland's west coast - described as "Europe's secret kite surfing jewel and home to one of the planet's biggest waves" - from 19-28 October.

According to Surfer Today: "Ireland's Kite Surf Pro will incorporate a unique mobile format, capable of showcasing each day's action at the choicest of locations on the country's wild and swell-abundant west coast."

The tour will wrap up in Maui, Hawaii from 29 November to 8 December, where the €15,000 prize purse wil be up for grabs at the famed surfing venue of Ho'okipa.

Surfer Today has more on the story HERE.

Published in Kitesurfing

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18th January 2012

Third Annual Pike World Cup Set for Lough Ree This April

#ANGLING - The Third International Pike Competition and Pike World Cup Boat Angling Tournament is set to take place on Lough Ree in Co Westmeath from 18-20 April 2012.

While the first event in 2010 attracted 55 anglers, that number more than doubled to 120 in 2012, and many more are expected to take part this year to boost the prize fund to €21,000.

As The Irish Times reports, top prize of €3,000 is guaranteed to the angler with the biggest pike.

This year's entry fee will also be reduced to €100 per angler for all three days or €40 per day. Fees will be returned in prize money with daily and overall prizes.

“We have made changes, especially when it comes to handling and photographing fish,” said organiser Dave Haughton.

For more details about the event and how to take part, contact [email protected].

Published in Angling

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26th June 2011

Stokes Takes Top Spot at Expression Session

British surfer Alan Stokes's massive air-reverse won him the Quiksilver Expression Session in Bundoran this weekend.

Stokes takes home prizemoney of €3,500 in the speciality event for Irish and UK surfers with a simple 'best moves' format.

The 30-year-old from Newquay said he was “stoked and really happy with the win. There were great waves in the end and it was good to have it on a wedge because it is high performance surfing and it all came good.

"It is my first trip to Bundoran," he added, "I love it and it is great. Guinness and waves I can do airs on is as good as it can get for me.”

Meanwhile, Cain Kilcullen from Easkey, Co Sligo was awarded the best local performance to earn himself a wildcard in the Relentless Boardmasters in Newquay this August.

British surfer Alan Stokes's massive air-reverse won him the Quiksilver Expression Session in Bundoran this weekend.

Stokes takes home prizemoney of €3,500 in the speciality event for Irish and UK surfers with a simple 'best moves' format.

"It is my first trip to Bundoran," he added, "I love it and it is great. Guinness and waves I can do airs on is as good as it can get for me.”

Meanwhile, Cain Kilcullen from Easkey, Co Sligo was awarded the best local performance to earn himself a wildcard in the Relentless Boardmasters in Newquay this August.

Published in Surfing

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15th June 2011

Post-DL Regatta Event for Ultimate Bragging Rights

Competitors in this year's Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta are set to race for the ultimate bragging rights in a new bonus event.

http://www.afloat.ie/sail/events/volvo-regatta/

The Royal Irish Yacht Club is proposing the one-day event on Sunday 31 July modelled on the ISA All Ireland Sailing Championship, where up to 16 teams will compete in a winner-takes-all contest with the prize of a significant voucher to go against their annual Dublin Bay Sailing Club subscription.

http://www.afloat.ie/resources/irish-sailing-clubs/royal-irish-yacht-club/

http://www.afloat.ie/sail/sailing-clubs/dbsc/

The best helms from Cruisers 1, 2 and 3, White Sails, Sigmas, Dragons, 31.7s and SB3s will compete using the symmetrical kite J80s in a round-robin fleet racing format.

Each participating DBSC class will have one team, selected by being the highest ranked DBSC boat in the Dun Laoghaire Regatta. Each class can decide if the team is chosen on a design, IRC or ECHO basis.

More details will be available in due course from the Royal Irish Yacht Club.

http://www.riyc.ie/

Competitors in this year's Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta are set to race for the ultimate bragging rights in a new bonus event.

The Royal Irish Yacht Club is proposing the one-day event on Sunday 31 July modelled on the ISA All Ireland Sailing Championship, where up to 16 teams will compete in a winner-takes-all contest with the prize of a significant voucher to go against their annual Dublin Bay Sailing Club subscription.

The best helms from Cruisers 1, 2 and 3, White Sails, Sigmas, Dragons, 31.7s and SB3s will compete using the symmetrical kite J80s in a round-robin fleet racing format.

More details will be available in due course from the RIYC website.

Published in Volvo Regatta

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Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta

From the Baily lighthouse to Dalkey island, the bay accommodates six separate courses for 21 different classes racing every two years for the Dun Laoghaire Regatta.

In assembling its record-breaking armada, Volvo Dun Laoghaire regatta (VDLR) became, at its second staging, not only the country's biggest sailing event, with 3,500 sailors competing, but also one of Ireland's largest participant sporting events.

One of the reasons for this, ironically, is that competitors across Europe have become jaded by well-worn venue claims attempting to replicate Cowes and Cork Week.'Never mind the quality, feel the width' has been a criticism of modern-day regattas where organisers mistakenly focus on being the biggest to be the best. Dun Laoghaire, with its local fleet of 300 boats, never set out to be the biggest. Its priority focussed instead on quality racing even after it got off to a spectacularly wrong start when the event was becalmed for four days at its first attempt.

The idea to rekindle a combined Dublin bay event resurfaced after an absence of almost 40 years, mostly because of the persistence of a passionate race officer Brian Craig who believed that Dun Laoghaire could become the Cowes of the Irish Sea if the town and the local clubs worked together. Although fickle winds conspired against him in 2005, the support of all four Dun Laoghaire waterfront yacht clubs since then (made up of Dun Laoghaire Motor YC, National YC, Royal Irish YC and Royal St GYC), in association with the two racing clubs of Dublin Bay SC and Royal Alfred YC, gave him the momentum to carry on.

There is no doubt that sailors have also responded with their support from all four coasts. Running for four days, the regatta is (after the large mini-marathons) the single most significant participant sports event in the country, requiring the services of 280 volunteers on and off the water, as well as top international race officers and an international jury, to resolve racing disputes representing five countries. A flotilla of 25 boats regularly races from the Royal Dee near Liverpool to Dublin for the Lyver Trophy to coincide with the event. The race also doubles as a RORC qualifying race for the Fastnet.

Sailors from the Ribble, Mersey, the Menai Straits, Anglesey, Cardigan Bay and the Isle of Man have to travel three times the distance to the Solent as they do to Dublin Bay. This, claims Craig, is one of the major selling points of the Irish event and explains the range of entries from marinas as far away as Yorkshire's Whitby YC and the Isle of Wight.

No other regatta in the Irish Sea area can claim to have such a reach. Dublin Bay Weeks such as this petered out in the 1960s, and it has taken almost four decades for the waterfront clubs to come together to produce a spectacle on and off the water to rival Cowes."The fact that we are getting such numbers means it is inevitable that it is compared with Cowes," said Craig. However, there the comparison ends."We're doing our own thing here. Dun Laoghaire is unique, and we are making an extraordinary effort to welcome visitors from abroad," he added. The busiest shipping lane in the country – across the bay to Dublin port – closes temporarily to facilitate the regatta and the placing of six separate courses each day.

A fleet total of this size represents something of an unknown quantity on the bay as it is more than double the size of any other regatta ever held there.

Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta FAQs

What is Dun Laoghaire Regatta?

Dun Laoghaire Regatta is Ireland's biggest sailing event. It is held every second Summer at Dun Laoghaire Harbour on Dublin Bay.

When is Dun Laoghaire Regatta?

Dun Laoghaire Regatta is held every two years, typically in the first weekend of July.

Where is Dun Laoghaire Regatta held?

As its name suggests, the event is based at Dun Laoghaire Harbour. Racing is held on Dublin Bay over as many as six different courses with a coastal route that extends out into the Irish Sea. Ashore, the festivities are held across the town but mostly in the four organising yacht clubs.

How big is Dun Laoghaire Regatta?

Dun Laoghaire Regatta is the largest sailing regatta in Ireland and on the Irish Sea and the second largest in the British Isles. It has a fleet of 500 competing boats and up to 3,000 sailors. Scotland's biggest regatta on the Clyde is less than half the size of the Dun Laoghaire event. After the Dublin city marathon, the regatta is one of the most significant single participant sporting events in the country in terms of Irish sporting events.

How old is Dun Laoghaire Regatta?

The modern Dublin Bay Regatta began in 2005, but it owes its roots to earlier combined Dublin Bay Regattas of the 1960s.

How many boats compete at Dun Laoghaire Regatta?

Up to 500 boats regularly compete.

How many yacht clubs are represented at Dun Laoghaire Regatta?

Up to 70 different yacht clubs are represented.

Where do the yachts come from to compete at Dun Laoghaire Regatta?

The Channel Islands, Isle of Man, England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, Ireland countrywide, and Dublin clubs.

How many boats are visiting boats at Dun Laoghaire Regatta?

Nearly half the sailors, over 1,000, travel to participate from outside of Dun Laoghaire and from overseas to race and socialise in Dun Laoghaire.

What type of yachts race in Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta?

21 different classes are competing at Dun Laoghaire Regatta. As well as four IRC Divisions from 50-footers down to 20-foot day boats and White Sails, there are also extensive one-design keelboat and dinghy fleets to include all the fleets that regularly race on the Bay such as Beneteau 31.7s, Ruffian 23s, Sigma 33s as well as Flying Fifteens, Laser SB20s plus some visiting fleets such as the RS Elites from Belfast Lough to name by one.

What famous sailors race in Dun Laoghaire Regatta?

Some sailing household names are regular competitors at the biennial Dun Laoghaire event including Dun Laoghaire Olympic silver medalist, Annalise Murphy. International sailing stars are competing too such as Mike McIntyre, a British Olympic Gold medalist and a raft of World and European class champions.

How much does it cost to enter Dun Laoghaire Regatta?

There are different entry fees for different size boats. A 40-foot yacht will pay up to €550, but a 14-foot dinghy such as Laser will pay €95. Full entry fee details are contained in the Regatta Notice of Race document.

Where can spectators view Dun Laoghaire Regatta?

Spectators can see the boats racing on six courses from any vantage point on the southern shore of Dublin Bay. As well as from the Harbour walls itself, it is also possible to see the boats from Sandycove, Dalkey and Killiney, especially when the boats compete over inshore coastal courses or have in-harbour finishes.

How does Dun Laoghaire regatta compare to international regattas?

Very favourably. It is often compared to Cowes, Britain's biggest regatta on the Isle of Wight that has 1,000 entries. However, sailors based in the north of England have to travel three times the distance to get to Cowes as they do to Dun Laoghaire.

Why is Dun Laoghaire Regatta so unique?

Dun Laoghaire Regatta is unique because of its compact site offering four different yacht clubs within the harbour and the race tracks' proximity, just a five-minute sail from shore. International sailors also speak of its international travel connections and being so close to Dublin city. The regatta also prides itself on balancing excellent competition with good fun ashore.

Who organises Dun Laoghaire Regatta?

The Organising Authority (OA) of Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta is Dublin Bay Regattas Ltd, a not-for-profit company, beneficially owned by Dun Laoghaire Motor Yacht Club (DMYC), National Yacht Club (NYC), Royal Irish Yacht Club (RIYC) and Royal St George Yacht Club (RSGYC).

What does Dun Laoghaire Regatta contribute to the local economy?

The Irish Marine Federation launched a case study on the 2009 Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta's socio-economic significance. Over four days, the study (carried out by Irish Sea Marine Leisure Knowledge Network) found the event was worth nearly €3million to the local economy over the four days of the event. Typically the Royal Marine Hotel and Haddington Hotel and other local providers are fully booked for the event.