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A Sigma 33 One Design keelboat racing on Dublin Bay Photo: AfloatA Sigma 33 One Design keelboat racing on Dublin Bay Photo: Afloat

Displaying items by tag: Maritime Lectures

#Lectures- It's that time of the year again as the Maritime Institute of Ireland's Autumn/Winter lecture programme starts next week (Thursday 18 Sept).

The inaugural lecture of the season titled 'Rochsay Castle shipwreck-the Dublin Connection 1831' is to be presented by Seamus O Maitiu.

All lectures take place in Dublin city centre at the Stella Maris Club, Beresfort Place beside Bus Aras. Likewise all lectures commence at 8.00p.m. sharp and entry is by voluntary donation to help meet overheads of the M.I.I. which runs the National Maritime Museum (NMMI) in Dun Laoghaire.

The organisers would be pleased for anyone to kindly forward details about the lecture programme, which is held on the third Thursday of each month. For further information contact Barney Yourell, Lectures Officer of the Institute on 087 900 7466 or (01) 847 6118

Public transport: The nearest DART stations are Connolly Station and at Tara Street in addition to the LUAS (Red) line stop at Busáras. Car parking is located in the Irish Life Mall (ILAC) on Lower Abbey Street.

For further information about the National Maritime Museum, which has a gift shop and café located in the former Mariners Church Dun Laoghaire, visit: www.mariner.ie

 

Published in Boating Fixtures

#Lecture – "Beef, Butter and Pork-Cork Shipping Trade During the American War of Independence 1775-83" is to be presented by Joe Varley, maritime historian next week, Thursday 6 March at 20:00 in Poolbeg Yacht and Boat Club, Ringsend, Dublin.

All are welcome to the 2013/2014 lecture series organised by the Members of Glenua & Friends which is held in the intimate venue located close to the busy heart of Dublin Port. Entry fee of €5 is in aid of the RNLI. For further detail contact: 087 2129614

To lecture is about the mid-18th Century Cork merchants who became very wealthy by exporting heavily-salted beef, pork and butter. The main markets were in Spain, Portugal and in the West Indies.

However, the American war also created a military demand for these exports. This demand had an immediate and long-term effect on business and shipping in the port of Cork. These changed circumstances form the theme for this illustrated presentation.

Joe Varley has a reputation for being an engaging and entertaining lecturer that springs from his seagoing experience as a radio officer, his time as a sailing instructor with Glenans and his long-serving membership of the Maritime Institute of Ireland.

In 2012-2013, he completed an M.A. in Naval history at the University of Exeter. The research for this lecture was taken from academic work presented at that time.

Published in Boating Fixtures
14th October 2013

Lecture: The "Kerlogue"

#LectureKERLOGUE – Maritime Institute of Ireland (M.I.I.) autumn/ winter lecture series continues with the next lecture about the "Kerlogue" presented by Pat Sweeney, Maritime historian and author.

During WW2 (1943) Wexford Steamship Co.'s small coaster Kerlogue” hauled 168 injured and shipwrecked German sailors from the icy waters of the Bay of Biscay .

The lecture is this Thursday 17 October (starting at 8pm) and as usual takes place in the Stella Maris Seafarers Club on Beresford Place, Dublin City Centre. The venue behind the Customs House is close the Busaras.

All are welcome to attend the evening where a bar and refreshments are available. A voluntary contribution is payable to the door to the M.I.I. which runs the National Maritime Museum (NMMI) in Dun Laoghaire).

The lecture organisers would be pleased for anyone to kindly forward details about the lecture programme, held monthly (third Thursday).

Public transport to Stella Maris Seafarers Club: The nearest DART stations are Connolly Station and at Tara Street in addition to the LUAS (Red) line stop at Busáras. Car parking is located in the Irish Life Mall (ILAC) on Lower Abbey Street.

For further information in general about the National Maritime Museum of Ireland (Dun Laoghaire) visit www.mariner.ie

 

Published in Boating Fixtures

#LECTURES – Following last month's opening lecture, the Killiney & Ballybrack Historical Society will be hosting a talk presented by Jim Robinson on 14 November.

The topic "Lady Nelson" The People of Lady Nelson, was a vessel that traded between Dublin and Spain and in which was wrecked on the Skelligs Rock in 1809. The lecture will give also give an account of the trade with Spain at that time.

The lecture programme which runs till April 2013, are as usual held on the second Wednesday of each month and in the upstairs lounge of the Graduate Pub in the Killiney Shopping Centre on Rochestown Avenue.

An admission fee €3 applies for each talk and refreshments will be provided. Should you be interested in joining the society, the annual subscription is €15 (€20 for couples/family).

For further details please contact: Richard Dolan 087 618 1212, Anna O'Connor (01) 285 2817 and Tom Moran (01) 284 0524.

Published in Boating Fixtures

#MARITIME LECTURES – Next weekend sees the annual National Heritage Week (18-26 August) take place. As part of the week-long event, the Maritime Institute of Ireland is organising a programme of maritime themed lectures on the final day (Sunday 26th).

The line-up of five lectures is timed between 12 noon and the final lecture is scheduled at 6pm. The wide-ranging topics and speakers of the lecture programme will be held at the Dun Laoghaire Club, 3 Eblana Avenue, off Marine Road, noting the nearby landmark of the St. Michaels Church spire.

There is an entrance free and a recommended donation €10. For further information contact Barney Yourell 087-9007466 and www.mariner.ie/maritime-lectures-national-heritage-week-2012

For information on the rest of the diverse programme during the heritage week visit www.heritageweek.ie

Published in Boating Fixtures

#MARITIME LECTURE - This 'Thursday's Night Talk' organised by the Dun Laoghaire Motor Yacht Club (DMYC) is entitled 'Round Ireland 2011 Over Two Months'. Tomorrow's talk starts at 8pm and is to be presented by Gary Owens.

None members are also welcome to attend the winter lecture talks, held on Thursdays which will continue until April, noting the theme of the talks are not exclusively marine orientated. For further information Tel: 280 1371 and by visiting www.dmyc.ie

The DMYC is situated on the West Pier, close to Salthill and Monkstown DART station and car-parking is available beside the premises and also at the nearby Coal Harbour.

Published in Boating Fixtures

#LECTURES – The winter talk's series organised by the Dublin Bay Old Gaffers Association (DBOGA) continues at the Poolbeg Yacht and Boat Club, Ringsend, Dublin.

This month's lecture entitled 'The Second Chapter –On Diesel Engines Care and Maintenance' presented by Sean Walsh is to be held next Tuesday 17th January, starting at 8 pm. All are welcome to the evening with proceeds going to the RNLI.

In total there are five talks in the winter/spring 2011-2012 program, which started last October and will run to March. For further information about the DBOGA click HERE and the PYBC visit www.poolbegmarina.ie

Published in Boating Fixtures
# FASHION –In addition to this evening's fashion show in aid of the development fund for the Maritime Institute of Ireland's maritime museum in Dun Laoghaire, as previously reported on Afloat.ie, a maritime morning of free lectures will be presented in Dublin City Library on Saturday, writes Jehan Ashmore.
The Old Dublin Society, in partnership with Dublin City Library and Archive, will present the lectures in the Conference Room of the Dublin City Library and Archive located on 138 – 144 Pearse Street, Dublin 2. The times of the three lecture topics are listed below:

10 a.m. 'Dublin Port – Past and Present'– Niall Dardis

11 a.m. 'The Blood Red Badge: Dublin Dockers, Seamen and their Unionisation' – Francis Devine

12 Noon 'Liffey Ships' – Pat Sweeney

All are welcome to attend the lecture morning, noting the nearest DART station to the venue is at Pearse Street. For further information about other events, activities and developments of the M.I.I. visit www.mariner.ie

Published in Boating Fixtures
In advance of this month's Heritage Week which includes a one-day maritime lecture's seminar on Sunday 28th August, another Dun Laoghaire based lecture is to take place next week.
The lecture on Dublin's Own Titanic: The Sinking of the 'Tayleur' off Lambay in 1854 will be presented by Declan Heffernan and is to be held on Tuesday, 9th August starting at 8pm / 20.00hrs. All are welcome. Contribution fee €3.

The venue and is the Dún Laoghaire College of Further Education on Cumberland Street where a lecture series programme is run by the Genealogical Society of Ireland (GSI). For further information on other forthcoming GSI lectures: www.familyhistory.ie/

Published in Boating Fixtures

How to sail, sailing clubs and sailing boats plus news on the wide range of sailing events on Irish waters forms the backbone of Afloat's sailing coverage.

We aim to encompass the widest range of activities undertaken on Irish lakes, rivers and coastal waters. This page describes those sailing activites in more detail and provides links and breakdowns of what you can expect from our sailing pages. We aim to bring jargon free reports separated in to popular categories to promote the sport of sailing in Ireland.

The packed 2013 sailing season sees the usual regular summer leagues and there are regular weekly race reports from Dublin Bay Sailing Club, Howth and Cork Harbour on Afloat.ie. This season and last also featured an array of top class events coming to these shores. Each year there is ICRA's Cruiser Nationals starts and every other year the Round Ireland Yacht Race starts and ends in Wicklow and all this action before July. Crosshaven's Cork Week kicks off on in early July every other year. in 2012 Ireland hosted some big international events too,  the ISAF Youth Worlds in Dun Laoghaire and in August the Tall Ships Race sailed into Dublin on its final leg. In that year the Dragon Gold Cup set sail in Kinsale in too.

2013 is also packed with Kinsale hosting the IFDS diabled world sailing championships in Kinsale and the same port is also hosting the Sovereign's Cup. The action moves to the east coast in July with the staging of the country's biggest regatta, the Volvo Dun Laoghaire regatta from July 11.

Our coverage though is not restricted to the Republic of Ireland but encompasses Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales and the Irish Sea area too. In this section you'll find information on the Irish Sailing Association and Irish sailors. There's sailing reports on regattas, racing, training, cruising, dinghies and keelboat classes, windsurfers, disabled sailing, sailing cruisers, Olympic sailing and Tall Ships sections plus youth sailing, match racing and team racing coverage too.

Sailing Club News

There is a network of over 70 sailing clubs in Ireland and we invite all clubs to submit details of their activities for inclusion in our daily website updates. There are dedicated sections given over to the big Irish clubs such as  the waterfront clubs in Dun Laoghaire; Dublin Bay Sailing Club, the Royal Saint George Yacht Club,  the Royal Irish Yacht Club and the National Yacht Club. In Munster we regularly feature the work of Kinsale Yacht Club and Royal Cork Yacht Club in Crosshaven.  Abroad Irish sailors compete in Royal Ocean Racing Club (RORC) racing in the UK and this club is covered too. Click here for Afloat's full list of sailing club information. We are keen to increase our coverage on the network of clubs from around the coast so if you would like to send us news and views of a local interest please let us have it by sending an email to [email protected]

Sailing Boats and Classes

Over 20 active dinghy and one design classes race in Irish waters and fleet sizes range from just a dozen or so right up to over 100 boats in the case of some of the biggest classes such as the Laser or Optimist dinghies for national and regional championships. Afloat has dedicated pages for each class: Dragons, Etchells, Fireball, Flying Fifteen, GP14, J24's, J80's, Laser, Sigma 33, RS Sailing, Star, Squibs, TopperMirror, Mermaids, National 18, Optimist, Puppeteers, SB3's, and Wayfarers. For more resources on Irish classes go to our dedicated sailing classes page.

The big boat scene represents up to 60% of the sail boat racing in these waters and Afloat carries updates from the Irish Cruiser Racer Association (ICRA), the body responsible for administering cruiser racing in Ireland and the popular annual ICRA National Championships. In 2010 an Irish team won the RORC Commodore's Cup putting Irish cruiser racing at an all time high. Popular cruiser fleets in Ireland are raced right around the coast but naturally the biggest fleets are in the biggest sailing centres in Cork Harbour and Dublin Bay. Cruisers race from a modest 20 feet or so right up to 50'. Racing is typically divided in to Cruisers Zero, Cruisers One, Cruisers Two, Cruisers Three and Cruisers Four. A current trend over the past few seasons has been the introduction of a White Sail division that is attracting big fleets.

Traditionally sailing in northern Europe and Ireland used to occur only in some months but now thanks to the advent of a network of marinas around the coast (and some would say milder winters) there are a number of popular winter leagues running right over the Christmas and winter periods.

Sailing Events

Punching well above its weight Irish sailing has staged some of the world's top events including the Volvo Ocean Race Galway Stopover, Tall Ships visits as well as dozens of class world and European Championships including the Laser Worlds, the Fireball Worlds in both Dun Laoghaire and Sligo.

Some of these events are no longer pure sailing regattas and have become major public maritime festivals some are the biggest of all public staged events. In the past few seasons Ireland has hosted events such as La Solitaire du Figaro and the ISAF Dublin Bay 2012 Youth Worlds.

There is a lively domestic racing scene for both inshore and offshore sailing. A national sailing calendar of summer fixtures is published annually and it includes old favorites such as Sovereign's Cup, Calves Week, Dun Laoghaire to Dingle, All Ireland Sailing Championships as well as new events with international appeal such as the Round Britain and Ireland Race and the Clipper Round the World Race, both of which have visited Ireland.

The bulk of the work on running events though is carried out by the network of sailing clubs around the coast and this is mostly a voluntary effort by people committed to the sport of sailing. For example Wicklow Sailing Club's Round Ireland yacht race run in association with the Royal Ocean Racing Club has been operating for over 30 years. Similarly the international Cork Week regatta has attracted over 500 boats in past editions and has also been running for over 30 years.  In recent years Dublin Bay has revived its own regatta called Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta and can claim to be the country's biggest event with over 550 boats entered in 2009.

On the international stage Afloat carries news of Irish and UK interest on Olympics 2012, Sydney to Hobart, Volvo Ocean Race, Cowes Week and the Fastnet Race.

We're always aiming to build on our sailing content. We're keen to build on areas such as online guides on learning to sail in Irish sailing schools, navigation and sailing holidays. If you have ideas for our pages we'd love to hear from you. Please email us at [email protected]