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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: Weather Warning

#weatherwarning – Southerly gales will develop overnight on all Irish coastal waters and on the Irish sea, gradually veering southwest to west later tonight and tomorrow and increasing gale to storm force. Frequent heavy showers, some thundery with sleet and snow for a time mainly on higher ground.

High coastal flood risk, due to the combination of very high spring tides, extremely high waves (greater than 10 m).

The Coast Guard strongly advises the public not to go out on exposed coasts, cliffs, piers, harbour walls, beaches, promenades or any other coastal areas during the inclement weather. Huge waves can be whipped up by high seas. These waves can pose hazards to anyone close to the shoreline.

Manager of the Irish Coast Guard, Declan Geoghegan said: " Extreme care should be taken in exposed areas especially cliffs, promenades, slipways and all beach areas also photography in these weather conditions has become popular and people should not put themselves at risk for such activities or indeed any water related leisure activities"

Remember to monitor weather broadcasts when travelling and heed the advice of the RSA on road use during severe weather and high winds.

Specific advice from the Coast Guard is:
• The public is advised to stay away from the shoreline and to avoid engaging in water sports
• Do not venture out unnecessarily when gale force conditions are forecast
• Avoid exposed coasts, cliff paths and coastal areas during inclement weather this week
• Owners of small vessels and fishing vessels in coastal waters should seek shelter and secure them properly with moorings.

If you do see someone in difficulty in the sea, on the shore, cliffs, lakes or rivers dial 999 or 112 and ask for the Coast Guard.

Published in Coastguard

#weatherwarning – Clare County Council has issued a flood and storm warning for the entire county in advance of severe weather conditions that are expected during the next few days.

The local authority is urging land, home and business owners, particularly those in low lying coastal areas, to take precautionary steps in light of the flood risk posed by a combination of heavy rainfall, strong gale to storm force winds, a large sea swell and a Spring Tide.

"There is a serious risk countywide of both coastal and inland flooding and all areas which have flooded in the past could be seriously impacted. Conditions could be similar in nature and extent to the storm events of early January with the potential for structural damage," explained Tom Tiernan, Senior Engineer, Clare County Council.

He added: "Current firm indications are that severe weather conditions will pertain throughout the coming weekend commencing with a substantial rainfall event tomorrow (Friday). In addition, tide levels will be rising to a Spring Tide peak overnight on Friday/Saturday morning. This will be exacerbated by significant swell conditions and high Westerly and South Westerly winds which will continue through Saturday."

Mr. Tiernan confirmed that river levels remain "very high", and arrangements have been put in place to continuously monitor the situation.

He continued: "Clare County Council, in conjunction with the Emergency Services, is progressing contingency arrangements in terms of additional pumping capacity and other flood alleviation measures at flood prone locations. In the meantime, the advice is to take appropriate precautions and not to venture out unless necessary, particularly in coastal areas."

Flooding advice is available on www.flooding.ie . Information included on the website includes advice on identifying flooding risks, protecting property against flooding, necessary steps to be taken if a property is flooded, and assessing and repairing property damaged by flooding.

Published in Weather
#WEATHER - Met Éireann has issued a weather warning for the Irish Sea for the next 24 hours due to expected gale force westery winds.
A small craft warning has also been issued, with west to southwest winds continuing to reach force 6 tonight on the Irish coast from Carlingford Lough to Roches Point to Slyne Head.
The high winds marks the first wave of real winter weather after a milder-than-average November, the Evening Herald reports.
A forecaster told the paper that strong winds have "reached storm force on the Irish coasts from Belfast Lough to Wicklow Head to Mizen Head and on the Irish Sea.
"We expect that by tonight they will slightly drop but may still reach a strong gale force."

#WEATHER - Met Éireann has issued a weather warning for the Irish Sea for the next 24 hours due to expected gale force westery winds.

A small craft warning has also been issued, with west to southwest winds continuing to reach force 6 tonight on the Irish coast from Carlingford Lough to Roches Point to Slyne Head.

The high winds marks the first wave of real winter weather after a milder-than-average November, the Evening Herald reports.

A forecaster told the paper that strong winds have "reached storm force on the Irish coasts from Belfast Lough to Wicklow Head to Mizen Head and on the Irish Sea.

"We expect that by tonight they will slightly drop but may still reach a strong gale force."

Published in Weather

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]