#rcyc – Cork photographer Suzanne Ravenhill captured this amazing incident from Cobh waterfront yesterday when CH Marine Autumn League competitors Manzantina (IRL 2076) with blue and white spinnaker and Chancer (IRL 1583) met in the first race of the Royal Cork league in Cork Harbour. No one was hurt in the incident, according to Suzanne. We understand only a spreader was broken but a thorough rig inspection on both boats is to be carried out.

Amy McCarthy, crew member on Chancer, adds:

The incident occurred when Manzanita was on a run towards Chancer who was on a beat.

Both boats were on port. As Manzanita was closest to the wind she had to give way to Chancer.

Manzanita came up to avoid us but as they passed us they may have heeled over more than expected for the room given; we are unsure. Resulting from this the top of their rigging got caught in the starboard sidestay above the upper spreaders on Chancer.

This resulted in the two boats rotating together in which Manzanita's bow raised up significantly (see photo)and their transom was buried in the water. At this point there was silence as both boats spun together. Manzanita's bow then went across our transom at which Brian Carroll, skipper, had to push it off.

We de-powered our sails and at that point the rigging sprung clear, ripping the sidestay from our spreader. Manzanita's pit was completely immersed in water at which
point the skipper was quickly bailing.

All crew were safe and unharmed.

Both boats retired from the race. Chancer has had to withdraw from part or all of the league depending on the level of damage done to the rigging. I am unaware of any damage done to Manzanita.

#rcyc – Scroll down for more photos from the lens of Bob Bateman from yesterday's first race of the CH Marine sponsored Autumn league at Royal Cork Yacht Club in Cork Harbour.

#RNLI - There was another call-out for the Kilrush lifeboat to retrieve a boat broken free of its moorings on Tuesday 17 September, following Sunday's assist of a boat on the rocks at Mount Trenchard in the Shannon Estuary.

The volunteer crew of Kilrush RNLI launched quickly on Tuesday afternoon after a report that the boat was adrift off Glin in Co Limerick. Conditions on the day were very unfavourable with winds blowing south-westerly and gusting to Force 8.

The helm dropped one of the lifeboat crew at Glin Pier, where a number of locals brought him to the area where the boat was gone aground. Another crew member waded out to catch a tow line from the lifeboat, then proceeded to set up a long tow and was pulled to safer waters. 

The lifeboat then made its way to Glin pier were the owner was located and the vessel was tied up securely.

But the Kilrush lifeboat wasn't finished its duties yet, as around 4.45pm the coastguard relayed a message reporting another small vessel gone aground at Hog Island, near Cappa Pier at Kilrush.

The crew quickly turned westwards toward this area where they found a sailing boat up on the rocks on the spit at Hog Island.

Again the speed of the crew proved invaluable as they transferred one of their crew onto the shore, where he quickly established a towline. The Kilrush crewman stayed on the vessel, communicating all the time with the lifeboat and the coastguard. Within five minutes the boat was tied up at Cappa Pier and safely secured.

Kilrush RNLI lifeboat press officer Pauline Dunleavy said: “It is at times like these that constant training pays off. The lifeboat crew braved the elements and brought a satisfactory outcome to the owners of these vessels. 

"I would advise people to check that their mooring lines are strong and stable.”

Elsewhere, Crosshaven RNLI brought a troubled fishing boat with one person onboard to safety yesterday evening (18 September).

A mobile phone call to one of the Crosshaven RNLI crew members alerted them to a disabled fishing vessel seven miles south of Roches Point.

The pagers were activated and the volunteer crew of Kieran Coniry, Ian O'Keefe and Vincent Fleming launched to the aid of the stricken vessel at 4.45pm. 

With a north westerly Force Four wind and good conditions, the lifeboat made good progress and arrived a short time later.

The casualty vessel with one person on board had failed to restart its engine and was taken in tow by the lifeboat.

The 37ft vessel was towed to Crosshaven Pier, arriving back at 7.30pm.

#RNLI - The Crosshaven RNLI volunteer crew were paged in the early hours of Saturday 3 August to reports of a missing person separated from friends at Salve Marina near Cork Harbour.

The lifeboat, with Alan Venner, Kieran Coniry and Denis Cronin on board, was launched along with Crosshaven coastguard and the Irish Coast Guard's Rescue 115 helicopter, to made multiple searches of all the marinas and the Owenboy River, until reports were received from Gardaí that the missing person had been located at his home address.

The lifeboat was then stood down and returned to station, refuelled, washed, and ready for service at 5am.

Commenting on the service, lifeboat station manager Alan Barton said: "Thankfully, this did not end in a tragedy. The friends of the missing person took the correct course of action by calling us – a false alarm with good intent."

#rnli – A 36' motor cruiser on passage from Kinsale to Crosshaven with two people on board, lost one of its two engines with the second engine showing alarms. As the vessel was off Ringabella and on a lee shore, the skipper requested assistance.

At 5.50pm this afternoon, the pagers of the volunteer crew at Crosshaven RNLI were activated and Aidan O'Connor, Vincent Fleming and Ritchie Kelleher launched into force 6 South Easterly winds and rough seas, met with the vessel off Roches Point and escorted it safely to Crosshaven.

#marinas – The Royal Cork Yacht Club marina in Crosshaven in Cork Harbour is the only new marina in Ireland that has attained Blue Flag status in 2013 and is one of only three new Blue Flags awarded this year. The news of the new eco award for Cork was previously reported on Afloat.ie here.

Steeped in history, the Royal Cork Yacht Club in Crosshaven, Co. Cork, prides itself on being the oldest Yacht Club in the world and the award of Blue Flag status comes after last year's award of 5 Gold Anchor Marina status as well as an ICOMIA Clean Marina Award – an internationally recognised sure sign of a quality marina. ICOMIA is the International Council of Marine Industry Associations and represents the recreational boating industry worldwide.

There are now four Blue Flag Marinas in the country, the other three have had the award for the last few years and they are Kilmore Quay in Wexford, the Three Sisters Marina in New Ross and Killinure Point Marina in Westmeath.

The Royal Cork Yacht Club was the only new marina in Ireland that has attained Blue Flag status in 2013 and there was huge emphasis during the presentations on how difficult is for a marina to attain Blue Flag status.

Gavin Deane, General Manager, Royal Cork Yacht Club said: "This is another terrific achievement for the Club. Mark Ring, the Marina & Racing Coordinator at the Royal Cork led the project and put months of work into achieving Blue Flag status so it's great to see that work paying off. We can now call ourselves the oldest and cleanest yacht club in the world!"

The awards comes as planning begins for Cork Week 2014 Ireland's most prestigious yachting regatta, which takes place at the club in Crosshaven in July next year.

As expected, today was light with 4/5 knots of South/South Easterly breeze and this increased to about 8 knots for the second race of the day at Royal Cork's Optimist trials writes Claire Bateman.

This completed the schedule of sixteen races to count for the nineteen places available for the 2013 Irish Optimist Squads.

With a flood tide and a current flowing over the Curlane Bank as it divided around Spike Island both races had general recalls and I got an excellent account of the racing from Toby Hudson – Fowler of the Royal St. George Yacht Club.

He is a very articulate and personable young sailor and a joy to speak with. He is a great ambassador for the RStGYC and a great credit to his family.

He described the recall for the first race that was blackflagged and also the second race that suffered two general recalls and also blackflagged. He was very interesting in his description of the conditions and the wind shifts coming off the land. If he is typical of the competitors coming up in the Optimist Class then they are indeed very fortunate.

The only change in the top five positions today was that James McCann and Alix Buckley changed places with McCann moving to fourth place and this meant that there are three Royal Cork sailors in the top five.

Interestingly enough Cathal O'Regan, a Junior sailor from the Royal Cork, took the bullet in the first race of the day and that is a great fillip for his confidence. In the last race of the day it was Peter Fegan of SSC took the win with Harry Durcan second.

When the three discards were applied Harry Durcan was but a mere three points behind his brother Johnny who took first place overall in the trials.

The next Optimist event listed is the Ulsters to take place on May 25th and 26th, 2013.

Perfect sailing conditions on the south coast marked the finale of the Marshall Marine Textiles April sailing League at Royal Cork Yacht Club on Saturday writes Claire Bateman.

There was a northerly breeze tempered by the bright sunshine and the cruisers were sent to No. 5 before beating in the harbour to No. 10 and then on to a course that gave them plenty of running, reaching and beating before returning to finish at Grassy. The day was described by Batt O'Leary, winner of IHS, as a wonderful and most enjoyable day of sailing of which there have not been too many so far this season.

Also sailing in the harbour were Fevas and some Laser Radials out for practice. However, the biggest gathering of boats was reserved for the Optimists, with the beginners group having a ball with their Instructors and other more senior Optimist sailors giving a helping hand.

Also in view of the forthcoming Optimist trials next weekend for the International Team, a group of Optimist Sailors from Kinsale Yacht Club were working up and joined with a group from TeamX Training from Dublin who were accompanied by their Coach Denis Passke assisted by Séafra Guilfoyle and they later joined in with the regular Royal Cork Optimist sailors racing under Race Officer Michael McCann.

Hopefully today saw the start of the fine weather for the coming sailing season and the new Optimist Class Captain, Frank Thompson, should be very pleased with the success of the day and the previous weekend highly successful novice intruductory session.

#coastguard – Minister for Transport, Tourism & Sport Leo Varadkar has welcomed the opening of a new state-of-the-art Irish Coast Guard facility at Crosshaven in Co. Cork.

The purpose-built facility was developed by the Department of Transport, Tourism & Sport and the OPW to provide a modern base for Crosshaven Volunteer Coast Guard Unit, as well as a Coast Guard Regional HQ and Training centre. The building can also serve as an emergency management co-ordination centre for use by other statutory services.

Minister Varadkar said: 'The Crosshaven team is made up of 20 local volunteer members and I am delighted to have this opportunity to thank them for their dedication and hard work. They train every week and provide weekly for a 24 hour, seven day emergency response to shoreline and coastal emergencies. I also want to congratulate the volunteers who today received their long-service medals. They are richly deserved'.

The new station was officially opened on behalf of the Government by Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Simon Coveney, who also presented long service medals to volunteers drawn from local Coast Guard Units. Following the ceremony a Coast Guard helicopter landed in the vicinity of the station, affording members of the public an opportunity to view the helicopter and to meet the crew.

The largest element of the Crosshaven building is the boathouse or garage area, which is fitted with large roller shutter doors to allow for the rapid response of vehicles and boats. The upper level has an operations room, office and training room.

Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Simon Coveney TD will officiate at the opening of a new Coast Guard building tomorrow afternoon in Crosshaven.

The purpose built facility will serve as a Base for Crosshaven Volunteer Coast Guard Unit, as well as a Coast Guard Regional HQ and Training centre. The building can also serve as an emergency management co-ordination centre for use by other statutory services.

Minister Coveney will also present long service medals to Coast Guard volunteers drawn from local Coast Guard Units.

After the ceremony a Coast Guard helicopter will land in the vicinity of the station affording members of the public an opportunity to view the helicopter and meet the crew.