Displaying items by tag: Nic Slocum

5th March 2013

Whale Watch Tour Firm Gets Digital Boost

#Business - A West Cork whale watching tour operator has been announced as the third winner of the Eircom Digital Boost initiative for 2013, as Business & Leadership reports.

Union Hall-based Whale Watch West Cork now has the opportunity to redesign its website, and also wins a strategy day with digital and marketing experts from the Eircom Expert Panel to provide consultation specific to their business, plus a place on the SureSkills Diploma in Digital Marketing and a telecoms package for one year, all to the value of €10,000.

Established by conservationist Nic Slocum, the small business is one of most popular operators in the region in an industry that has become a major tourism magnet since the Government declared our coastal waters as a whale and dolphin sanctuary in the early 1990s.

Operating the company for a decade, Slocum says his business "is currently 75% reliant on the internet so improving our online and social media presence is hugely important."

He added: "By having an up-to-the-minute digital strategy and a stronger online presence, we'll be in a much improved position to broaden our customer base and we are very excited about getting on with it now and implementing our new and improved global online strategy."

Gary Disley, marketing director with Eircom Business and a member of the Digital Boost Expert Panel, said that the Whale Watch West Cork team "have a huge passion for whale and dolphin conservation and know what whale watchers want. Winning Eircom’s Digital Boost will practically equip Nic and his crew to maximise their potential and help them build the business."

Digital Boost is Eircom’s initiative to help SME owners increase their digital presence and maximise their online potential. The scheme offers practical guidance and tips to boost online enterprise, and is to open to all small and medium business owners, with or without an online presence.

Published in News Update

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A Day in the Life of a West Cork Whale Watcher

Today's Irish Times recounts a day in the life of whale watch operator Nic Slocum.

Originally from the UK, Slocum traded tiring commutes to London for the peaceful life of sailing in west Cork 10 years ago, and shortly after turned his hobby into a new business by running whale watching excursions.

"We don’t promise whales and dolphins every time because they are unpredictable creatures," says the Whale Watch West Cork proprietor, "but for anyone interested in wildlife, there is an abundance of things to see. The marine coast is spectacularly beautiful here."

The Irish Times has more on the story HERE.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/travel/2011/0702/1224299901013.html

Today's Irish Times recounts a day in the life of whale watch operator Nic Slocum.

The Irish Times has more on the story HERE.

Published in Coastal Notes

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About the 29er Skiff Dinghy

The 29er is a one-design double-handed, single trapeze skiff for youth sailors.

There is an active class in Ireland, just one of the 38-countries from across all continents now racing the high-performance skiff.

The 29er is one of the latest dinghy classes to arrive in Ireland and has a 50/50 split between boys and girls.

The class like to describe the boat as "The most popular skiff for sailors who want to go fast!".

Derived from the Olympic class 49er class and designed by Julian Bethwaite the 29er was first produced in 1998.

Two sailors sail the 29er, one on trapeze.

The 6.25-metre high rig features a fractional asymmetrical spinnaker; a self-tacking jib decreases the workload of the crew, making manoeuvres more efficient and freeing the crew to take the mainsheet upwind and on two-sail reaches.

The 15.00 m2 spinnaker rigging set-up challenges crews to be fit and coordinated, and manoeuvres in the boat require athleticism due to its lack of inherent stability and the high speed with which the fully battened mainsail and jib power up.

The 74kg weight hull is constructed of fibreglass-reinforced polyester in a foam sandwich layout.

The fully battened mainsail and jib are made from a transparent Mylar laminate with orange or red Dacron trimming, while the spinnaker is manufactured from ripstop Nylon.

The mast is in three parts - an aluminium bottom and middle section, with a polyester-fibreglass composite tip to increase mast bend and decrease both overall weights, and the capsizing moment a heavy mast tip can generate. Foils are aluminium or fibreglass.

About the ILCA/Laser Dinghy

The ILCA, formerly known as the Laser, is the most produced boat in the world, with 220,000 units built since 1971.

It's easy to see why the single-handed dinghy has won the title of the most widely distributed boat of all time.

The Laser is a one-design dinghy, the hulls being identical but three rigs that can be used according to the size and weight of the sailor.

The class is international, with sailors from 120 countries. The boat has also been an Olympic class since 1996, being both the men's and women's singlehanded dinghy.

Three rigs are recognised by the International Laser Class Association (ILCA):

ILCA 4: sail of 4.70m2

ILCA 6: sail of 5.76 m2

ILCA 7: sail of 7.06 m2