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Displaying items by tag: Belfast Boat Club

#Rowing: Irish crews added four more wins to their haul over the weekend at the World Masters Regatta at Lake Velence in Hungary. The wins came on Saturday. Denis Crowley featured in a composite eight, which beat strong British opposition, and in a four – bringing his personal tally to eight wins. Brendan Smyth and Patrick Fowler of Commercial won in the double and Milo and Pat Murray of Cappoquin won the in the pair. A mixed eight finished second on Sunday.

World Masters Regatta, Lake Velence, Hungary (Selected Results; Irish interest; Winners)

Saturday

Men

Eight  (E – avg 55 or more): Galway, Belfast BC, Neptune, Clonmel, Commercial, Shannon (G Murphy, A McCallion, K McDonald, D Crowley, F O’Toole, O McGrath, G O’Neill, C Hunter, M McGlynn) 3:04.90

Four (D – avg 50 or more): Commercial, Neptune (B Smyth, F O’Toole, G Murphy, D Crowley) 3:24.72.

Pair (F – avg 60 or more): Cappoquin (P Murray, M Murray) 6:12.10.

Sculling, Double (C – avg 43 or more): Commercial (B Smyth, F Fowler) 3:28.39.

Published in Rowing

#Rowing: One of the leading Irish boats at the World Masters Regatta in Bled in Slovenia clocked up a notable win today. The E eight made up of competitors from Belfast Boat Club, Commercial, Neptune and Waterford beat Dynamo of Russia, who have been their constant rivals of recent years. The margin was extremely tight – just .26 of a second.

World Masters Regatta, Bled, Slovenia, Day Four

Men

Eight ‘E’ (Avg 55 or more) – Heat Three: Waterford, Neptune, Commercial, Belfast BC (A Penkert, J Hudson, D Crowley, G Murphy, M Heavey, C Dickson, C Hunter, F O’Toole, D McGuinness) 3:07.88.

Published in Rowing

#Rowing: Irish composite crews had good wins on the first day of the World Masters Regatta in Bled in Slovenia. The Irish B eight (average age 36 or more), which is formed from six clubs won. Two fours in the E class (average age 55 or more) also won – the Galway/Neptune combination by just .26 of a second. The decision was initially given to their German opponents.

World Masters Regatta, Bled, Slovenia, Day One (Selected Results; Irish interest; all heats of 1,000 metres, winners only)

Men

Eight, B (avg 36 or more) – Heat Five: Galway, Commercial, Shandon, Clonmel, Neptune, Cork 3:05.51.

Four, E (avg 55 or more) – Heat One: Galway, Neptune 3:26.26.

Heat Four: Waterford, Neptune, Commercial, Belfast BC 3:28.1

Published in Rowing

#Rowing: The Irish eight which won at the World Masters Regatta at Lake Bagsvaerd, Denmark, have been chosen as the Afloat Rowers of the Month for September. There were a number of good results by Irish crews at the event, which is one of the biggest international events of the year. Among the competitors this year was Denmark legend Eskild Ebbesen. The Irish E eight (55 years or older), was drawn from five clubs (Commercial, Belfast Boat Club, Neptune, Old Collegians and Waterford Boat Club) and outpaced German and British rivals in a field of seven crews. They had also won last year at this level. The crew was: John Hudson, Denis Crowley, Gerry Murphy, Mick Heavey, Colin Dickson, Colin Hunter, Fran O’Toole, Donal Mc Guinness and cox Al Penkert.  

Rower of the Month awards: The judging panel is made up of Liam Gorman, rowing correspondent of The Irish Times, and David O'Brien, editor of Afloat magazine. Monthly awards for achievements during the year will appear on afloat.ie and the overall national award will be presented to the person or crew who, in the judges' opinion, achieved the most notable results in, or made the most significant contribution to rowing during 2016. Keep a monthly eye on progress and watch our 2016 champions list grow.

Published in Rowing

#Rowing: Irish crews were amongst the winners again at the World Masters Regatta in Denmark today. Denis Crowley of Commercial and Niall O’Brien of Carlow won in the men’s single sculls for competitors 50 years or more and the Belfast Boat Club women’s coxed four (average age 60 or more) also won.

World Masters Regatta, Copenhagen (Irish interest - Winners; 1,000m)

Men

Single Sculls - D (average age 50 years or more) - Heat Two: Carlow Rowing Club (N O’Brien) 3:58.63. Heat 10: Commercial (D Crowley) 4:08.63.

Women

Four, coxed - F (average age 60 years or more) - Heat One: Belfast Boat Club 4:42.79.

Published in Rowing

#ROWING: The men’s junior coxed four was the standout race of the morning session at the Irish Rowing Championships at the National Rowing Centre in Cork today. It took a photo finish to confirm Cork Boat Club’s win over Presentation, with Portora also disputing the lead right to the last 50 metres.

Cork Boat Club also took the women’s junior single sculls title through Oisin Forde, who won a fine battle with Jasmine English of Belfast Boat Club. Forde is from Torrevieja in Spain and with her sister Dervla, who was third, will represent Ireland at the Coupe de la Jeunesse next month.

The men’s senior pair final gave Mark O’Donovan and Niall Kenny of UCD a chance to show why they are in the frame to represent Ireland at the World Championships this year, while a former international Fiola Foley partnered a current one, Monika Dukarska to win the women’s intermediate doubles title.

Irish Rowing Championships, National Rowing Centre, Cork (Selected Results; Finals)

 

Men

 

Eight – Intermediate: 1 Trinity 5:46.25, 2 NUIG 5:50.28, 3 UCD 5:56.96.

 

Four, coxed – Junior: 1 Cork BC 6:35.99, 2 Presentation 6:36.22, 3 Portora 6:38.08.

 

Pair – Senior: 1 UCD (M O’Donovan, N Kenny) 6:46.05, 2 NUIG 6:49.95, 3 Commercial B 7:00.16.

 

Sculling

 

Single: Lee (D O’Sullivan) 7:31.80, 2 St Michael’s (P O’Connor) 7:36.24, 3 Belfast BC (A Murray) 7:39.44.

 

 

 

Women

 

Eight – Novice: 1 Queen’s 7:19.74, 2 Trinity 7:55.75.

 

Sculling, Double – Intermediate: 1 Killorglin (F Foley, M Dukarska) 7:17.17, 2 Commercial 7:20.83, 3 Skibbereen 7:39.99.

 

Single – Junior: 1 Cork BC (O Forde) 8:06.14, 2 Belfast BC (J English) 8:07.11, 3 Commercial B 7:00.16.

   

Published in Rowing

#RowingHenley: Belfast Boat Club led early on in their race against Union Boat Club in the Britannia Cup at Henley Royal Regatta, but the heavier crew from America came through to win well at the end. Union BC were the selected (seeded) crew.

Henley Royal Regatta, Day Two (Irish interest)

Temple Cup (Eights, Student): St Petersburg University, Russia bt University College, Dublin 2 ½ l 6:51

Visitors’ Cup (Four, Intermediate): Harvard A bt University College, Dublin 2l, 6:56.

Prince Albert (Coxed Fours, Student): Isis Boat Club bt Trinity College, Dublin 1 ¼ l, 7:27

Britannia (Coxed Fours, Club): Union Boat Club, United States bt Belfast Boat Club 3l, 7:29

Prince of Wales: Commercial, Dublin bt Poplar Blackwall and District Rowing Club and Anglia Ruskin Boat Club 1 ¾ l, 7:20

Published in Rowing

# ROWING HENLEY QUALIFIERS: The qualifying races for Henley Royal Regatta last evening did not bring joy for Galway Rowing Club. Two crews competed in the Junior Women’s Quadruple, but failed to qualify for the regatta, which begins on Wednesday.

Belfast Boat Club pulled off a fine result in qualifying for the Britannia, a club coxed fours event. They were one of just three of eight crews to qualify.

However, the Queen’s University eight did not make it through the qualifiers to the draw of the Temple Cup.

Published in Rowing

# ROWING: The Rowing Ireland talent identification programme run by Nathan Adams in Belfast provided the fastest female and male single scullers at the Lagan Scullers’ Head of the River on Saturday. Up-and-coming talents Gareth McKillen and Bridget Jacques topped the rankings. A Belfast Boat Club/RBAI composite coxed quadruple scull was the fastest crew of the day.

Lagan Sculler’s Head of the River, Belfast, Saturday (Selected Results)

Race One: 1 Bann women’s senior quadruple sculls 12:39.8, 2 Belfast BC women sen quad 12:41.8, 3 RBAI junior single sculls (G McKillen) 13:03.1, 4 BBC/Portora masters double sculls 13:03.8, 5 BBC senior single (Wray) 13:05.9, 6 Lagan sen single (Darby) 13:06.3; 9 Portadown nov single (McKeown) 13:34.1; 15 Bann wom nov coxed quad 14:02.6.

Race Two: BBC/RBAI men sen quad 11:04.5, 2 Lagan Scullers’ men sen quad 11:46.9, 3 Methodist College jun 18A double sculls 12:38.9, 4 Lagan Scullers’ Masters single (Darby) 13:03.7, 5 RBAI jun 16 coxed quad 13:04.7, 6 Coleraine AI double sculls 13:08.1; 8 Portadown inter single (McKeown) 13:30.4; 9 Bann women’s sen double 13:36.0, 15 Bann women’s jun 16 coxed quad 14:16.7.

Race Three: 1 Methodist College jun 18A quad 11:53.8, 2 Coleraine AI jun 18B coxed quad 12:32.8, 3 Methody quad (time only) 12:42.1, 4 BBC/Lagan Scullers’ quad (mixed, time only) 12:54.5, 5 Methody women’s jun 18A quad 13:29.4, 6 Belfast BC women’s sen single (B Jacques) 13:49.6; 8 Bann women’s jun 16 double 14:13.8; 16 BBC women’s nov single (Turner) 14:50.5; 17 Portadown women’s jun 18A quad 14:57.6.

Published in Rowing

Dublin Bay 21s

An exciting new project to breathe life into six defunct 120-year-old Irish yachts that happen to be the oldest intact one-design keelboat class in the world has captured the imagination of sailors at Ireland's biggest sailing centre. The birthplace of the original Dublin Bay 21 class is getting ready to welcome home the six restored craft after 40 years thanks to an ambitious boat building project was completed on the Shannon Estuary that saved them from completely rotting away.

Dublin Bay 21 FAQs

The Dublin Bay 21 is a vintage one-design wooden yacht designed for sailing in Dublin Bay.

Seven were built between 1903 and 1906.

As of 2020, the yachts are 117 years old.

Alfred Mylne designed the seven yachts.

The total voting population in the Republic's inhabited islands is just over 2,600 people, according to the Department of Housing.

Dublin Bay Sailing Club (DBSC) commissioned the boat to encourage inexpensive one-design racing to recognise the success of the Water Wag one-design dinghy of 1887 and the Colleen keelboat class of 1897.

Estelle built by Hollwey, 1903; Garavogue built by Kelly, 1903; Innisfallen built by Hollwey, 1903.; Maureen built by Hollwey, 1903.; Oola built by Kelly, 1905; Naneen built by Clancy, 1905.

Overall length- 32'-6', Beam- 7'-6", Keel lead- 2 tons Sail area - 600sq.ft

The first race took place on 19 June 1903 in Dublin Bay.

They may be the oldest intact class of racing keelboat yacht in the world. Sailing together in a fleet, they are one of the loveliest sights to be seen on any sailing waters in the world, according to many Dublin Bay aficionados.

In 1964, some of the owners thought that the boats were outdated, and needed a new breath of fresh air. After extensive discussions between all the owners, the gaff rig and timber mast was abandoned in favour of a more fashionable Bermudan rig with an aluminium mast. Unfortunately, this rig put previously unseen loads on the hulls, resulting in some permanent damage.

The fleet was taken out of the water in 1986 after Hurricane Charlie ruined active Dublin Bay 21 fleet racing in August of that year. Two 21s sank in the storm, suffering the same fate as their sister ship Estelle four years earlier. The class then became defunct. In 1988, master shipwright Jack Tyrrell of Arklow inspected the fleet and considered the state of the hulls as vulnerable, describing them as 'still restorable even if some would need a virtual rebuild'. The fleet then lay rotting in a farmyard in Arklow until 2019 and the pioneering project of Dun Laoghaire sailors Fionan De Barra and Hal Sisk who decided to bring them back to their former glory.

Hurricane Charlie finally ruined active Dublin Bay 21 fleet racing in August 1986. Two 21s sank in the storm, suffering the same fate as a sister ship four years earlier; Estelle sank twice, once on her moorings and once in a near-tragic downwind capsize. Despite their collective salvage from the sea bed, the class decided the ancient boats should not be allowed suffer anymore. To avoid further deterioration and risk to the rare craft all seven 21s were put into storage in 1989 under the direction of the naval architect Jack Tyrrell at his yard in Arklow.

While two of the fleet, Garavogue and Geraldine sailed to their current home, the other five, in various states of disrepair, were carried the 50-odd miles to Arklow by road.

To revive the legendary Dublin Bay 21 class, the famous Mylne design of 1902-03. Hal Sisk and Fionan de Barra are developing ideas to retain the class's spirit while making the boats more appropriate to today's needs in Dun Laoghaire harbour, with its many other rival sailing attractions. The Dublin Bay 21-foot class's fate represents far more than the loss of a single class; it is bad news for the Bay's yachting heritage at large. Although Dún Laoghaire turned a blind eye to the plight of the oldest intact one-design keelboat fleet in the world for 30 years or more they are now fully restored.

The Dublin Bay 21 Restoration team includes Steve Morris, James Madigan, Hal Sisk, Fionan de Barra, Fintan Ryan and Dan Mill.

Retaining the pure Mylne-designed hull was essential, but the project has new laminated cold-moulded hulls which are being built inverted but will, when finished and upright, be fitted on the original ballast keels, thereby maintaining the boat’s continuity of existence, the presence of the true spirit of the ship.

It will be a gunter-rigged sloop. It was decided a simpler yet clearly vintage rig was needed for the time-constrained sailors of the 21st Century. So, far from bringing the original and almost-mythical gaff cutter rig with jackyard topsail back to life above a traditionally-constructed hull, the project is content to have an attractive gunter-rigged sloop – “American gaff” some would call it.

The first DB 21 to get the treatment was Naneen, originally built in 1905 by Clancy of Dun Laoghaire for T. Cosby Burrowes, a serial boat owner from Cavan.

On Dublin Bay. Dublin Bay Sailing Club granted a racing start for 2020 Tuesday evening racing starting in 2020, but it was deferred due to COVID-19.
Initially, two Dublin Bay 21s will race then three as the boat building project based in Kilrush on the Shannon Estuary completes the six-boat project.
The restored boats will be welcomed back to the Bay in a special DBSC gun salute from committee boat Mac Lir at the start of the season.
In a recollection for Afloat, well known Dun Laoghaire one-design sailor Roger Bannon said: "They were complete bitches of boats to sail, over-canvassed and fundamentally badly balanced. Their construction and design was also seriously flawed which meant that they constantly leaked and required endless expensive maintenance. They suffered from unbelievable lee helm which led to regular swamping's and indeed several sinkings.

©Afloat 2020