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Displaying items by tag: Ireland’s Eye

A tourist was rescued from the waters off Howth in North Co Dublin at the weekend after attempting to swim from Burrow Beach to Ireland’s Eye.

As RTÉ News reports, the man in his 20s was discovered clinging to a marker buoy around a kilometre from the shore by a passing ferry on Sunday evening (21 April).

The ferry was shortly after met by the Irish Coast Guard’s Howth unit whose volunteers administered care to the casualty, who showed symptoms of severe hypothermia.

The casualty was subsequently transferred by ambulance to Beaumont Hospital.

In a statement on social media, Howth Coast Guard said: “The swimmer, unfamiliar with the area, had become hypothermic and exhausted, clinging to a buoy for safety.

“Thankfully, the last ferry of the day spotted them just in time and brought them ashore.”

Published in Rescue

On Saturday 12 March, ask yourself whether going clockwise or anti-clockwise around Ireland’s Eye will bring you glory — as the Round the Island Race returns after a two-year break.

Supported by Key Capital, sponsors of Howth Yacht Club’s Winter Dinghy Series, the Round the Island Race (not to be confused with the Isle of Wight equivalent) traditionally marks the end of the Frostbite series which, as the offspring of the appearance of the revolutionary Laser dinghy in the 1970s, has now been running for nearly 50 years.

This year’s RTIR will be different, however. In addition to racing for the renamed ILCAs, the RS Aeros will join the fun and other dinghies wanting to get involved can race using the Portsmouth Yardstick (PY) handicap system.

The RS Aero is a modern lightweight single-handed dinghy with a growing fleet based in Howth and they expect to be joined by several visiting class-mates to enjoy the unique experience of racing around an island.

Interest has also been expressed by owners of an RS 800, RS 600, several RS Fevas, 420s and a 470. Boats that have been racing all winter in Dun Laoghaire Harbour and at the other Frostbite venues around the country are particularly welcome to take on the challenge.

Anyone sailing a dinghy, single- or double-handed, with a PY rating and a similar performance to the ILCAs and Aeros is invited to enter for a great day of racing and socialising as the RTIR makes its comeback after a two-year absence.

The winning ILCA usually completes the race in less than an hour and its skipper is the one who has sailed best and successfully resolved the clockwise/anti-clockwise riddle for the day.

Ireland’s Eye is a triangular shape with high ground towards one corner and the tides around it vary in strength and direction depending on time and location. The vagaries of wind and tide have seen many an early leader struggling to salvage a top-10 result – snakes and ladders afloat!

Dinghies already entered for the HYC Frostbite Spring Series get free entry to the event and those who have not can enter online.

The plan for the day is a 9.30am briefing ashore at the HYC race office, a warm-up race (warning signal 10.55am) over a course laid in Howth Sound to get proceedings afloat under way, and then the main event: the expedition around Ireland’s Eye.

The start and finish lines for the RTIR will be in Howth Sound and, between crossing them, the island must be left to port or starboard at each competitor’s discretion.

Lunch and the prize-giving for both the Frostbite Series and RTIR are an option after racing and, to round out a sporting day, the TVs in the clubhouse will show England taking on Ireland in Six Nations rugby at 4.45pm.

Published in Howth YC

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