SEASCAPES – JUNE/JULY 2008 “This Island Nation...” are words which I have used to introduce Seascapes on RTÉ Radio 1 for nearly 20 years. They have come to be used regularly in everyday conversation to describe how this country is…
With only 57 days to go the Olympic regatta Irish sailing enters the dock tomorrow for an appeal over one of its nominations and, as it was for Athens, it is the Star keelboat selection that is in deep water.…
SOUNDINGS – JUNE/JULY 2008 Malahide Yacht Club is its own little bit of heaven on a gently sunny spring evening. From within the friendly bar, it provides a vista of quiet enchantment across its sandy estuary. The last of the…
The Star keelboat nomination for Beijing is expected to be announced by theIrish Sailing Association (ISA) at lunch time today (Friday, May 2)The selection of one of three candidates for the Qingdao regatta will comefrom a combination of unfettered decisions…
As a stand alone feat it was the final race world championship win by RoyalCork's Peter O'Leary and Stephen Milne in Miami two weeks ago thatultimately swung selectors towards a pairing whose fifth-ever Star regattawill now also be their Olympic…
Year-round yacht racing in the capital is on the cards, according to the bay’s biggest leisure user, if major development plans in Dun Laoghaire harbour go ahead. In a tradition stretching back to 1884, Dublin Bay Sailing Club launches its…
SOUNDINGS – APRIL/MAY 2008 It is a place of enchantment, and best visited in a cruising boat. Derrynane in southwest Kerry sets its own style – and its own agenda. It has been the favourite place of some remarkable people…
SEASCAPES – APRIL/MAY 2008 Life on Valentia Island and around Malin Head in Donegal is much different to that in Dublin. It is arguable that there is a better quality of life in the coastal regions, free from the everyday…
Having completed eight Round the World races in the last eight years, this summer Barcelona World race hero Damian Foxall is staying inshore. Foxall is back in Ireland next week attending the Maritime Ball at Dun Laoghaire, hosted by the…
Although sailing's record was overlooked at home in the sports pages over Easter it coincided with a string of strong results abroad that have resurrected sailing's Olympic spirit. Sports journalists referred to Sonia O’Sullivan’s attempt to surpass the record…
Springtime may be the start of the season but Irish sailors were back on the waterfront in force this week to applaud Ger O’Rourke when he lifted the Cork Dry Gin Sailor of the Year award, while abroad Dubliner Ciara…
It was a source of pride to the country's sailing community when Damian Foxall went to Aras an Uachtarain last month, because the visit brought state acknowledgement of the biggest sailing achievement in years. Sailors believed it was through this…
You wait all day for a bus and then two come along at once. Just like the Number 7, there's a queue formed for the chance to represent Ireland in the men's keelboat class at the Olympics. Slow, lumbering and…
It was, by all accounts, Damian Foxall’s most daunting voyage so far. But pictured wearing shorts and shades and tucking into chocolate, the modest Kerryman would be uncomfortable with the suggestion that his achievements in the past three months merit…
SOUNDINGS – FEBRUARY/MARCH 2008 When the decent sea breezes which were expected in a sunny Cork Week didn’t materialise some years ago, we were given an explanation. The official word was that it was because there’d been so much rain…
SEASCAPES – FEBRUARY/MARCH 2008 “Ships and boats are the nearest things to dreams that human hands have ever made.” I remember those words being spoken to me by an experienced old boat-builder many years ago and they came to mind…
