Blogs
SOUNDINGS – September/October 2008 Total beauty is as rare in boats as anything else. And so too, in 2008, were classic summer evenings. Yet this past season, Soundings managed the combination of beautiful boats with sublime summer evenings on two…
SEASCAPES – SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2008 I find the world of cities and big towns increasingly artificial. I prefer coastal towns and villages, where the sense of life and what is important is influenced by the sea which laps the shores. Coastal…
SEASCAPES – SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2008 As another sailing season moves to its conclusion with a generally poor summer where weather was concerned, one of the topics regularly debated has been the accuracy of weather forecasts. Neither Met Eireann nor any other…
No surprises who ruled the waves in Qingdao, and we'll be hearing about it for some time to come. But as Team GB’s final medal tally rose to four gold, a silver and a bronze, Ireland – without any results…
It's not official yet but sailing looks set to be become the next extreme sport when the Olympic regatta starts tomorrow. If smog, strong currents and the absence of wind was not enough of an obstacle there's even more trouble…
National pride is the only reason Ciara Peelo would leave her boat in Qingdao and head north on a 1,000-kilometre journey on the eve of the biggest regatta of her career. When the single female sailor enters Beijing's Olympic stadium…
Ireland’s second entry into October’s Volvo Ocean Race (VOR) is sinkingbefore it leaves the dock, and a lack of sponsorship is to blame accordingto its skipper, 2007 Fastnet race winner Ger O’Rourke.The Limerick sailor confounded pundits when news of the…
Forever the bridesmaid and never the bride. Is there an unwritten rule we just haven't read that Ireland must always be second in the Commodore's Cup? After a series of near misses, there were many reasons why last weekend would…
The best way to safeguard the future is to invent it and by introducingsatellite tracker technology, Wicklow Sailing Club brought internet accessto this year's BMW Round Ireland race.Out went arbitrary reporting positions relayed by Coast Guard and in cameprecise tracking…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
