There’s something special about a large organisation which is so attuned to the needs of the many services it quietly provides that it can - naturally and confidently and without…
With the RORC’s new Griffin Project for training young sailors recently launched in a blaze of publicity, there have been the usual demands that something similar should be delivered for…
This weekend is expected to see the Entry List for the SSE Renewables Round Ireland Race on June 22nd going through the 40 mark, with a good selection of boats…
Hello there and welcome aboard this week’s edition of Seascapes the maritime programme, this week we hear about the future plans of Meitheal Mara; we have music from Gordon Lightfoot and the epic tale of “The Wreck of the Edmund…
Hello there and welcome aboard this weeks edition of Seascapes the maritime programme, this week writer and broadcaster Hugh Oram on the River Dodder and we have a copy of “The Rivers Dodder and Poddle – Mills, Storms, Droughts and…
In the proud annals of Irish explorers there is a forgotten name and it surprises me that so few Irish people know about him. When I have mentioned the name of Edward Bransfield, very few have had any knowledge of…
The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland had a lot more than maritime matters on his mind this past week…. So he probably wasn’t giving a lot of thought to Lough Foyle as the Northern Assembly collapsed. Neither, I suggest,…
Enda O’Coineen may have exited the Vendee Globe in dramatic fashion on New Year’s Day when, as he drolly put it, Kilcullen Voyager stopped stone dead as she zapped into the back of a Southern Ocean wave, but his enormous…
Without a lot of public attention Birdwatch Ireland, the conservation organisation which protects Ireland's birds and their habitats, is engaged in an extensive survey of seabirds. Ireland is a very important country for seabirds which are, in my view, marvellous…
Wicklow Sailing Club are best-known as the big-hearted little organisation which keeps the iconic Volvo Round Ireland Race show on the road with such style that it is now one of Europe’s premier events, with a stellar international entry list…
Hello and welcome aboard this week’s edition of your maritime programme Seascapes, we feature part one of Starboard Home a commission by Dublin Port Company drawing inspiration from the River Liffey and the port which was held in The National…
It was ice on the rigging which put me off sailing in November and December. That was quite a few years ago, but as climate change has had its effects, those months have had different weather patterns and this year…
The traditional timing of the London International Boat Show as soon as possible after New Year’s Day may have been shifted about in recent years as the changing dynamics of the European marine industry and the sheer dominance through size…
When I changed tack in my journalistic career and moved, after nearly 30 years from mainstream reporting to specialising in marine matters, I was told by a number of people that I would be “wasting my time” because it was…
The 72nd Rolex-Sydney-Hobart gets under way on Monday. The Australian ocean classic is rightly regarded as a tough event. Yet in terms of the sailing challenges its poses, it seems to pale into insignificance when set against the Everest of…
Hello and welcome aboard this week’s edition of Seascapes your maritime programme, this week we’re featuring The Ha’penny Bridge” by Michael English published by Dublin City Council and Four Courts Press to coincide with the bi–centenary of the iconic structure…
I am lucky enough to have good friends in the lifeboat service. Over the years I have met great Coxswains and their crews, enjoying their friendship and admiring with deep respect what they do – marvelling at the rescues they…
In my last Podcast, I expressed the opinion that it is strange how things happen. This was again underlined for me as I prepared the new edition of my maritime programme which you can listen to below. Galway Port Company…
After decades of expansion, many participant sports which are at the heart of our way of life have in recent years seen the numbers actively involved becoming static at best, and in many cases contracting. This is particularly the case…