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Displaying items by tag: Conall Morrison

#ClipperRace - Four days after departing from Liverpool’s Albert Dock, the Clipper Race’s sole Irish-skippered yacht is jockeying for position at the back of the pack as the fleet crosses the Bay of Biscay – a body of water with a notorious reputation.

The latest race standings put HotelPlanner.com, skippered by Derry-Londonderry man Conall Morrison, in 10th among the 12-yacht fleet — and is “currently yo-yoing” with 11th-placed Liverpool 2018, according to the latter’s skipper Lance Shepherd.

That competitive spirit mirrors the action at the top of the fleet, where the four leaders broke away from the pack with the strong flowing tides in the Irish Sea.

And the difference between them is getting tighter, with less than 11 nautical miles separating leaders Unicef from fourth-placed Dare to Lead, with Sanya Serenity Coast and Visit Seattle between them in second and third respectively.

Wendy Tuck, skipper of Sanya Serenity Coast, commented on their crossing the Bay of Biscay yesterday morning (Wednesday 23 August): “At the moment, it is being kind to us, but it does have a bit of a reputation of not being very nice.”

Ahead of the fleet, the weather is changing somewhat, with a new low moving southeast across the track that should reach the Portuguese coast by the weekend.

While it does not look particularly strong, it will provide several tactical options for the 12 teams as the Atlantic Trade Winds leg reaches the latter stages of its first week — and with many nautical miles still to sail before the fleet reaches Punta del Este in Uruguay.

Published in Clipper Race
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Coastal Notes Coastal Notes covers a broad spectrum of stories, events and developments in which some can be quirky and local in nature, while other stories are of national importance and are on-going, but whatever they are about, they need to be told.

Stories can be diverse and they can be influential, albeit some are more subtle than others in nature, while other events can be immediately felt. No more so felt, is firstly to those living along the coastal rim and rural isolated communities. Here the impact poses is increased to those directly linked with the sea, where daily lives are made from earning an income ashore and within coastal waters.

The topics in Coastal Notes can also be about the rare finding of sea-life creatures, a historic shipwreck lost to the passage of time and which has yet many a secret to tell. A trawler's net caught hauling more than fish but cannon balls dating to the Napoleonic era.

Also focusing the attention of Coastal Notes, are the maritime museums which are of national importance to maintaining access and knowledge of historical exhibits for future generations.

Equally to keep an eye on the present day, with activities of existing and planned projects in the pipeline from the wind and wave renewables sector and those of the energy exploration industry.

In addition Coastal Notes has many more angles to cover, be it the weekend boat leisure user taking a sedate cruise off a long straight beach on the coast beach and making a friend with a feathered companion along the way.

In complete contrast is to those who harvest the sea, using small boats based in harbours where infrastructure and safety poses an issue, before they set off to ply their trade at the foot of our highest sea cliffs along the rugged wild western seaboard.

It's all there, as Coastal Notes tells the stories that are arguably as varied to the environment from which they came from and indeed which shape people's interaction with the surrounding environment that is the natural world and our relationship with the sea.