Menu

Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

Displaying items by tag: Anthony Worrall Thompson

#WORRALL THOMPSON - Celebrity chef Anthony Worrall Thompson - in Dublin at the weekend for a fundraiser for Olympic hopefuls Ger Owens and Scott Flanigan - has credited his Irish wife with being the "rock" that kept him going through his recent shoplifing controversy.

"She is absolutely amazing," he told the Irish Independent of his Dublin-born wife Jacinta Shiel. "We met nearly 20 years ago. She's gorgeous, she's got a great heart and she's my rock."

Worrall Thompson was at Malahide Rugby Club on Saturday to judge a celebrity chef night in aid of the Olympic 470 duo's bid for a spot at the 2012 games, as previously reported on Afloat.ie.

He kept his promise to attend the event following last Monday's public apology for his "stupid and irresponsible actions" after he was caught shoplifting cheese and wine from a Tesco store.

Worrall Thompson also donated his appearance fee from RTÉ's Saturday Night Show to Owens and Flanigan, who require sponsorship to supplement their support their funding from the Irish Saling Association.

Published in Olympics 2012

#WORRAL THOMPSON – Mischievous spoofers have taken to YouTube to poke fun at Anthony Worrall Thompson who appears at Malahide Rugby Club this Saturday on Olympic sailing fundraising duty for Irish pair Scott Flanigan and Ger Owens. The Ready Steady Cook star shamed for his Tesco shoplifting this week is judging a celebrity Chef night in aid of the Olympic 470 trialists at the North Dublin venue.

The TV star has apologised for his "stupid and irresponsible actions" on Monday after he was caught shoplifting cheese and wine from a Tesco store.

The Irish Olympic duo have organised two teams for the Cook in. One team with sports personalities and the second team with entertainment and political personalities. Worrall Thompson will be presiding as judge of the Malahide competition.

He was arrested at the supermarket in Henley on Thames, London after failing to pay for items at the self-service checkouts five times in 16 days.

In one comical clip that appears on youtube, a shopkeeper pokes fun at the troubled presenter in a tongue-in-cheek foul-mouthed rant.

Another spoof video superimposes Worrall Thompson's head onto footage of another shoplifter being apprehended instore.

For Saturday night, the Olympic duo have organised two teams for the Cook in. One team with sports personalities and the second team with entertainment and political personalities.

There will be four on each team and they will have a choice of preparing dishes with either beef or salmon.

'We hope that Anthony will be the judge and sample the finished dishes giving marks out of ten' say the Olypmic pair.

The event will be filmed live from the kitchen and streamed onto the big screen in the function room for guests to view.

Following his arrest, the 60-year-old released a statement claiming he intends to "seek the treatment that is clearly needed".

He added: "I am not the first, and I certainly won't be the last person to do something without rhyme or reason - what went through my head, only time will tell.

"Of course, I must also apologise sincerely to Tesco, with whom I'm had a long and genuine working relationship, and to all the staff at the Henley branch, many of whom I've got to know over the years.

"Once again, I am so sorry and hopefully in the future I can make amends."

Tickets for Saturday night's event are €100 or €1000 for a table of ten. There is Live music on the night and an auction with Denis Drum including the following items: Signed Munster Rugby Jersey, Signed Leinster Rugby Jersey, Signed Irish Rugby Jersey, Grand Slam Rugby tie donated by Ollie Campbell, Signed Irish Soccer Jersey, Four ball with Philip Walton, A painting by Alan Kenny. Contact 01 8453459 for bookings. Cheques made payable to Ger Owens.

Published in Olympics 2012

Marine Institute Research Vessel Tom Crean

Ireland’s new marine research vessel will be named the RV Tom Crean after the renowned County Kerry seaman and explorer who undertook three major groundbreaking expeditions to the Antarctic in the early years of the 20th Century which sought to increase scientific knowledge and to explore unreached areas of the world, at that time.

Ireland's new multi-purpose marine research vessel RV Tom Crean, was delivered in July 2022 and will be used by the Marine Institute and other State agencies and universities to undertake fisheries research, oceanographic and environmental research, seabed mapping surveys; as well as maintaining and deploying weather buoys, observational infrastructure and Remotely Operated Vehicles.

The RV Tom Crean will also enable the Marine Institute to continue to lead and support high-quality scientific surveys that contribute to Ireland's position as a leader in marine science. The research vessel is a modern, multipurpose, silent vessel (designed to meet the stringent criteria of the ICES 209 noise standard for fisheries research), capable of operating in the Irish Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). The Tom Crean is able to go to sea for at least 21 days at a time and is designed to operate in harsh sea conditions.

RV Tom Crean Specification Overview

  • Length Overall: 52.8 m
  • Beam 14m
  • Draft 5.2M 

Power

  • Main Propulsion Motor 2000 kw
  • Bow Thruster 780 kw
  • Tunnel thruster 400 kw

Other

  • Endurance  21 Days
  • Range of 8,000 nautical miles
  • DP1 Dynamic Positioning
  • Capacity for 3 x 20ft Containers

Irish Marine Research activities

The new state-of-the-art multi-purpose marine research vessel will carry out a wide range of marine research activities, including vital fisheries, climate change-related research, seabed mapping and oceanography.

The new 52.8-metre modern research vessel, which will replace the 31-metre RV Celtic Voyager, has been commissioned with funding provided by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine approved by the Government of Ireland.

According to Aodhán FitzGerald, Research Vessel Manager of the MI, the RV Tom Crean will feature an articulated boom crane aft (6t@ 10m, 3T@ 15m), located on the aft-gantry. This will be largely used for loading science equipment and net and equipment handling offshore.

Mounted at the stern is a 10T A-frame aft which can articulate through 170 degrees which are for deploying and recovering large science equipment such as a remotely operated vehicle (ROV’s), towed sleds and for fishing operations.

In addition the fitting of an 8 Ton starboard side T Frame for deploying grabs and corers to 4000m which is the same depth applicable to when the vessel is heaving but is compensated by a CTD system consisting of a winch and frame during such operations.

The vessel will have the regulation MOB boat on a dedicated davit and the facility to carry a 6.5m Rigid Inflatable tender on the port side.

Also at the aft deck is where the 'Holland 1' Work class ROV and the University of Limericks 'Etain' sub-Atlantic ROV will be positioned. In addition up to 3 x 20’ (TEU) containers can be carried.

The newbuild has been engineered to endure increasing harsher conditions and the punishing weather systems encountered in the North-East Atlantic where deployments of RV Tom Crean on surveys spent up to 21 days duration.

In addition, RV Tom Crean will be able to operate in an ultra silent-mode, which is crucial to meet the stringent criteria of the ICES 209 noise standard for fisheries research purposes.

The classification of the newbuild as been appointed to Lloyds and below is a list of the main capabilities and duties to be tasked by RV Tom Crean:

  • Oceanographic surveys, incl. CTD water sampling
  • Fishery research operations
  • Acoustic research operations
  • Environmental research and sampling operation incl. coring
  • ROV and AUV/ASV Surveys
  • Buoy/Mooring operations