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Displaying items by tag: Finn Gold Cup

27th April 2021

NI’s McClelland Headed to 2021 Finn Gold Cup in Porto Next Week

Northern Ireland’s Oisin McClelland will join than 60 Finn sailors from 30 nations converging on Porto in Portugal for the 2021 Finn Gold Cup next week.

Pre-race prep begins on Wednesday 5 May before the 10 races scheduled from 8-12 May in what will be the final chance to qualify for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games — with one spot available for both Europe and Africa.

It’s also potentially the final Gold Cup for the Finn as an Olympic class, so the Donaghadee Sailing Club prospect — who ended this months Finn Euros in 33rd place — is determined to finish on a high, as previously reported on Afloat.ie.

Finn Gold Cup organisers have posted a teaser trailer on YouTUbe to give a taster of what to expect.

Published in Olympic

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Marine Wildlife Around Ireland One of the greatest memories of any day spent boating around the Irish coast is an encounter with marine wildlife. It's a thrill for young and old to witness seabirds, seals, dolphins and whales right there in their own habitat. As boaters fortunate enough to have experienced it will testify even spotting a distant dorsal fin can be the highlight of any day afloat. Was that a porpoise? Was it a whale? No matter how brief the glimpse it's a privilege to share the seas with Irish marine wildlife.

Thanks to the location of our beautiful little island, perched in the North Atlantic Ocean there appears to be no shortage of marine life to observe.

From whales to dolphins, seals, sharks and other ocean animals this page documents the most interesting accounts of marine wildlife around our shores. We're keen to receive your observations, your photos, links and youtube clips.

Boaters have a unique perspective and all those who go afloat, from inshore kayaking to offshore yacht racing that what they encounter can be of real value to specialist organisations such as the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group (IWDG) who compile a list of sightings and strandings. The IWDG knowledge base has increased over the past 21 years thanks in part at least to the observations of sailors, anglers, kayakers and boaters.

Thanks to the IWDG work we now know we share the seas with dozens of species who also call Ireland home. Here's the current list: Atlantic white-sided dolphin, beluga whale, blue whale, bottlenose dolphin, common dolphin, Cuvier's beaked whale, false killer whale, fin whale, Gervais' beaked whale, harbour porpoise, humpback whale, killer whale, minke whale, northern bottlenose whale, northern right whale, pilot whale, pygmy sperm whale, Risso's dolphin, sei whale, Sowerby's beaked whale, sperm whale, striped dolphin, True's beaked whale and white-beaked dolphin.

But as impressive as the species list is the IWDG believe there are still gaps in our knowledge. Next time you are out on the ocean waves keep a sharp look out!