Menu

Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

Displaying items by tag: vinnie O'shea

#kinsale – Sunday's racing at Kinsale Yacht Club in County Cork was overshadowed by the sad passing of former Scora Commodore Vinnie O'Shea. Vinnie had been a great supporter of Kinsale Yacht Club and was well known as the Skipper of Yanks & Francs. A minutes silence was held as a mark of respect prior to the start of racing in the MMD April league.

KYC Commodore Finny O'Regan extended his sympathy to Vinnie's family on behalf of all the members of Kinsale Yacht Club.

While last Sunday's conditions may have brought many thrills and spills, today's proved to be much calmer with winds of around 10 knots. However conditions were described as tricky with frequent wind shifts. Competitors were also treated to glorious sunshine throughout the day.

Freya (Conor Doyle) and Godot (Godkin & O'Donovan) are both tying on 9 points in Class 0 IRC with Freya taking the lead due to a better result in the last race. Meridian (Tom & Ursula Roche ) lead Class 0 Echo by one point, with Godot currently in second place.

In Class 1 IRC Rob McConnell's Fool's Gold has a full row of bullets to give him a resounding lead over Dan Buckley's Justus. In Class 1 Echo, Joker ( Broderick & Gibbons ) has a lead of 2 points over Fool's Gold ( Rob McConnell ).

In Class 2 IRC, Bad Company (Desmond, Ivers & Deasy ) with 3 bullets out of a possible 4, has a lead of one point ahead of The Main 4 (Salter & O'Regan ). Bad Company also tie on points in Class 2 Echo with Silkbreeze ( Ernie Dillon). Silkbreeze takes first place having won the last race of the day.

The lighter winds seemed to suit Bandit ( Marron & O'Connell) well, and resulted in 2 bullets giving them the lead in Class 3 IRC over the Sigma Flyover (David Marchant). KYC are dominating Class 3 Echo with Chameleon (Padraig O'Donovan) taking a one point lead over Sammy Cohen's Gunsmoke 2.

Sundancer (Alan Mulcahy) has pulled ahead in both Echo and IRC in Class 4. The White Sail Classes had 2 late entrants today making Class 1 White Sails now the largest class in the MMD Spring Series. KYC's Reavra (Stephen Lysaght) has a commanding lead of 5 points over clubmate Peter Kelly's Magic Elphin. Michael Lynch's Lady T has the lead in Class 2 White Sails over Kevin Murray's Objection.

Racing continues next Sunday.

Published in Ilen

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!