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Displaying items by tag: Galway

Volvo Ocean Race organiser John Killeen is to be honoured by NUI Galway this June with an honorary doctorate.

The Let’s Do It Ireland Chairman, who was responsible for bringing the hugely successful Volvo Ocean Race to Galway, is on a list that includes  Seán Ó’hUiginn, the Irish diplomat and former Ambassador to the US and Germany, VHI chairman Bernard Collins, and Anne Maria Dennison, head of the Irish Countrywoman’s Association.

The ceremony will take place on Friday June 25th.

Killeen is also CEO of the Colas Group, chairman of the Galway Docklands Redevelopment Committee and a former president of the Academy of Engineering and the Institution of Engineers of Ireland.

 

Published in Galway Stop
Spiddal Sailing Club (Cumann Seoltóireacht an Spidéil) is holding an open day to lure more potential sailors onto the water ahead of the Volvo Oceanr Race's return for 2012. The cumann is throwing open its doors to anyone who harbours an intent to get on the water in the next 12 months, and will welcome newcomers to the club on Sunday afternoon 16 May.

The club is recognised by the ISA, and runs ISA-approved youth training courses for its members every year, ranging from an introduction to sailing to more advanced techniques. Its course programme this year runs from 28 June to 9 July.

Weather permitting, there will be opportunities to try your hand at crewing or helming in Spiddal harbour from 2.30pm to 4.30pm.
Published in Boating Fixtures
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Galway will play host yet again to a major water sport event this June with 3 events in one starting with the PI Powerboat Grand Prix of Galway on the bay 05-07 June, the start of the Around Ireland Powerboat Race on 07 June and the P750 Zapcat Challenge in the Bay 12-13 June. Alongside the activity on the bay, Galway will yet again host a major festival in the Race Village at Galway Harbour and in Salthill with free concerts, amusements, bars, food and crafts.  www.aroundireland.org www.aroundireland.org

Britain’s most exciting new motorsport, the Powerboat P1 SuperStock Championship, is the newest addition onto the heavyweight bill for the Around Ireland Offshore Powerboat Race, beginning in Galway Bay on 5 June. Kick-starting the bank holiday weekend celebrations, round two of the 2010 SuperStock Championship will see some of the UK’s biggest thrillseekers tackle the challenging elements of the Atlantic Ocean, which is certain to provide an unforgiving racecourse for the Irish powerboat racing festival.  

"The event will showcase the beauty of the Irish coastline and present our teams with a fantastic opportunity to race in the heart of an effervescent city, watched by thousands of powerboat racing fans.” Stated SuperStock Championship spokesman, Sam Feasey

Bringing additional coverage to Galway, the Powerboat P1 SuperStock Championship will be screened on British Eurosport, further highlighting Galway’s credentials to host world class events.

Following on from the success of the Volvo Ocean Race’s stopover in Galway in 2009, Feasey added that Powerboat P1 is confident that its racing fleet will augment Galway’s 

passion and pride for its maritime activity. 

Consisting of two race classes, 150 and 300, up to twenty identical powerboats measuring between 21 and 27 ft respectively, will entertain locals, tourists and motorsports fans for three enthralling races on Saturday, Sunday and Monday.  

On Bank Holiday Monday 07 June 2010 at 0900, offshore powerboats will leave Galway Bay in pursuit of the Around Ireland Offshore Powerboat title. The race will circumnavigate the entire coast of Ireland and will be the toughest endurance powerboat race on the International circuit.

The 5 days of racing will be a true test of man and machine and there will be 5 stages with events at each of the stopovers:

Galway to Killybegs (07 June)

Killybegs to Belfast (08 June)

Belfast to Waterford (09-10 June)

Waterford to Fenit (11 June)

Fenit to Galway (12 June) Fenit Sea Breeze Festival will run Friday 11- Sunday 13 June

Onshore in Galway a festival programme of music and entertainment, and food and craft markets will ensure fun for all the family against the backdrop of the programme on the water. Likewise at each of the stopover stages similar festival programmes will greet the race on arrival and ensure excitement and drama for each re-start.

The Galway Race Village will open from 1000 -2230 daily and there is a full programme of entertainment including the now famous Crystal Swing on the main stage on Sunday 06 June at 1730. In total over 20 acts are scheduled to perform over the 8 day festival including - the Cartoon Thieves, the Timber Tramps, Joe Furey and The Hayride and Emmet Scanlan and What the Good Thought

For the finale on 12 June, prepare to be amazed and in awe at the P750 Cross Border Championship and make sure you are at the dock to welcome back the winner of the Around Ireland Powerboat Challenge on Saturday 12 June. 

 

30th September 2009

Ballinduff Bay Watersports Club

Ballinduff Bay Watersports Club

Ballinduff Bay Watersports Club, c/o Keith Collins, Grange, Corrandulla, Co Galway. Tel: 086 601 9862, email: [email protected]

Have we got your club details? Click here to get involved

Published in Clubs

Welcome to the CRYC web site which we hope will be of interest to members and visitors alike. Established in 1864, the CRYC is one of the oldest inland waterway clubs in the British Isles. Located in the centre of Galway City it continues to provide facilities for water-based recreational activity for almost 300 members.

Corrib Rowing & Yachting Club, Earls’ Island, Distillery Road, Newcastle, Galway. Tel: 091 564560, email: [email protected]

(Details courtesy of Corrib Rowing & Yachting Club) 

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Published in Clubs
Page 34 of 34

Sharks in Irish waters

Irish waters are home to 71 species of shark, skates and rays, 58 of which have been studied in detail and listed on the Ireland Red List of Cartilaginous fish. Irish sharks range from small Sleeper sharks, Dogfish and Catsharks, to larger species like Frilled, Mackerel and Cow sharks, all the way to the second largest shark in the world, the Basking shark. 

Irish waters provide a refuge for an array of shark species. Tralee Bay, Co. Kerry provides a habitat for several rare and endangered sharks and their relatives, including the migratory tope shark, angel shark and undulate ray. This area is also the last European refuge for the extremely rare white skate. Through a European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF) project, Marine Institute scientists have been working with fishermen to assess the distribution, diversity, and monthly relative abundance of skates and rays in Tralee, Brandon and Dingle Bays.

“These areas off the southwest coast of Ireland are important internationally as they hold some of the last remaining refuges for angel shark and white skate,” said Dr Maurice Clarke of the Marine Institute. “This EMFF project has provided data confirming the critically endangered status of some species and provides up-to-date information for the development of fishery measures to eliminate by-catch.” 

Irish waters are also home to the Black Mouthed Catshark, Galeus melastomus, one of Ireland’s smallest shark species which can be found in the deep sea along the continental shelf. In 2018, Irish scientists discovered a very rare shark-nursery 200 nautical miles off the west coast by the Marine Institute’s ROV Holland 1 on a shelf sloping to 750 metres deep. 

There are two ways that sharks are born, either as live young or from egg casings. In the ‘case’ of Black Mouthed Catsharks, the nursery discovered in 2018, was notable by the abundance of egg casings or ‘mermaid’s purses’. Many sharks, rays and skate lay eggs, the cases of which often wash ashore. If you find an egg casing along the seashore, take a photo for Purse Search Ireland, a citizen science project focusing on monitoring the shark, ray and skate species around Ireland.

Another species also found by Irish scientists using the ROV Holland 1 in 2018 was a very rare type of dogfish, the Sail Fin Rough Shark, Oxynotus paradoxus. These sharks are named after their long fins which resemble the trailing sails of a boat, and live in the deep sea in waters up to 750m deep. Like all sharks, skates and rays, they have no bones. Their skeleton is composed of cartilage, much like what our noses and ears are made from! This material is much more flexible and lighter than bone which is perfect for these animals living without the weight of gravity.

Throughout history sharks have been portrayed as the monsters of the sea, a concept that science is continuously debunking. Basking sharks were named in 1765 as Cetorhinus maximus, roughly translated to the ‘big-nosed sea monster’. Basking sharks are filter feeders, often swimming with their mouths agape, they filter plankton from the water.

They are very slow moving and like to bask in the sun in shallow water and are often seen in Irish waters around Spring and early Summer. To help understand the migration of these animals to be better able to understand and conserve these species, the Irish Basking Shark Group have tagged and mapped their travels.

Remarkably, many sharks like the Angel Shark, Squatina squatina have the ability to sense electricity. They do this via small pores in their skin called the ‘Ampullae of Lorenzini’ which are able to detect the tiny electrical impulses of a fish breathing, moving or even its heartbeat from distances of over a kilometre! Angel sharks, often referred to as Monkfish have a distinctively angelic shape, with flattened, large fins appearing like the wings of an angel. They live on the seafloor in the coastal waters of Ireland and much like a cat are nocturnal, primarily active at night.

The intricate complexity of shark adaptations is particularly noticeable in the texture of their skin. Composed of miniscule, perfectly shaped overlapping scales, the skin of shark provides them with protection. Often shark scales have been compared to teeth due to their hard enamel structure. They are strong, but also due to their intricate shape, these scales reduce drag and allow water to glide past them so that the shark can swim more effortlessly and silently. This natural flawless design has been used as inspiration for new neoprene fabric designs to help swimmers glide through the water. Although all sharks have this feature, the Leafscale Gulper Shark, Centrophorus squamosus, found in Ireland are specifically named due to the ornate leaf-shape of their scales.