Menu

Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

Displaying items by tag: Rosmoney

This important new potoon facility on Clew Bay is located approximately 30 metres from the edge of the permanent pier will allow users of the pier to board and disembark from their boats in a convenient and safe manner.

Mayo Sailing Club, islanders, boatmen and County officials gathered at Rosmoney Pier for the opening for public use of the new floating Pontoon at Rosmoney in April 2013.

Rosmoney near Westport is the base for the Mayo Sailing Club whose members enjoy the excellent sailing grounds that exists among the archipelago of islands in the east of Clew Bay.

Rosmoney is located 8km from Westport town and adjoins Clew Bay. Rosmoney Bay is currently the centre of access to Clew Bay for a wide number of users. Currently there are over 100 marine craft of various descriptions moored in Rosmoney.

The pontoon is made up of a floating pontoon and ramp with safety railings, a water source and power facilities which makes it possible for boats to moor at Rosmoney including local fish farm vessels. Islanders will be allowed to tie their boats to the pontoon while on business on the mainland while other boat users are to use it for loading and uploading.

Published in Irish Marinas
Tagged under

#KAYAKING - The University of Limerick were overall winners in the 2012 Irish Kayaking Intervarsities at GMIT Castlebar last weekend.

As the Mayo Advertiser reports, some 500 students were on hand for the three days of competition, which kicked off with canoe polo on Lough Conn (won by GMIT over DCU).

Saturday's action saw the whitewater contest on the Clydagh River, with Limerick emerging on top, and the freestyle event on the River Clare at Tuam Wave.

Sunday closed with the long distance event at Lough Lannagh, which clinched the weekend for UL's kayakers.

Mayo also hosted the Irish Intervarsity Sailing Championships in Rosmoney last week, which attracting 200 students to the Westport area.

Published in Kayaking
28th July 2009

Mayo Sailing Club

4.jpg

Established in 1976 to promote sailing in Clew Bay and the West of Ireland, Mayo Sailing Club (MSC) has earned a solid reputation in both cruising and racing. There are currently more than 250 members taking part in various on- the-water activities during the season. Activities include a youth sail training programme, dinghy racing, cruising boat racing, and cruising. On the competitive racing front, members have taken part and performed at the top of class in open events along the west coast and beyond, including the Round Ireland Race and the World Student Yachting Championships. On the cruising front, many members actively cruise the challenging waters of the West coast, while more adventurous souls venture to Europe, across the Atlantic, around the world, and even to the remote regions of the Arctic and Antarctic. Training on these local waters of the wild Atlantic prepares intrepid MSC sailors to sail anywhere.

With a beautiful clubhouse that has stunning views on the shores of Westport Bay, MSC offers sheltered moorings, a pontoon laid on with water and electricity, a slipway and hardstand, boat shed for storing outboards and other equipment, a secure area for stowing dinghies, bar and social room open on race days, comfortable changing rooms with toilets and showers, as well as three rescue boats and one race committee boat. Located just 10 minutes from Westport town.

Since its establishment Mayo Sailing Club has earned a good reputation in both cruising and racing.

There are currently 250+ members, with 33 cruiser/racers, five adult dinghies and 25 junior dinghies all taking part in activities during the season.

From regular summer cruising along the west coast and its islands, to wilderness expeditions to the Antarctic and Artic, members have demonstrated their enthusiasm for sailing. On the racing front members have been to the fore in open events along the west coast arising from the very competitive club racing which has evolved at home at MSC

Activities

MSC moved to Rosmoney in 1983, and from 2008 can offer its members during the season (April to September, except for adult dinghies which starts in January):
– A beautiful new Clubhouse
– Junior sail training and racing each summer
– Class 1, Class 2 and Class 3 cruiser racing Thursday evenings and Sunday afternoons (Five Race Series)
– White Sail Fun Races
– Pursuit Races
– Introduction to sailing courses Tuesdays in May
–Flotilla cruise to Boffin August Bank Holiday, and various cruises and rallies during season,
– Annual club regatta August with Commodores Mid-Summer Ball [Black Tie]
frontimage1.jpg

Club facilities at Rosmoney

– Comfortable changing rooms, toilets and showers
– Bar and social room
– Boat shed for storing outboards, etc. (strictly controlled)
– Club slipway and hard stand berthage
– Access to moorings
– Three rescue boats and one race committee boat
– A fleet of junior sailing dinghies for use on the very popular junior sailing courses include four Mirror sailing dinghies and two Optimist sailing dinghies

 

Contacts

Damien Cashin, Commodore – 087 245 0123 – [email protected]
Paul Murphy, Vice Commodore – 086 839 0581 – [email protected]
Donagh Waldron, Hon. Secretary – 087 2474811 – [email protected]
Mary Walsh, Hon. Treasurer – 086 837 1669 – [email protected]
Cathal Geoghan, Hon. Sailing Sec – 087 797 5627 – [email protected]
Peter Quigley, Junior Organiser – 087 638 9010 – [email protected]
Gerry Daly, Rear Commodore – 085 174 1942 – [email protected]
Paddy Alyward – 087 236 4833     
David Baird – 087 236 2124     
Boyd Gale – 086 226 3319     
Hugh O'Donnell – 086 069 6159     
Una Quigley – 087 245 2921     
Declan Ruddy – 087 272 6616     
James Fitzsimons – 087 230 4331     
John O’Brien – 087 241 5664     

(The above details and images courtesy of Mayo Sailing Club)

Mayo Sailing Club, Rosmoney, Co. Mayo

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

 

Published in Clubs

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.