Menu

Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

Displaying items by tag: Viking marine

Dun Laoghaire's Viking Marine is offering a complimentary gift voucher to the value of €10 for each sign up to its e-newsletter.

Viking Marine says its newsletter is "for anyone on the water needing information on events, new technical clothing, chandlery, safety on the water, guest speakers and suppliers as well as suggestions and tips from the team on all things nautical, and news and views from all sailors. Viking Marine also say they 'promise absolutely no hard sell in our newsletter'.

Only one voucher per Customer. Customers must be over 18 years of age. The voucher must be redeemed in-store. Terms and Conditions apply.

Published in Viking Marine
Tagged under

Viking Marine in Dun Laoghaire have put a fantastic package together to encourage new sailors on the water in 2019. This package contains the very best in sailing gear to get started, out on the water, warm, dry and safe.

On the subject of 'access to the water', Viking Marine continue to promote all of the routes to new sailors - With owners regularly looking for crew and the sailing clubs and schools providing boats, access to sailing and to the water continues to improve.

To give first-time sailors the best gear at a price point offering exceptional value and so enable more people on the water, Viking Marine has put a great promotion together for January 2019.

This offer is aimed at the first time sailor Lady and Gent sailors and is reduced from €660 to €495 and includes:

  • Zhik Kiama Jacket
  • Ahik Kiama Pants
  • Seago Lifejacket Seaguard 165
  • Gull Short Cruising Boot
  • Rooster Pro Glove
  • HH 70 Litre Duffle Bag

First-time sailors are encouraged to pop into the shop where the Viking Marine Team will provide the advice and tips on sizes, layering, comfort and care of your gear. 

first time sailor promoThe promotional gear offer from Viking Marine

Published in Viking Marine
Tagged under

Viking Marine is promoting presents with a conscience this Christmas with one such gift being Viking Marine reusable water bottles. It's part of a drive in Dun Laoghaire on Dublin Bay to make 2019 the year that moves on from being 'aware' to being 'active' about removing the plastic threat in our seas.

While out in the harbour this week, Viking Marine's Ian O'Meara observed the not unusual sight of plastic waste build up, an ongoing issue which, sailors at least, are all very aware of. He spotted a seal at the West Pier chewing on plastic (pictured above). 'A sad sight', Ian told Afloat.ie

In a shout out to all harbour users, O'Meara says "leisure, commercial, everyone - Save Our Seas".  And the chandler adds, "to us as retailers to provide our customers with choices in sustainable reusable and recyclable plastics".

Tagged under
20th December 2018

Viking Marine Gift Voucher

It's time to drop the hint of the present you really want this Christmas or even better be the giver of 'THE' great gift this Christmas - The Viking Marine Gift Voucher.

Sailors can give or receive the gift that's really wanted from this Dun Laoghaire-based Chandlery shop, full of everything you need for on the water plus all the tips to go with it too!

As Afloat.ie reported recently, the Dublin Bay Chandlery is supporting the local business initiative to shop local.

Published in Viking Marine
Tagged under

Viking Marine of Dun Laoghaire is backing this Saturday's 'Small Business Saturday', an initiative driven by government and spearheaded by Retail Excellence Ireland.

The Small Business Saturday Awareness Campaign launched to encourage consumers to shop local and support small retailers this Christmas.

Retail Excellence and An Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar TD have launched an awareness campaign to support local retailers this Christmas and year-round.

As Viking Marine's Ian O'Meara told Afloat.ie 'there's nothing better than shopping local and finding something different, special and local or artisan'.

Ian OMeara 3593Chandler Ian OMeara competing on a J109 Photo: Afloat.ie

O'Meara says Viking Marine is backing not just the Small Business Saturday initiative but pushing local Irish marine brands too, such as McWilliam Sailing Bags and Dubarry deck shoes, as ideal Christmas gifts at his Dun Laoghaire Harbour store.

shop local mcwilliams bagA big stock of Mcwilliam sailing bags at Viking Marine

The campaign, which was launched at Government buildings, centres around Small Business Saturday which will take place on Saturday, December 1st this year. Originally an American concept, Small Business Saturday is an initiative that is supported and promoted by Retail Excellence, the largest retail representative body in Ireland.

small business day pic leo vTaoiseach Leo Varadkar has launched an awareness campaign to support local retailers

This is the fifth year of the Irish campaign which profiles small businesses and encourages consumers to shop locally and support jobs and enterprises in their respective communities. Group Chief Executive of Retail Excellence David Fitzsimons said “It is important to recognise the massive impact small businesses have on our economy, both nationally and locally. With 37,400 businesses and 282,000 Irish jobs dependent on the industry initiatives like Small Business Saturday are crucial to encourage consumers to shop local and support retailers in Ireland". "This initiative is critically important at a time when two-thirds of consumer spend online is fulfilled by businesses operating outside Ireland and in the face of falling excise figures recorded by the Department of Finance which is largely indicative of an increase in cross-border shopping".

Commenting on the launch, Taoiseach Leo Vardakar said "I am pleased to endorse Small Business Saturday, now in its fifth year. The idea is simple; if you want to back your local businesses, and in turn your local community, then shop local this Christmas. Your local shop or retailer has a unique appeal; they can offer you tailored local advice, as well as the best local goods and produce. By shopping local this Christmas, you can give your local businesses a year-round boost". "Retail Excellence would like consumers to understand that their small change can make a big difference on Small Business Saturday in their local economy.

Every €10 spent locally is worth €40 in terms of supported employment, supported communities and helping the business to continue to operate year-round.”

Published in Viking Marine
Tagged under

Viking Marine’s Black Friday specials are now available — but be quick as these deals only last till Monday 26 November.

Get the best savings on selected Helly Hansen bags — with up to 50% off — and get 40% off the Wave Regatta Zhik Z-Cru Jacket.

Helly Hansen washbags (black only) and Jack Wolfskin backpacks are discounted by 30%, while you can save 15% on Seago Lifelines and Marine Pool Aero lifejackets, as well as International Cruiser 250 and Precision antifouling.

Viking Marine premisesViking Marine's eye-catching Christmas Window display on Marine Road, Dun Laoghaire

In addition, there’s 10% off binoculars, the Seago offshore lifejacket, Seago inflatable danbury, and the Harken range.

All are available online and in store, with more daily promotions on offer in store at The Pavilion on Marine Road in the heart of Dun Laoghaire.

Be sure to follow Viking Marine on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter for the latest updates.

Published in Viking Marine

Christmas is less than six weeks away — but no need to fret, as Viking Marine has many wonderful gift ideas for all the sailors in your life.

Whether they’re only starting out or an ‘ancient mariner’, a dinghy enthusiast or yachting fanatic — you can find everything you’ll need for the perfect present in Viking Marine’s online gift guide.

To make your shopping experience even easier, Viking Marine has organised its guide by the type of sailor you’re looking to treat, whether that’s a dinghy sailor or racer, cruiser or offshore sailor.

Don’t miss the selection of stocking fillers for sailors of all stripes. And the new range open sea swimming gear from Orca will also appeal for those who brave the waters over winter.

Published in Viking Marine

Viking Marine is currently looking to recruit some hard-working and experienced sailing enthusiasts to work full time and part time as sales assistants in its Dun Laoghaire store.

If you are an experienced sailor with dinghy and yachts knowledge and are looking to share your passion with others, Viking Marine would love to hear from you.

Full details of the full-time and part-time sales assistant roles can be found on the Viking Marine website or click here.

To apply for either of these jobs, please e-mail your CV to [email protected]

Published in Viking Marine

Viking Marine in Dun Laoghaire has something special in store for this year’s Black Friday sales.

Be sure to visit next Friday 23 November for exclusive savings and major discounts on clothing, safety equipment, boat hardware and more.

And be the first to know about Viking Marine’s Black Friday deals — as well as getting inditer tips on regular discounts, exclusive offers, sailing tips and more besides — by signing up for their email newsletter.

Follow Viking Marine on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter for the latest updates.

Published in Viking Marine

Viking Marine has taken over the Northern Ireland dealership for Topper Sailboats after Wiclif McCready's retirement from his Hollywood, County Down Chandlery Shop.

Topper sailboats offer a wide range of best selling and favourite dinghy boats. The collection includes the iconic singlehander Topper, the versatile Topaz, the high-performance catamaran Topaz 16 and the multi-purpose Omega.

Viking Marine has been in close talks with Topper and with Brian Spence from McCready's sailboats to ensure a smooth transition. Brian will be working with Viking Marine in the future to add to our expertise and to liaise with existing Northern Ireland customers.

"We are pleased to become Ireland and Northern Ireland's Topper official dealer. As we have been Topper Ireland's dealer for many years, we are ready for this new challenge." says Ian O'Meara, of Viking Marine. "We are happy to have retain the expert advices of Brian. We look forward to work with him and welcome new customers."

For more information on the Topper boats, contact Ian O'Meara on 01 2806654.

Published in Topper
Tagged under
Page 7 of 8

Ireland's Offshore Renewable Energy

Because of Ireland's location at the Atlantic edge of the EU, it has more offshore energy potential than most other countries in Europe. The conditions are suitable for the development of the full range of current offshore renewable energy technologies.

Offshore Renewable Energy FAQs

Offshore renewable energy draws on the natural energy provided by wind, wave and tide to convert it into electricity for industry and domestic consumption.

Offshore wind is the most advanced technology, using fixed wind turbines in coastal areas, while floating wind is a developing technology more suited to deeper water. In 2018, offshore wind provided a tiny fraction of global electricity supply, but it is set to expand strongly in the coming decades into a USD 1 trillion business, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). It says that turbines are growing in size and in power capacity, which in turn is "delivering major performance and cost improvements for offshore wind farms".

The global offshore wind market grew nearly 30% per year between 2010 and 2018, according to the IEA, due to rapid technology improvements, It calculated that about 150 new offshore wind projects are in active development around the world. Europe in particular has fostered the technology's development, led by Britain, Germany and Denmark, but China added more capacity than any other country in 2018.

A report for the Irish Wind Energy Assocation (IWEA) by the Carbon Trust – a British government-backed limited company established to accelerate Britain's move to a low carbon economy - says there are currently 14 fixed-bottom wind energy projects, four floating wind projects and one project that has yet to choose a technology at some stage of development in Irish waters. Some of these projects are aiming to build before 2030 to contribute to the 5GW target set by the Irish government, and others are expected to build after 2030. These projects have to secure planning permission, obtain a grid connection and also be successful in a competitive auction in the Renewable Electricity Support Scheme (RESS).

The electricity generated by each turbine is collected by an offshore electricity substation located within the wind farm. Seabed cables connect the offshore substation to an onshore substation on the coast. These cables transport the electricity to land from where it will be used to power homes, farms and businesses around Ireland. The offshore developer works with EirGrid, which operates the national grid, to identify how best to do this and where exactly on the grid the project should connect.

The new Marine Planning and Development Management Bill will create a new streamlined system for planning permission for activity or infrastructure in Irish waters or on the seabed, including offshore wind farms. It is due to be published before the end of 2020 and enacted in 2021.

There are a number of companies aiming to develop offshore wind energy off the Irish coast and some of the larger ones would be ESB, SSE Renewables, Energia, Statkraft and RWE.

There are a number of companies aiming to develop offshore wind energy off the Irish coast and some of the larger ones would be ESB, SSE Renewables, Energia, Statkraft and RWE. Is there scope for community involvement in offshore wind? The IWEA says that from the early stages of a project, the wind farm developer "should be engaging with the local community to inform them about the project, answer their questions and listen to their concerns". It says this provides the community with "the opportunity to work with the developer to help shape the final layout and design of the project". Listening to fishing industry concerns, and how fishermen may be affected by survey works, construction and eventual operation of a project is "of particular concern to developers", the IWEA says. It says there will also be a community benefit fund put in place for each project. It says the final details of this will be addressed in the design of the RESS (see below) for offshore wind but it has the potential to be "tens of millions of euro over the 15 years of the RESS contract". The Government is also considering the possibility that communities will be enabled to invest in offshore wind farms though there is "no clarity yet on how this would work", the IWEA says.

Based on current plans, it would amount to around 12 GW of offshore wind energy. However, the IWEA points out that is unlikely that all of the projects planned will be completed. The industry says there is even more significant potential for floating offshore wind off Ireland's west coast and the Programme for Government contains a commitment to develop a long-term plan for at least 30 GW of floating offshore wind in our deeper waters.

There are many different models of turbines. The larger a turbine, the more efficient it is in producing electricity at a good price. In choosing a turbine model the developer will be conscious of this ,but also has to be aware the impact of the turbine on the environment, marine life, biodiversity and visual impact. As a broad rule an offshore wind turbine will have a tip-height of between 165m and 215m tall. However, turbine technology is evolving at a rapid rate with larger more efficient turbines anticipated on the market in the coming years.

 

The Renewable Electricity Support Scheme is designed to support the development of renewable energy projects in Ireland. Under the scheme wind farms and solar farms compete against each other in an auction with the projects which offer power at the lowest price awarded contracts. These contracts provide them with a guaranteed price for their power for 15 years. If they obtain a better price for their electricity on the wholesale market they must return the difference to the consumer.

Yes. The first auction for offshore renewable energy projects is expected to take place in late 2021.

Cost is one difference, and technology is another. Floating wind farm technology is relatively new, but allows use of deeper water. Ireland's 50-metre contour line is the limit for traditional bottom-fixed wind farms, and it is also very close to population centres, which makes visibility of large turbines an issue - hence the attraction of floating structures Do offshore wind farms pose a navigational hazard to shipping? Inshore fishermen do have valid concerns. One of the first steps in identifying a site as a potential location for an offshore wind farm is to identify and assess the level of existing marine activity in the area and this particularly includes shipping. The National Marine Planning Framework aims to create, for the first time, a plan to balance the various kinds of offshore activity with the protection of the Irish marine environment. This is expected to be published before the end of 2020, and will set out clearly where is suitable for offshore renewable energy development and where it is not - due, for example, to shipping movements and safe navigation.

YEnvironmental organisations are concerned about the impact of turbines on bird populations, particularly migrating birds. A Danish scientific study published in 2019 found evidence that larger birds were tending to avoid turbine blades, but said it didn't have sufficient evidence for smaller birds – and cautioned that the cumulative effect of farms could still have an impact on bird movements. A full environmental impact assessment has to be carried out before a developer can apply for planning permission to develop an offshore wind farm. This would include desk-based studies as well as extensive surveys of the population and movements of birds and marine mammals, as well as fish and seabed habitats. If a potential environmental impact is identified the developer must, as part of the planning application, show how the project will be designed in such a way as to avoid the impact or to mitigate against it.

A typical 500 MW offshore wind farm would require an operations and maintenance base which would be on the nearby coast. Such a project would generally create between 80-100 fulltime jobs, according to the IWEA. There would also be a substantial increase to in-direct employment and associated socio-economic benefit to the surrounding area where the operation and maintenance hub is located.

The recent Carbon Trust report for the IWEA, entitled Harnessing our potential, identified significant skills shortages for offshore wind in Ireland across the areas of engineering financial services and logistics. The IWEA says that as Ireland is a relatively new entrant to the offshore wind market, there are "opportunities to develop and implement strategies to address the skills shortages for delivering offshore wind and for Ireland to be a net exporter of human capital and skills to the highly competitive global offshore wind supply chain". Offshore wind requires a diverse workforce with jobs in both transferable (for example from the oil and gas sector) and specialist disciplines across apprenticeships and higher education. IWEA have a training network called the Green Tech Skillnet that facilitates training and networking opportunities in the renewable energy sector.

It is expected that developing the 3.5 GW of offshore wind energy identified in the Government's Climate Action Plan would create around 2,500 jobs in construction and development and around 700 permanent operations and maintenance jobs. The Programme for Government published in 2020 has an enhanced target of 5 GW of offshore wind which would create even more employment. The industry says that in the initial stages, the development of offshore wind energy would create employment in conducting environmental surveys, community engagement and development applications for planning. As a site moves to construction, people with backgrounds in various types of engineering, marine construction and marine transport would be recruited. Once the site is up and running , a project requires a team of turbine technicians, engineers and administrators to ensure the wind farm is fully and properly maintained, as well as crew for the crew transfer vessels transporting workers from shore to the turbines.

The IEA says that today's offshore wind market "doesn't even come close to tapping the full potential – with high-quality resources available in most major markets". It estimates that offshore wind has the potential to generate more than 420 000 Terawatt hours per year (TWh/yr) worldwide – as in more than 18 times the current global electricity demand. One Terawatt is 114 megawatts, and to put it in context, Scotland it has a population a little over 5 million and requires 25 TWh/yr of electrical energy.

Not as advanced as wind, with anchoring a big challenge – given that the most effective wave energy has to be in the most energetic locations, such as the Irish west coast. Britain, Ireland and Portugal are regarded as most advanced in developing wave energy technology. The prize is significant, the industry says, as there are forecasts that varying between 4000TWh/yr to 29500TWh/yr. Europe consumes around 3000TWh/year.

The industry has two main umbrella organisations – the Irish Wind Energy Association, which represents both onshore and offshore wind, and the Marine Renewables Industry Association, which focuses on all types of renewable in the marine environment.

©Afloat 2020