#TALL SHIPS - The chairman of the group that brought the Volvo Ocean Race to Galway this summer has urged Ireland's maritime interests to take stock as the Tall Ships Races Festival takes over Dublin this weekend.

In a letter to The Irish Times yesterday, Let's Do It Global/Ocean Youth chair Enda O'Coineen said there is an opportunity within the new Integrated Marine Plan to build a new cross-border national flagship to replace the Asgard II and promote youth sail training as a platform for "education and character development for young people" in Ireland.

O'Coineen writes that it is "critical, as islanders, to realise that we are becoming just spectators, withdrawing from the ocean, instead of educating our youth to embrace it and its wealth."

As previously reported on Afloat.ie, the new 'ocean wealth roadmap' is specifically geared towards exploiting the potential for 'blue growth' in the Irish economy.

An informal event will be held at A&L Goodbody in the IFSC tomorrow morning amid the Tall Ships Races festivities to discuss plans for a new flagship for Ireland, which have been in the works since last year.

The draft plan has had input from a broad range of stakeholders in youth, tourism, ports, construction, the Naval Service and nautical colleges, the coastguard and the diaspora. And O'Coineen adds that opinions and input will be needed and appreciates, especially in how the proposals can integrate with the new Marine Plan.

An unforgettable experience on a tall ship, Galway and the Volvo Race, the MOD70 European Tour in Dublin, protection for seafarers after 92 years, Wi-Fi and sharks, topics in your TIN this week.

Read on ....

UNFORGETTABLE EXPERIENCE" ON A TALL SHIP

Sailing the Jeanie Johnston

With the Tall Ships Race in Dublin, Captain Michael Coleman has answered my question as to what it is like to command one of these vessels:

"Sailing in good weather on a clear and starry night is an unforgettable experience. The distractions of the land are left far behind and you become at one with nature and the elements."

Captain Coleman of Cobh sailed the Jeanie Johnston in the 2005 Tall Ships Race out of Waterford. "An unforgettable experience never to be repeated," he says and he is right, because at the start of that race Ireland had three tall ships and they led the fleet down the Waterford Estuary to the sea – Asgard, Dunbrody and Jeanie Johnston.

"The distractions of the land are left behind and you become at one with nature and the elements," aboard a tall ship says Capt. Coleman. "No TV or mobile phones or the pressure of modern living, just the ship, the wind and the sea and yourself."

His description is in a new book about the tall ship from Kerry, published by Collins Press of Cork to mark the Tall Ships Race in Dublin. Michael English, who was born in Liverpool and studied art in Cork, then worked in advertising in Dublin, made a photographic record of his voyage aboard the Jeanie Johnston in 2005. This forms the new book: 'Jeanie Johnston – Sailing the Irish Famine Tall Ship.'

The Jeanie Johnston has been berthed for some years as a floating museum on the Liffey in Dublin. As tall ships from around the world gather this week in the capital, while there will be smaller Irish vessels taking part, this island nation does not have an active, sailing tall ship providing training for Irish young people.

 

VOLVO RACE AND GALWAY

Will we see another race village in Galway again?

Applications from ports around the world to stage the next Volvo Race must be lodged with Volvo by next month and the 'Let's Do It Global' group which ran the event in Galway is not, so far, preparing one it seems, despite the great success of twice staging the event there, this year and in 2009.

Raising the money needed is the problem.

900,000 people attended the race festival in Galway this year, the organisers said and there was a major economic spin-off for the city. A study of the 2009 stopover estimated the economic impact at €55.8 million with more than 650,000 visitors.

The €4 million fee for hosting this year's event was paid directly to the Volvo Ocean Race organisation as the price for bringing it to Galway by Fáilte Ireland. The Galway organisers found it difficult to secure sponsorship in the current economic climate. Galway Harbour Company, which closed the port for the nine-day festival and Galway City Council were major backers. The event had huge voluntary effort. A number of State agencies hosted events and provided logistical support.

Galway Chamber of Commerce called on the Government to provide the necessary support to secure a third successful bid for Galway.

John Killeen one of the leading forces in getting the race to Galway has said the event would have to be underwritten by a bigger entity than just a voluntary group.

As a host port in this year's event, Galway received an automatic invitation for inclusion in the next race in 2014/2015, with the final decision on port selection to be made by the race organisers in December.

 

EUROPEAN TOUR FOR IRELAND

The MOD70 is coming to Ireland

Ireland continues to gain a reputation as one of the best sailing locations in the world. The new global sailing championship series, the MOD70 European Tour will be in Dun Laoghaire from Wednesday, September 5 to Sunday, September 9, hosted by the National Yacht Club and Dun Laoghaire Harbour Company. Many of the world's top sailing events have been held in Ireland this year.

The high speed MOD70 class of trimarans are a new innovation in sailing. Each MOD70 is identical, built from the same moulds. That should reflect the skills of the sailing crew in performance and not technological advantage.

The MOD70s coming to Dublin Bay will be - Race For Water, FONCIA, Groupe Edmond de Rothschild, Spindrift Racing and Musandam Oman Sail.

On Friday, September 7 and Saturday, September 8, they will sail the Dublin City Race and Speed Match Races. The trimarans will leave Dun Laoghaire at 3 p.m. on Sunday, September 9, for the start of the second leg of the European Tour from Dun Laoghaire to Cascais.

 

AFTER 92 YEARS – SEAFARERS TO GET WORK PROTECTION

The labour rights of the world's 1.2 million seafarers are to be protected in a new charter – the Maritime Labour Convention. Following its ratification by 30 countries it will go into effect in a year's time – ninety-two years after it was first proposed.

The International Labour Organisation is the United Nations' agency for internationally-recognised labour rights. The Convention was adopted back in 2006 but could not be put into effect until 30 countries adopted it. They represent nearly 60 per cent of the world's shipping tonnage, meaning that seafarers working on more than 50 per cent of the world's international shipping will be covered by the new Convention. Ireland is a member of the ILO but has not yet signed the Convention.

• A safe and secure workplace that complies with safety standards

• Fair terms of employment

• Decent working and living conditions on board ship

• Health protection, medical care, welfare measures and other forms of social protection

 

TRACKING WHITE SHARKS

Marine researchers are using "ocean WiFi hotspots" in their latest attempts to track the movements of white sharks. The species is under threat. Sharks take several years to reach maturity and spawn. An unmanned 'Wave Glider' robot is the latest development in ocean technology. It has been deployed near San Francisco in US waters. The self-propelled solar-powered glider is part of a new network including data receivers on fixed buoys that will pick up signals from acoustic tags on animals passing within 1,000 feet and transmit the data to a research team on-shore at Stanford University Marine Sciences Department. These are the result of 12 years development of fixed and mobile ocean transmitters to follow thousands of species. They increase scientific capacity to observe the oceans and marine populations, improve fisheries management models and monitor animal responses to climate change.

• The tracking can be followed in real time on a smartphone and tablet computer app "Shark Net" available free of charge at the Apple app store.

White shark tracking robot

 

FIRST USA WAVE POWER PLANT

Approval has been given for the building of the first commercial wave-power plant in the USA. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has issued a 35-year licence to Ocean Power Technologies Inc. to build the plant, intended to produce 1.5-megawatts of power, 2.5 miles off the coast of Reedsport, Oregon.

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#VOLVO OCEAN RACE - Organisers of the Volvo Ocean Race stopover in Galway have questioned the will at political level for support of any future hosting of the event, as the Galway Independent reports.

Let’s Do It Global CEO Micheline McNamara said that she has not yet been approached by any local politicians with offers of support for the festival, despite Galway West TD Brian Walsh's comments that the Government would step in to help, and the news that fellow Dáil Deputy Sean Kyne has written to the Minister for Sport to highlight the issue,

While McNamara told the Independent she would not give up hope of Galway tabling a bid, she admitted that "there has been no resources, time or attention placed on the bid from Let’s Do It Global’s perspective".

As previously reported on Afloat.ie, Galway's application to host a third stopover of the round-the-world yacht race looks unlikely after Galway City Council announced it would not underwrite the bid, the deadline for which is next month.

Let's Do It Global have said the present not-for-profit structure would have to be changed to something along the lines of the city or state partnerships in other host ports.

The Galway Independent has much more on the story HERE.

#VOLVO OCEAN RACE - Galway's application to host a third stopover of the Volvo Ocean Race now looks "unlikely" after Galway City Council announced it is not in a position to underwrite the bid.

As Galway Bay FM reports, event organisers Let's Do It Global said the present not-for-profit structure would have to be changed, noting the success of city or state partnerships in other host ports.

Let's Do It Global CEO Micheline McNamara said the group was still collecting a "significant amount" of outstanding funding from sponsorship for the event, for which the €4 million hosting fee was paid by Fáilte Ireland.

Organisers had difficulty attracting private sponsorship for the stopover, blaming the unfavourable economic climate, and the event relied heavily on voluntary support.

As previously reported on Afloat.ie, the group's president John Killeen said stronger backing from both the city and State as well as a "different mechanism" of support would be required for any future bid.

The Irish Times reports that an economic impact study on this year's race finale is currently being prepared.

Meanwhile, Dáil Deputy Brian Walsh commented that the festival organisers - most of whom are volunteers - have shouldered enough responsibility and that the Government would step in to help, according to the Galway Independent.

The Fine Gael TD for Galway West has pledged to work with Let's Do It Global to ensure the city tables a big for the next edition of the race in 2014-2015.

The Irish Times has much more on the story HERE.

#VOLVO OCEAN RACE - It has been revealed that a new coastal radar system developed at NUI Galway was instrumental to the success of the PUMA team in the in-port races at the recent Volvo Ocean Race finale.

The radar system, which measures currents and waves throughout Galway Bay on the hour, is run by Dr Mike Hartnett’s research group in the newly launched Ryan Institute at NUI Galway.

The sophisticated system is normally used for advanced marine research, but PUMA Ocean Racing performance coach Robert Hopkins Jr contacted the researchers to see if their radar data could be used by his crew to get the edge on the CAMPER team, with which they were tied on points.

Maps of the currents in the bay over the past month were made available to PUMA and Dr Hartnett advised team on their sailing strategy for the important race.

PUMA went on to win in great style and win the series by a one-point margin. The win also marked PUMA’s first trip to the top of the podium for an in-port race in this round of the Volvo Ocean Race.

PUMA finished on the podium in nine of the 10 in-port races, collecting 45 total points to win the overall In-Port Race Series. 

Hopkins was delighted with the result. “Currents in Galway Bay were a big factor in the in-port race, where tides, wind and river outflow make it all very complicated," he said. "To prepare for the race, we looked for surface current patterns in hundreds hours of data from the NUI Galway radar, took on-the-water readings before the start, and data from Mar Mostro’s own Doppler velocity log supplied by Nortek AS. It worked and we won the race.”

The NUI Galway radar data will soon be available online to the public, hopefully helping local sailors to improve their performance.

Dr Hartnett acknowledged the assistance provided by two local businessmen in enabling this advanced technology.

“The Spiddal radar site is sending its data back to the computers at NUI Galway via the broadband service of An Crúiscín Lán, thanks to the permission of owner John Foy.

"Similarly, Liam Twomey, general manager of the National Aquarium of Ireland, Salthill, provided access to their broadband to courier the Mutton Island radar data back to NUI Galway.”

#VOLVO OCEAN RACE - Sailing runs in the blood of Dun Laoghaire native Pierce Purcell, following a family tradition that goes back for generations.

The new director of the Irish Sailing Association (ISA) has called Galway his home since leaving school in 1970, and has been involved with the Galway Bay Sailing Club (GBSC) since the beginning, as he told the Galway Independent recently.

Purcell is also the proprietor of Purcell Marine in Clarenbridge, a family-run business that began as a sailing school in 1973 before branching out into selling boats and sailing accessories.

“We supply all kinds of chandlery equipment; boats, trailers, and engines, whatever people need," he says.

More recently, Purcell established the Galway Afloat programme to organise rallies and events for owners of smaller boats in the region.

His efforts more than paid off in his organising of the Parade of Sail in Galway Bay ahead of the arrival of the Volvo Ocean Race fleet, which attracted more than 150 boats for the largest event of its kind in the City of the Tribes.

The Galway Independent has more on the story HERE.

#VOLVO OCEAN RACE - Galway will need a strong funding commitment from both the city and the Government if it is to host the Volvo Ocean Race for a third time, according to the organisers of this year's event.

As the Galway Independent reports, John Killeen - president of Let's Do It Global - said that a "different mechanism" of support for the event would be required in future.

"These things have to be underwritten by somebody or sme bigger entity than just a voluntary group," he said. "In terms of funding, that has to be better structured."

Killeen was making reference to the dearth of private sponsorship for the week-long festivities surrounding the arrival of the Volvo Ocean Race fleet that welcomed a "phenomenal number of visitors" to the city, but the cost of which is expected to reach a total of €7 million.

As reported last month on Afloat.ie, Fine Gael Senator Fidelma Healy-Eames called on the people of Galway to help make up the shorthall in support of arts and culture events in the city during the race finale.

As a host port in this year's event, Galway has received an automatic invitation for inclusion in the next race in 2014/2015, with the final decision on port selection to be made by race organisers in December.

Let’s Do It Global CEO Micheline McNamara said financial backing is crucial at the outset of this bid, while chairman Enda O'Coineen emphasised the significant boost to the local economy brought by the VOR stopovers both this year and in 2009.

“The benefit of this isn’t just the short term," said O'Coineen. "This will go on for the next ten years, because it has put Galway and the West of Ireland on the map globally, and it takes a long time for that to filter through."

The Galway Independent has more on the story HERE.

#vor – Thousands of people are expected to throng Salthill and the Galway coastline tomorrow (Saturday, July 7th) to watch some of the  world's fastest and most spectacular sailing boats in action  on Galway Bay – just 600 metres from the shore.

The final In-Port race of the 2011-2012 Volvo Ocean Race series will take place on a course between Salthill and Mutton Island and will according to Harbour Master Captain Brian Sheridan provide  "an

unrivalled opportunity to see the boats being sailed hard at extremely close quarters"

The "Discover Ireland" sponsored race will get under way at 1pm and will last just under an hour.

The start line will be just 900 metres off Salthill close to Palmer's Rock and the boats will get even closer to the shore when they round a race mark just 600 meters south of Mutton Island.

Galway Harbour Master Capt Brian Sheridan says "The view of the boats from Grattan Road all the way through to Salthill will be spectacular"

After the Volvo fleet returns to Galway Harbour, accompanied by a Parade of Sail, the festival atmosphere will continue in Salthill with an Aer Corp air display and an Irish Coastguard/ RNLI air-sea rescue demonstration at about 3pm.

The Aer Corp display will involve formation and solo flights by four Pilatus PC-9M aircraft and an Augusta Westland AW 139 helicopter which will  also take part in a winching operation in conjunction with the naval vessel L.E. Niamh.

A coastguard helicopter will stage another simulated rescue and winching operation in conjunction with the RNLI.

Back in the Race Village in the Harbour huge crowds are also expected to attend the overall prize giving ceremony for the 2011-2012 Volvo Ocean Race on the Main Stage at 6pm.

And the night will be rounded off by one of the highlights of the hugely successful  series of free open air concerts when Sharon Shannon and her 42 piece orchestra take to the stage.

#VOR – Galway's hurling royalty, the Connolly brothers, swapped their sticks for dock shoes today as they joined Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing, the Abu Dhabi-backed team in the gruelling round-the-world Volvo Ocean Race, for a sail onboard its Azzam yacht, which means determination in Arabic.

The famous brothers, Joe, John, Padraic and Murth, who – with three other brothers - all won the 1980 All-Ireland Club Championship with Castlegar, also traded team tactics with Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing's Irish bowman, Justin Slattery, a three time veteran of the race, and got up close to the outfit's mascot, the majestic Arabian falcon.

Sailing in the Pro-Am precursor to the final points scoring Galway In-Port Race tomorrow, the hurling legends were quick to praise the impressive team work onboard Azzam and wished the sailors luck.

"We know a lot about what it means to be a team, and how you rely on others to find that winning formula, and these guys have that. To sail these boats is incredibly tough and you need everyone at their best, it is great to see. Good luck to the guys tomorrow, we will be cheering Abu Dhabi on," said John Connolly, who led his brothers to a second place finish in the Pro-Am.

The Volvo Ocean Race is in Galway, Ireland for its final stopover after completing 39,000 nautical miles of sailing across five oceans in nine months. Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing, which hopes to clinch the In-Port Race series with a win tomorrow, is the first Arabian team to compete in the Everest of Sailing since it began in 1973.

Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority (TCA Abu Dhabi), which backs the team, is rolling out the red carpet to woo Irish visitors to the emirate.

Two traditional Arabian sailing dhows were flown into Galway to take part in the celebrations. Travelling with them were 10 Emirati sailors as part of the UAE-Ireland Maritime Heritage Cultural Exchange to highlight social and cultural ties between the destinations. The project was a joint venture by the Galway Hooker Association, which promotes the use of Ireland's traditional 'Hooker' fishing boat and the Emirates Heritage Club.

#VOLVO OCEAN RACE - In final dash of colour and excitement to mark the end of Volvo Ocean Race finale week, two high performance sailing dhows – the distinctive Arabian sailing boats often compared to the famous Galway hookers – will bring an exotic flavour to the City of the Tribes.

The dhows, which are being presented to Galway City by the United Arab Emirates, will race on Galway Bay tomorrow Saturday 7 and on Sunday 8 July, crewed by 10 Emirati sailors who have flown in for the occasion.

The boats were earlier air-freighted from the UAE to Shannon Airport and taken by road to Galway where they were assembled and prepared for their weekend racing display.

The gift of the dhows to Galway is part of a newly inaugurated maritime heritage cultural exchange programme between the Galway Hooker Association and the Emirates Heritage Club in Abu Dhabi that has already seen the famous Nora Bheag and her crew set sail in the Persian Gulf city, as previously reported on Afloat.ie.

Padraic De Bhaldraithe, joint co-ordinator of the unusual exchange programme, said: “We were really delighted to take Nora Bheag and her crew to sail in Abu Dhabi and we were amazed by the amount of interest they attracted.

It was to be the first step in a partnership which has now seen two dhows make their way to Galway. Abu Dhabi and Galway have much in common when it comes to their maritime traditions.”

Enda O’Coineen - chairman of Let’s Do It Global, the organising committee of the nine-day festival built around the Volvo Ocean Race finale - says the arrival of the dhows is already creating huge excitement in the city, and the weekend racing should be spectacular.

“Dhows are built on lines similar to the traditional Galway hooker and are capable of very high speeds when raced in the hands of experienced sailors," he explained. “They are often fixed in the western imagination as a romantic Arabian seacraft of the past but they are still used for the transport of goods today and are also undergoing a dramatic revival among sailors in the UAE who don't want to lose their traditional past.”

Clifden-based Dr Peter Vine, who has been closely involved in the Irish-Abu Dhabi partnership, says the 'Dhows for Galway' project has huge potential and could add impetus to the move to revived and foster traditional boat-building skills that were on the verge of dying out.

The exchange programme has been co-ordinated with support of Let’s Do It Global; Emirates Heritage Club; Abu Dhabi Sailing and Yacht Club; Galway Hooker Association, Cóilín Hernon and family; Royal Galway Yacht Club; long-time Irish resident of Abu Dhabi, Noeleen Saeed; Etihad Airways; AlHosn University; Peter Vine; and Padraic De Bhaldraihe.