Displaying items by tag: Ketch Ilen

2nd November 2013

Lecture: The Ketch Ilen - Ireland's Sole Surviving Sail Trader

#LectureILEN - "The Ketch Ilen-Ireland's Sole Surviving Sail Trader" will be the public lecture presented by Gary Mac Mahon next Thursday (7 November) in the Poolbeg Yacht and Boat Club, Ringsend.

The talk which forms the members of Les Glénans & friends 2013/2014 lecture series starts at 20.00hrs in the Dublin docklands venue noting an entry fee of €5 in aid of the RNLI.

Ilen is a 56-ft sailing ketch that was built in 1926 in the Baltimore Fishery School Boatyard for the Falkland Islands Company. She was designed and sailed to the Falkland Islands by Conor O'Brien who in 1925 was the first Irishman to complete a circumnavigation of the world in the 42-ft ketch, Saoirse, also built in Baltimore.

The Ilen served seventy years as a trading vessel in the tempestuous seas of the South Atlantic before being brought back to Ireland in 1998.

Now being restored, she is the focal point for a remarkable maritime project embracing the A.K. Ilen School for wooden boatbuilding in Limerick and Hegarty's boatyard in Oldcourt.

Gary McMahon, in his illustrated presentation, will provide the background to the return of the Ilen to Ireland and the founding of the A.K. Ilen Company with Anthony Keane OSB.

It is an Irish-registered charity dedicated to education through the medium of sailing, very much in the spirit of the original aims of Glénans

Gary is a keen offshore sailor who publishes maritime books through the A.K. Ilen Company and will include Conor O'Brien and his exploits on Saoirse in his lecture.

For further details on this lecture contact: 087 2129614 and details for the Poolbeg Yacht, Boat Club & Marina visit: www.poolbegmarina.ie

Published in Ilen

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Forty Foot Swimming Spot on Dublin Bay

The 'Forty Foot' is a rocky outcrop located at the southern tip of Dublin Bay at Sandycove, County Dublin from which people have been swimming in the Irish Sea all year round for 300 years or more. It is popular because it is one of few spots between Dublin city and Greystones in County Wicklow that allows for swimming at all stages of the tide, subject to the sea state.

Forty Foot History

Traditionally, the bathing spot was exclusively a men's bathing spot and the gentlemen's swimming club was established to help conserve the area.

Owing to its relative isolation and gender-specific nature it became a popular spot for nudists, but in the 1970s, during the women's liberation movement, a group of female equal-rights activists plunged into the waters and now it is also open to everyone and it is in the control of Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council.

Many people believe that swimming in extremely cold water is healthy and good for the immune system.

Is it safe to swim at the Forty Foot?

The Forty-Foot is a great place to swim because there is always enough water to get a dip but like all sea swimming, there are always hazards you need to be aware of. For example, a lot of people like to dive into to the pool at the Forty-foot but there are submerged rocks that can be hazardous especially at low water. The Council have erected signs to warn people of the underwater dangers. Other hazards include slippy granite cut stone steps that can often be covered with seaweed and of course marine wildlife including jellyfish that make their presence felt in the summer months as do an inquisitive nearby Sandycove seal colony.