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Displaying items by tag: Warsash

The first large regatta weekend of the year in the Solent is the Warsash Spring Championships weekend held over two weekends, the 8th and 9th of April and the 22nd and 23rd April.

Each weekend is Individually counted with an overall prize, plus an overall between result counting the two weekends.

Mark Mansfield, from Royal Cork, was calling tactics on John Smart's J109 Jukebox in the competitive J109 one design class. Five races were sailed in mainly 10–14 knot conditions and Jukebox ended with a 1,1,1,2,4 scoreline to take the first weekend by nine points over their next rival.

Mansfield has considerable J109 experience as he calls tactics on John Maybury's Joker II who is the 2016 ICRA Boat of the Year having regained her ICRA class one crown in 2016 previously won in 2015. He also sailed aboard David Cullen’s Euro Car Parks, also a J109, when she won her class in the 2016 Round Ireland Race.  

More here

Published in Royal Cork YC

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.

The Forty-foot Christmas Day swim

A Dublin institution that brings people from across Dublin and beyond for a dip in the chilly winter sea. Bathers arrive in the dark from 6 am and by noon the entire forty foot is a sea of red Santa hats!