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Dublin Bay Boating News and Information

Displaying items by tag: Phaedo

Having left Dublin Bay (Kish lighthouse) at approximately 3pm yesterday (Wednesday), American trimaran Phaedo3 is now two–thirds of the way round their anti–clockwise Round Ireland record bid. TRACKER here.

The crew, led by skipper Lloyd Thornburg, are currently gybing downwind towards the Fastnet rock and the sun is shining on the 70–ft trimaran. The time to beat is Oman Sail's June record of 38 hours, 37 minutes and 7 seconds.

While progess to date has been good thus far, things look a bit soft for the international crew this evening on the east coast between the Kish light finish and the Tuskar Rock, but they’ve quite a good margin in hand.

It's important now that they get to the East coast before the wind dies. 

 

 

 

Published in News Update
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Phaedo3 has just blasted through the start line of the official WSSRC course for the 'Round Ireland' record, in attempt to set a new time. With winds of over 20 knots, gusting 30 they speed through the line right beside Kish lighthouse on Dublin Bay in an anti–clockwise direction with the hope of breaking the existing record.

Lloyd Thornburg and his team tried to keep this record attempt under wraps, but now the secret is well and truly out. The boat and crew are fresh from winning the Round Island Race in the UK, in which saw the boat smashing Sir Ben Ainslie’s record, and setting a new record of just 2 hours 23 minutes and 23 seconds, for speed sailing round the Isle of Wight.

Phaedo 3 Round Ireland RecordPhaedo 3 on her way northabout on a Round Ireland Record mission. Photo: Rachel Fallon–Langdon

The team were last in Ireland for the Volvo Round Ireland Race, where after leading for the last leg, got pipped at the post by a few minutes by their fellow MOD70 Oman. The current WSSRC record is held by the MOD70 Oman when they crossed the Volvo Round Ireland Race finish line at Wicklow in just 38 hours, 37 minutes and 7 seconds.

Phaedo3 say they hope to knock a couple of hours off this record.

Crew on board for the race: Lloyd Thornburg - helm, Brian Thompson - Co-Skipper, Miles Seddon - Navigator, Damian Foxall - Bow, Paul Allen - Trim, Sam Goodchild - Trim, Henry Bomby - Grinder, Fletcher Kennedy - Grinder

Phaedo3 tracker is here

Phaedo_3Phaedo3 has just blasted through the Dublin Bay start line Photo: Rachel Fallon-Langdon

Published in News Update
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Track the Round Ireland speed record attempt by the MOD70 Phaedo3 Lloyd Thornburg below.

The record time to beat is: 38 hours, 37 minutes and 7 seconds.

Stay tuned to the Yellowbrick tracker below.

Published in News Update

Two Irish sailors, Ian Moore from Carrickfergus and Jeff Condell from Limerick, are on board the giant catamaran Team Phaedo this morning for the West Indies race.

Team Phaedo is a 66–foot Gunboat design from the drawing board of Nigel Irens. Yesterday the crew were out in the deep blue waters of St Barth exercising in a practice race, working out maneuvers for today's Les Voiles de Saint Barth.

Held on the fashionable French island in the northeastern Caribbean, today's regatta continues to show signs of healthy growth for its third edition, showcasing top sailing talent as well as some of sailing's most phenomenal racing machines competing around the French West Indies.

Navigator on Ireland's Green Dragon in the 2008 VOR,  Ian Moore is the 41-year-old expert, who is now based in Cowes when he isn’t calling the tactical shots on some of the world's leading sailing machines is a regular on Afloat's pages, after he won the Volvo Ocean Race in 2001-2002 as navigator on Illbruck.

Jeff Condell has been racing on Phaedo over the past year. He was previously Shore Operations Manager for Ger O'Rourke's Delta Lloyd VOR campaign.

The video is the work of Richard Langdon, the well known British sailing stills photographer who brough us the front cover image of Annalise Murphy for Afloat's Spring issue, Richard's handling moving pictures pretty well too these days!

Published in Racing
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Like any good sailing match race, the second class to depart in the Transatlantic Race 2011 today was a duel of two radicals – this time between a 66ft carbon cat, and a 289ft 3 masted mega yacht. Today size didn't matter and the nimble cat, the Gunboat 66 Phaedo, quickly shot away leaving the Perini Navi, Maltese Falcon, flapping in her tracks.

Published in Racing

Dublin Bay

Dublin Bay on the east coast of Ireland stretches over seven kilometres, from Howth Head on its northern tip to Dalkey Island in the south. It's a place most Dubliners simply take for granted, and one of the capital's least visited places. But there's more going on out there than you'd imagine.

The biggest boating centre is at Dun Laoghaire Harbour on the Bay's south shore that is home to over 1,500 pleasure craft, four waterfront yacht clubs and Ireland's largest marina.

The bay is rather shallow with many sandbanks and rocky outcrops, and was notorious in the past for shipwrecks, especially when the wind was from the east. Until modern times, many ships and their passengers were lost along the treacherous coastline from Howth to Dun Laoghaire, less than a kilometre from shore.

The Bay is a C-shaped inlet of the Irish Sea and is about 10 kilometres wide along its north-south base, and 7 km in length to its apex at the centre of the city of Dublin; stretching from Howth Head in the north to Dalkey Point in the south. North Bull Island is situated in the northwest part of the bay, where one of two major inshore sandbanks lie, and features a 5 km long sandy beach, Dollymount Strand, fronting an internationally recognised wildfowl reserve. Many of the rivers of Dublin reach the Irish Sea at Dublin Bay: the River Liffey, with the River Dodder flow received less than 1 km inland, River Tolka, and various smaller rivers and streams.

Dublin Bay FAQs

There are approximately ten beaches and bathing spots around Dublin Bay: Dollymount Strand; Forty Foot Bathing Place; Half Moon bathing spot; Merrion Strand; Bull Wall; Sandycove Beach; Sandymount Strand; Seapoint; Shelley Banks; Sutton, Burrow Beach

There are slipways on the north side of Dublin Bay at Clontarf, Sutton and on the southside at Dun Laoghaire Harbour, and in Dalkey at Coliemore and Bulloch Harbours.

Dublin Bay is administered by a number of Government Departments, three local authorities and several statutory agencies. Dublin Port Company is in charge of navigation on the Bay.

Dublin Bay is approximately 70 sq kilometres or 7,000 hectares. The Bay is about 10 kilometres wide along its north-south base, and seven km in length east-west to its peak at the centre of the city of Dublin; stretching from Howth Head in the north to Dalkey Point in the south.

Dun Laoghaire Harbour on the southside of the Bay has an East and West Pier, each one kilometre long; this is one of the largest human-made harbours in the world. There also piers or walls at the entrance to the River Liffey at Dublin city known as the Great North and South Walls. Other harbours on the Bay include Bulloch Harbour and Coliemore Harbours both at Dalkey.

There are two marinas on Dublin Bay. Ireland's largest marina with over 800 berths is on the southern shore at Dun Laoghaire Harbour. The other is at Poolbeg Yacht and Boat Club on the River Liffey close to Dublin City.

Car and passenger Ferries operate from Dublin Port to the UK, Isle of Man and France. A passenger ferry operates from Dun Laoghaire Harbour to Howth as well as providing tourist voyages around the bay.

Dublin Bay has two Islands. Bull Island at Clontarf and Dalkey Island on the southern shore of the Bay.

The River Liffey flows through Dublin city and into the Bay. Its tributaries include the River Dodder, the River Poddle and the River Camac.

Dollymount, Burrow and Seapoint beaches

Approximately 1,500 boats from small dinghies to motorboats to ocean-going yachts. The vast majority, over 1,000, are moored at Dun Laoghaire Harbour which is Ireland's boating capital.

In 1981, UNESCO recognised the importance of Dublin Bay by designating North Bull Island as a Biosphere because of its rare and internationally important habitats and species of wildlife. To support sustainable development, UNESCO’s concept of a Biosphere has evolved to include not just areas of ecological value but also the areas around them and the communities that live and work within these areas. There have since been additional international and national designations, covering much of Dublin Bay, to ensure the protection of its water quality and biodiversity. To fulfil these broader management aims for the ecosystem, the Biosphere was expanded in 2015. The Biosphere now covers Dublin Bay, reflecting its significant environmental, economic, cultural and tourism importance, and extends to over 300km² to include the bay, the shore and nearby residential areas.

On the Southside at Dun Laoghaire, there is the National Yacht Club, Royal St. George Yacht Club, Royal Irish Yacht Club and Dun Laoghaire Motor Yacht Club as well as Dublin Bay Sailing Club. In the city centre, there is Poolbeg Yacht and Boat Club. On the Northside of Dublin, there is Clontarf Yacht and Boat Club and Sutton Dinghy Club. While not on Dublin Bay, Howth Yacht Club is the major north Dublin Sailing centre.

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