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Displaying items by tag: Damien Bracken

There was a record entry of 24 boats for the GP14 Youth Championships hosted alongside the senior event, the Autumn Open last weekend at Greystones writes Niall Henry. With lots of sunshine on Saturday morning, a steady 15 knots of breeze a great weekends racing lay ahead.

Race 1 was won by Shane McCarthy and Damian Bracken with Ger Owens and Filup de Loosdan with David Johnson and Eanna Molony Lawless coming in an excellent third place. The first two places were the same in race 2 with Keith de Louden and Alan Le Thompson in third place.

Races three and four of the Autumn Open were sailed in the afternoon on Sunday after two full races were sailed in the youths. JP and Caroline McCalden led at the windward mark but got into difficulty with their spinnaker and were passed by Tim Corcoran and Blair Stowaway who in turn were passed by Niall Henry and Ossian Geraghty. (When asked on shore what happened Tim said it was Blair's fault, and that he hadn't wanted to crew in the first place, but when we asked Blair, he told us that it was Tim's fault and that he was just wasn't a very good crew..?) Niall and Ossian just about held their lead to the end of the race as Shane and Damian sailing that very small boat were closing in very quickly downwind. Ger and Filp came in third.

Autumn Open spinnakers downwind

The final race of the championship was again won by S&D (such a pity Damian's not called Maurice) with the Skerries duo of Colman Grimes and David Lappin showing great speed to come in second followed Curly Morris and Laura Thompson.

Shane and Damian were over all winners and are just one event off a clean sweep, with Ger and Filp in second place overall followed by Niall and Ossian in third spot.

The Silver fleet was won by David and Eanna with Katie Dwyer and Michelle Rowley in second and Michael Cox and Josh Porter in third.

Adrian Lee and 2015 youth champion Edward Coyne were winners in the bronze fleet with Tom and Kevin Gillen in second just ahead of Seamus O'Cleirigh and Stephen Tierny in third.

Results are downloadable below as an excel file

Published in GP14

National Watersports Campus, Dun Laoghaire

Dun Laoghaire Harbour Stakeholders combined forces in 2019 to promote a project to improve the Harbour’s infrastructure resulting in improved access, job creation and greater tourism potential. 

A grant application to government made by Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council (DLRCoCo) assisted by stakeholders was successful with the announcement of a €400k feasibility study grant from the Large Scale Sport Infrastructure Fund (LSSIF) in January 2020.

It meant plans for the €8m National Watersports Campus at Dun Laoghaire Harbour got the green light from Government and came a step closer to reality.

The project recognises deficits in the current set up in the harbour, proposing the construction of an all-tide publicly-accessible slipway (none currently in the Greater Dublin Area) as well as a marine services facility, providing a much-needed home for the supporting industry. 

The campus also seeks to provide a marketing framework to make boating more accessible to the general public.

The benefits of such an increase might be obvious for the Dun Laoghaire waterfront but there are other spin-offs for the harbour town in the creation of the sort of jobs that cannot be shipped abroad.

Centre for Community Watersports activity and public slipway

  • High-Performance coaching centre
  • Flexible Event Space for hosting national and international events
  • Multipurpose Building
  • Campus Marketing and Promotional Centre
  • Accommodation for Irish Sailing and Irish Underwater Council
  • Shared NGB Facility
  • Education Centre for schools, community groups and clubs
  • Proposed site – Carlisle Pier

Watersports Campus FAQs

Similar to the National Sports Campus in Abbotstown, the watersports campus will provide quality, public, recreational and high-performance facilities for the many watersports participants. The Campus will considerably enhance the services currently provided by more than 30 clubs and activity centres to over 50,000 annual users of the harbour.

The passing of control of the harbour to DLRCC, the public appetite for a community benefitting project and the capital funding for sports infrastructure in the Project 2040 National Plan have aligned to create an opportunity to deliver this proposal.

Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council (DLRCC) and the Irish Sailing Association (Irish Sailing) are the project leads, endorsed by the National Governing Bodies of other Irish watersports and clubs and activity providers.

The National Sports Policy, published in 2018, established the Large Scale Sport Infrastructure Fund (LSSIF) to provide Exchequer support for sports facility projects. In some cases, these may be projects where the primary objective will be to increase active participation in sport. In other cases, these may be venues where the focus is more related to high-performance sport.

Government has allocated at least €100m over the term to 2027 to successful applicant projects.

The Watersports Campus was one of seven successful applicants for Stream 1 funding allowing planning to commence on the project design and feasibility. €442,000 has been granted in this phase.

NThe project will provide for a municipally-owned public access facility to include a small craft slipway that is accessible at all stages of the tide (currently none in public ownership in the greater Dublin area), storage and lock-up resources, watersports event management space, a high-performance centre and NGB accommodation.

The project aims to enhance the profile of Dun Laoghaire as a major international venue for maritime events, shows and conferences. Establish Dun Laoghaire as the 'go-to place' for anything marine – generating revenues Create employment in the county - attract businesses, visitors and events. Grow the market for watersports Promote the services of activity providers to the public. Complement the plan to develop Dun Laoghaire as a 'destination.'

As of January 1 2021, The Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport has approved the applicant project and DLRCC are expected to appoint a team to further advance the project.

©Afloat 2020