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Displaying items by tag: Jellyfish

#Jellyfish - Swimmers have been warned away from Seapoint and Sandycove on the south shores of Dublin Bay after sightings of potentially dangerous lion’s mane jellyfish in the water.

Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council has put up warning signs in the relevant areas to advise the public on the large jellyfish, whose stings from hundreds of tentacles can cause anaphylactic shock — even many days after they have beached.

Published in Dublin Bay

#Jellyfish - Mauve jellyfish have stranded in what could be record numbers in Co Clare.

Thousands of the species Pelagia noctiluca, also known as the mauve stinger, have beached at Fanore since last Friday (30 September) as photographed by local man Liam McNamara.

"This is the first time I've experienced mauve jellyfish in such numbers and I've been beachcombing for 40 years,” McNamara told Independent.ie.

"I'm not sure what's going on with our seas but definitely lots more jellies around.”

The surprising incident comes just days after hundreds of Portuguese man o’ wars began stranding at coastal spots along the Wild Atlantic Way between Kerry and Donegal in what’s thought to be the largest infestation in over a century.

Irish Water Safety says unusually warm sea temperatures have brought what are typically tropical species in droves to Irish waters.

Published in Marine Wildlife
Tagged under

Irish Water Safety (IWS) is alerting the public to exercise caution on our south, west and northwest coastline over the next few days due to jellyfish arriving on our shores, as previously reported by Afloat.ie. 

IWS says Ireland has experienced tropical maritime air for almost two months now with very little northerly winds, in addition sea water temperatures are approximately 15 degrees Celsius, consequently we have seen one of the largest infestations of the Portuguese Man o'war land on our western seaboard in over a hundred years.

There is a new moon on Saturday which will give us spring tides which will mean that we will have larger exposed areas of coastline where we are likely to see these most venomous siphonophores or to most of us Jellyfish. Surfers, kite surfers, swimmers, kayakers, divers and walkers need to keep a vigilant eye open for these creatures which give a very strong sting and to some people can cause anaphylactic shock or seizures. Local Authorities from Cork, Kerry, Clare, Galway, Mayo and Donegal have reported them on their shores mainly in south and southwest facing bays. There have been reports of in excess of 80 landing on the South Harbour in Cape Clear an in excess of 20 on Keel Bay in Achill. They have been known to kill people such is the severity of their stings.

  • Ensure you don't get stung yourself when aiding others.
  • Remove any attached tentacles with a gloved hand, stick or towel.
  • Do not rub the affected area, this may result in further venom release.
  • Rinse the affected area with sea-water (do not use fresh water, vinegar or urine)
  • Apply a "dry cold pack" to the area (i.e place a cold pack or ice inside a plastic bag & then wrap this package in a t-shirt or other piece of cloth).
  • Seek medical attention if there is anything other than minor discomfort (Please note: The sting can cause anaphylactic shock, if you are feeling unwell go to A&E for treatment).

Members of the public should report the sightings of these two jellyfish to the relevant Local Authority or local Water Safety Development Officer

Published in Marine Wildlife

#Jellyfish - Organisers of tomorrow's Ironman triathlon in Dublin Bay are currently monitoring the appearance of Lion's Mane jellyfish in the waters of the swimming course.

According to The Irish Times, the Ironman event is scheduled to begin early on Sunday 14 August with a 1.9km swim across the bay from Sandycove, which has been red-flagged since Wednesday after a number of the dangerous jellyfish washed up on the beach.

The Lion's Mane's powerful sting is known to cause anaphylactic shock, which is potentially fatal – and the sting is still potent even days after a jellyfish has died, as previously reported on Afloat.ie.

Published in Dublin Bay

The potentially dangerous Lions Mane Jellyfish which is being washed up on Irish beaches can cause anaphylactic shock.

So far this summer the jellyfish has washed up on beaches at Portmarnock, Malahide, Sutton and Bettystown.

The Irish water safety CEO, John Leech, says 'more jellyfish are likely to appear on our beaches in the coming weeks'.

'The sting from these jellyfish can cause anaphylactic shock and we have had a number of people hospitalised as a result of a sting from these venomous Jellyfish', Leech adds.

The sting from their tentacles lasts many days after they have died.

Members of the public should report the sightings of these two jellyfish to the relevant local Authority Water Safety Development Officer here

For those  who will be using non-lifeguarded beaches then download information on jellyfish, including a photo ID card and First Aid treatment of stings here 

Published in Marine Warning

#Jellyfish - Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council has raised the red warning flag in Sandycove and erected signs warning swimmers of the presence of stinging jellyfish in the water and washed up on the beach. Photographs have been taken and sent off for expert identification of the marine species.

Published in Water Safety

#Jellyfish - Summer may be long gone, but jellyfish attracted by the warmer waters of recent months are still posing a hazard on Galway's beaches, as the Connacht Tribune reports.

Recent weeks have seen Salthill strewn with the remains of hundreds of dead mauve stingers, which can still pack a punch even after death.

Meanwhile, though marine science boffins are not surprised by the sheer numbers of the seaborne creatures in Galway Bay as this period is their mating season, they are concerned that so many are being washed ashore.

The jellyfish warning comes not long after Fáilte Ireland's falling afoul of locals for advising against bathing at Salthill's popular strand.

While recommending the city suburb's famous promenade for walking and sightseeing, the tourism board's Discover Ireland website reportedly stated that "swimming is not recommended" at the adjacent beachs.

No reasons were given for this advice, which has raised the ire of locals including Labour Party city councillor Niall McNelis, who said: “I cannot understand why Fáilte Ireland would warn people not to swim in Salthill. It has a Blue Flag."

Published in Coastal Notes

#Dublin Bay junior sailors turned up to race yesterday on what was arguably one of the best sailing days of the season so far only to learn the first race of their September Series was scubbed due to 'jellyfish reasons'.

It's just the latest shut down of leisure pursuits in the capitals waters after Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council warned against bathing in 'Jelly fish infested waters' at nearby Sandycove.

As a finale to the 2014 season, racing was scheduled for six dinghy classes including the Optimist, Laser Radial and 4.7, Topper, Feva and 420 classes but not even the fact that over 100 junior sailors drawn from the four dun Laoghaire yacht clubs would be on the water rather than in it could stop yesterday's cancellation of the harbour races, such is the risk posed by the Lions mane jellyfish.

Last week Dun Laoghaire Harbour Master Simon Coate wrote to the yacht clubs and classes. ' A considerable number of Lions mane jellyfish have been sighted within the harbour. Please warn your members,' Captain Coate advised.

Published in Youth Sailing

#Jellyfish - The Irish Mirror reported on Friday that 17 dangerous lion's mane jellyfish were removed from Sandycove Beach on south Dublin Bay.

However, that may be just the tip of the iceberg in their numbers as the giant venomous species flocks to Ireland's warming coastal waters from elsewhere in the Irish Sea.

Meanwhile, restrictions on bathing have been lifted from nearby Sandycove Harbour and Killiney Beach after elevated bacterial levels were detected in the water earlier in the week.

Dollymount Strand's temporary bathing ban has also been lifted, as have a number of advisories in North Co Dublin.

However, precautionary notices remain at three locations – Burrow in Sutton, Claremont in Howth and Loughshinny Beach between Rush and Skerries – due to poor results of samples collected from outfalls at those locations.

Published in Coastal Notes

#Jellyfish - West Cork on Thursday (7 August) saw a young girl treated for a severe allergic reaction to a jellyfish sting, as previously reported on Afloat.ie.

The Irish Examiner has more on the story of the girl aged between 10 and 12 who's believed to have come in contact with a Portuguese man o'war or similar stinging sea creature at Goleen beach.

Within minutes of the incident the girl was vomiting, spasming and suffering severe difficulty with breathing in what Goleen Coast Guard officer-in-charge Michael O'Regan called a "vicious reaction".

"After 50 years, I thought I'd seen everything," he told the Examiner. "I've done about 30 first aid courses over the years but have never come across anything to prepare us for something like this."

Sightings of dangerous jellyfish in Ireland's warming coastal waters since the beginning of last week have prompted warnings from water safety officials.

These warnings have been reiterated since the predicted arrival of the giant lion's mane jellyfish, which has been spotted off Sutton in North Dublin.

Published in Marine Wildlife
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Dun Laoghaire Harbour Information

Dun Laoghaire Harbour is the second port for Dublin and is located on the south shore of Dublin Bay. Marine uses for this 200-year-old man-made harbour have changed over its lifetime. Originally built as a port of refuge for sailing ships entering the narrow channel at Dublin Port, the harbour has had a continuous ferry link with Wales, and this was the principal activity of the harbour until the service stopped in 2015. In all this time, however, one thing has remained constant, and that is the popularity of sailing and boating from the port, making it Ireland's marine leisure capital with a harbour fleet of between 1,200 -1,600 pleasure craft based at the country's largest marina (800 berths) and its four waterfront yacht clubs.

Dun Laoghaire Harbour Bye-Laws

Download the bye-laws on this link here

FAQs

A live stream Dublin Bay webcam showing Dun Laoghaire Harbour entrance and East Pier is here

Dun Laoghaire is a Dublin suburb situated on the south side of Dublin Bay, approximately, 15km from Dublin city centre.

The east and west piers of the harbour are each of 1 kilometre (0.62 miles) long.

The harbour entrance is 232 metres (761 ft) across from East to West Pier.

  • Public Boatyard
  • Public slipway
  • Public Marina

23 clubs, 14 activity providers and eight state-related organisations operate from Dun Laoghaire Harbour that facilitates a full range of sports - Sailing, Rowing, Diving, Windsurfing, Angling, Canoeing, Swimming, Triathlon, Powerboating, Kayaking and Paddleboarding. Participants include members of the public, club members, tourists, disabled, disadvantaged, event competitors, schools, youth groups and college students.

  • Commissioners of Irish Lights
  • Dun Laoghaire Marina
  • MGM Boats & Boatyard
  • Coastguard
  • Naval Service Reserve
  • Royal National Lifeboat Institution
  • Marine Activity Centre
  • Rowing clubs
  • Yachting and Sailing Clubs
  • Sailing Schools
  • Irish Olympic Sailing Team
  • Chandlery & Boat Supply Stores

The east and west granite-built piers of Dun Laoghaire harbour are each of one kilometre (0.62 mi) long and enclose an area of 250 acres (1.0 km2) with the harbour entrance being 232 metres (761 ft) in width.

In 2018, the ownership of the great granite was transferred in its entirety to Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council who now operate and manage the harbour. Prior to that, the harbour was operated by The Dun Laoghaire Harbour Company, a state company, dissolved in 2018 under the Ports Act.

  • 1817 - Construction of the East Pier to a design by John Rennie began in 1817 with Earl Whitworth Lord Lieutenant of Ireland laying the first stone.
  • 1820 - Rennie had concerns a single pier would be subject to silting, and by 1820 gained support for the construction of the West pier to begin shortly afterwards. When King George IV left Ireland from the harbour in 1820, Dunleary was renamed Kingstown, a name that was to remain in use for nearly 100 years. The harbour was named the Royal Harbour of George the Fourth which seems not to have remained for so long.
  • 1824 - saw over 3,000 boats shelter in the partially completed harbour, but it also saw the beginning of operations off the North Wall which alleviated many of the issues ships were having accessing Dublin Port.
  • 1826 - Kingstown harbour gained the important mail packet service which at the time was under the stewardship of the Admiralty with a wharf completed on the East Pier in the following year. The service was transferred from Howth whose harbour had suffered from silting and the need for frequent dredging.
  • 1831 - Royal Irish Yacht Club founded
  • 1837 - saw the creation of Victoria Wharf, since renamed St. Michael's Wharf with the D&KR extended and a new terminus created convenient to the wharf.[8] The extended line had cut a chord across the old harbour with the landward pool so created later filled in.
  • 1838 - Royal St George Yacht Club founded
  • 1842 - By this time the largest man-made harbour in Western Europe had been completed with the construction of the East Pier lighthouse.
  • 1855 - The harbour was further enhanced by the completion of Traders Wharf in 1855 and Carlisle Pier in 1856. The mid-1850s also saw the completion of the West Pier lighthouse. The railway was connected to Bray in 1856
  • 1871 - National Yacht Club founded
  • 1884 - Dublin Bay Sailing Club founded
  • 1918 - The Mailboat, “The RMS Leinster” sailed out of Dún Laoghaire with 685 people on board. 22 were post office workers sorting the mail; 70 were crew and the vast majority of the passengers were soldiers returning to the battlefields of World War I. The ship was torpedoed by a German U-boat near the Kish lighthouse killing many of those onboard.
  • 1920 - Kingstown reverted to the name Dún Laoghaire in 1920 and in 1924 the harbour was officially renamed "Dun Laoghaire Harbour"
  • 1944 - a diaphone fog signal was installed at the East Pier
  • 1965 - Dun Laoghaire Motor Yacht Club founded
  • 1968 - The East Pier lighthouse station switched from vapourised paraffin to electricity, and became unmanned. The new candle-power was 226,000
  • 1977- A flying boat landed in Dun Laoghaire Harbour, one of the most unusual visitors
  • 1978 - Irish National Sailing School founded
  • 1934 - saw the Dublin and Kingstown Railway begin operations from their terminus at Westland Row to a terminus at the West Pier which began at the old harbour
  • 2001 - Dun Laoghaire Marina opens with 500 berths
  • 2015 - Ferry services cease bringing to an end a 200-year continuous link with Wales.
  • 2017- Bicentenary celebrations and time capsule laid.
  • 2018 - Dun Laoghaire Harbour Company dissolved, the harbour is transferred into the hands of Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council

From East pier to West Pier the waterfront clubs are:

  • National Yacht Club. Read latest NYC news here
  • Royal St. George Yacht Club. Read latest RSTGYC news here
  • Royal Irish Yacht Club. Read latest RIYC news here
  • Dun Laoghaire Motor Yacht Club. Read latest DMYC news here

 

The umbrella organisation that organises weekly racing in summer and winter on Dublin Bay for all the yacht clubs is Dublin Bay Sailing Club. It has no clubhouse of its own but operates through the clubs with two x Committee vessels and a starters hut on the West Pier. Read the latest DBSC news here.

The sailing community is a key stakeholder in Dún Laoghaire. The clubs attract many visitors from home and abroad and attract major international sailing events to the harbour.

 

Dun Laoghaire Regatta

Dun Laoghaire's biennial town regatta was started in 2005 as a joint cooperation by the town's major yacht clubs. It was an immediate success and is now in its eighth edition and has become Ireland's biggest sailing event. The combined club's regatta is held in the first week of July.

  • Attracts 500 boats and more from overseas and around the country
  • Four-day championship involving 2,500 sailors with supporting family and friends
  • Economic study carried out by the Irish Marine Federation estimated the economic value of the 2009 Regatta at €2.5 million

The dates for the 2021 edition of Ireland's biggest sailing event on Dublin Bay is: 8-11 July 2021. More details here

Dun Laoghaire-Dingle Offshore Race

The biennial Dun Laoghaire to Dingle race is a 320-miles race down the East coast of Ireland, across the south coast and into Dingle harbour in County Kerry. The latest news on the Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Race can be found by clicking on the link here. The race is organised by the National Yacht Club.

The 2021 Race will start from the National Yacht Club on Wednesday 9th, June 2021.

Round Ireland Yacht Race

This is a Wicklow Sailing Club race but in 2013 the Garden County Club made an arrangement that sees see entries berthed at the RIYC in Dun Laoghaire Harbour for scrutineering prior to the biennial 704–mile race start off Wicklow harbour. Larger boats have been unable to berth in the confines of Wicklow harbour, a factor WSC believes has restricted the growth of the Round Ireland fleet. 'It means we can now encourage larger boats that have shown an interest in competing but we have been unable to cater for in Wicklow' harbour, WSC Commodore Peter Shearer told Afloat.ie here. The race also holds a pre-ace launch party at the Royal Irish Yacht Club.

Laser Masters World Championship 2018

  • 301 boats from 25 nations

Laser Radial World Championship 2016

  • 436 competitors from 48 nations

ISAF Youth Worlds 2012

  • The Youth Olympics of Sailing run on behalf of World Sailing in 2012.
  • Two-week event attracting 61 nations, 255 boats, 450 volunteers.
  • Generated 9,000 bed nights and valued at €9 million to the local economy.

The Harbour Police are authorised by the company to police the harbour and to enforce and implement bye-laws within the harbour, and all regulations made by the company in relation to the harbour.

There are four ship/ferry berths in Dun Laoghaire:

  • No 1 berth (East Pier)
  • No 2 berth (east side of Carlisle Pier)
  • No 3 berth (west side of Carlisle Pier)
  • No 4 berth  (St, Michaels Wharf)

Berthing facilities for smaller craft exist in the town's 800-berth marina and on swinging moorings.

© Afloat 2020