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Displaying items by tag: Shore Shots

#Surfing - It’s no longer such a secret that Ireland has some of the most sought-after swells among the world’s top big wave surfing talent.

But beginners aren’t left out of Surfer Today’s list of '10 surf spots you must visit in Ireland', with Inchydoney in West Cork and Achill Island in Co Mayo noted for their scenery as much as their perfect starter waves.

Sligo features on the list with two wave hotspots, Enniscrone and Easkey — both just west of Sligo town, which again hosts the Shore Shots Irish Surf Festival on the weekend of 22-23 April.

The North West is also the ancestral home of Irish-Australian surf pro Mick Fanning — famous for his close call with a shark off South Africa in 2015 — who recently paid a visit to sample the surf for himself, as documented in this new Rip Curl video:

Published in Surfing

#Surfing - The biggest cash prize in Irish surfing will be up for grabs again this summer at the Sea Sessions Surf and Music Festival.

As JOE.ie reports, the Expressions Session is set to attract the biggest surfing names in Europe and beyond to Bundoran from 19-21 June for the €3,500 purse claimed last year by 17-year-old GearOid McDaid.

But you won't have to wait that long for the next surfing celebration in Ireland, as the popular Shore Shots film festival returns to the Light House Cinema in Smithfield on 11-12 April.

This year's events includes a live talk hosted by Banter that aims to ask the question: 'What's the story with Irish surfing?'

Big wave luminaries such as Peter Conroy of the Irish Tow Surf Rescue Club, MagicSeaweed editor Ed Temperley and Brian Britton of the legendary Donegal surfing clan will be on hand to discuss what makes Ireland such a strong destination for surfing.

Jim Carroll's On The Record blog has more on the story HERE.

Published in Surfing

#Surfing - Following last year's successful inaugural event, the Shore Shots Irish Surf Film Festival is returning in 2014 to the appropriately named Light House Cinema in Dublin's Smithfield on 5-6 April.

After one of the best winters on record for Irish surfing, surfers from across the island will be gathering for two days in the capital to check out the latest waveriding adventures as seen through the lens of filmmakers and photographers.

Among the line-up of hotly anticipated surf edits from the country’s best surfers and film-makers, photography and video from around the globe will be screenings of Uncharted Waters, a profile of 1960s Aussie surfing legend Wayne Lynch, and The Old, The Young and The Sea, a road movie following Europe's premier surfing route from France to Portugal.

And a weekend celebrating Ireland's second ever surfing themed film festival wouldn't be complete without the now infamous Shore Shots Afterparty, hosted across Smithfield Square at the Generator Hostel.

For more on the festival and how to book tickets for screenings and the afterparty, visit the Shore Shots website HERE.

Published in Surfing

#Surfing - Ireland's first ever surfing themed film festival has been hailed as a "roaring success" all round, according to surf website Magicseaweed.

The Shore Shots Irish Surf Film Festival - which took over the Light House Cinema and the Generator Hostel in Dublin's Smithfield last weekend, as previously reported on Afloat.ie - featured the Irish premieres of five new big-screen surfing films, including the 3D epic Storm Chasers.

But it was the Short Film section attracted the most excitement and plaudits over the two days, with an edit of Fergal 'Ferg' Smith - tackling the biggest and best waves Ireland has to offer over two years - claiming top prize in the category.

Others of note in the shortlist include bodyboarder Peter Clyne and some truly exciting POV footage from Dylan Scott - shot with a single GoPro and put together on the smallest of budgets.

North Of Nowhere from Peter Clyne - Outer Cells on Vimeo.

trendynewatrocity2 - By Dylan Stott from MSW on Vimeo.

Magicseaweed has much more on happenings from the festival HERE.

Published in Surfing

#Surfing - Ireland's first ever surfing themed film festival is set to take place in Dublin later this month.

The Shore Shots Irish Surf Film Festival 2013 will take over the Light House Cinema and Generator Hostel in Smithfield on the weekend of 23-24 March with the Irish premieres of five new big-screen surfing titles.

"We’ve got all the latest footage from the global surf scene, award-winning movies and tales of travel and adventure from men and women who have devoted their lives to exploring and sharing the water around us," say the organisers.

The festival kicks off with the premiere of Here & Now, the work of more than 25 filmmakers and surfers who worked together to document the world of surfing in a single 24-hour period.

It's followed the the first Irish showing of the epic 3D adventure Storm Surfers, a documentary following two best friends on their quest to hunt down and ride the biggest and most dangerous waves in Australia.

The second day will see showings of 180 South, which retraces the epic 1968 journey of Yvon Chouinard and Doug Tompkins to Patagonia; North of the Sun, documenting two surfers extreme experience throughout nine months of winter in a remote part of Norway; and Come Hell or High Water, which tells the remarkable history of bodysurfing.

Both days will also feature an exhibition of stunning surf photography captured by some of the best in the business, a short film competition - and a proper party atmosphere!

Find out more at the official festival website or the Shore Shots Facebook page.

Published in Surfing

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