Menu

Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

Displaying items by tag: Fitzsimon

#Canoeing: Michael Fitzsimon won his semi-final of the men’s K1 1,000 metres to reach the A Final at the canoe sprint European Olympic Qualifier in Duisburg in Germany. The under-23 competitor can qualify for the Olympic Games if he finishes in the top two in the final.

Canoe Sprint European Olympic Qualifier, Duisburg, Germany (Selected Results, Irish interest)

Men

K1 1,000 – Heat One (Winner to A Final; 2-7 to semi-final; rest out): 4 M Fitzsimon 3:31.693. Semi-Final: 1 Fitzsimon 3:31.453.

K2 200 – Heat One (First Three to A Final; 4-7 to semi-final): 6 T Brennan, B Watkins 34.350. Semi-Final (First Three to A Final; rest out): 5 Brennan, Watkins 34.249.

Women

K1 500 – Heat One (Three to Final; 4-7 to Semi-Final): 5 J Egan 1:55.428. Semi-Final (Three to A Final): 3 Egan 1:52.823.

Paracanoe World Championships, Duisburg

Men - KL3 200- Heat Four (First Seven to Semi-Final): 2 P O’Leary 42.061. Semi-Final One (First Two and next best time to A Final; 3rd, 4th to B Final): 3 O’Leary 41.722.

 

Published in Canoeing

#Canoeing: Patrick O’Leary set a new personal best for the second sucessive day, but just missed out on a place in the A Final at the Paracanoe World Championships in Duisburg in Germany this morning. The 43-year-old Irishman finished third in his semi-final of the KL3 200 metres. The top two from the semi-finals and the fastest third place finisher would go through – and O’Leary was pipped by less than seven tenths of a second by France’s Martin Farineaux for this place. Farineaux finished third in the fourth of the four semi-finals. O’Leary qualifies for the B Final.   

 In the canoe sprint European Olympic Qualifier, Ireland crews qualified for semi-finals through their heats. Michael Fitzsimon finished 4th in the K1 1,000, Jenny Egan fifth in the K1 500 and the K2 200 crew of Tom Brennan and Barry Watkins were sixth.  

Paracanoe World Championships, Duisburg (Selected Results; Irish interest):

Men - KL3 200- Heat Four (First Seven to Semi-Final): 2 P O’Leary 42.061. Semi-Final One (First Two and next best time to A Final; 3rd, 4th to B Final): 3 O’Leary 41.722.

Canoe Sprint European Olympic Qualifier, Duisburg, Germany

Men

K1 1,000 – Heat One (Winner to A Final; 2-7 to semi-final; rest out): 4 M Fitzsimon 3:31.693.

K2 200 – Heat One (First Three to A Final; 4-7 to semi-final): 6 T Brennan, B Watkins 34.350.

Women

K1 500 – Heat One (Three to Final; 4-7 to Semi-Final): 5 J Egan 1:55.428.  

Published in Canoeing

About Brittany Ferries

In 1967 a farmer from Finistère in Brittany, Alexis Gourvennec, succeeded in bringing together a variety of organisations from the region to embark on an ambitious project: the aim was to open up the region, to improve its infrastructure and to enrich its people by turning to traditional partners such as Ireland and the UK. In 1972 BAI (Brittany-England-Ireland) was born.

The first cross-Channel link was inaugurated in January 1973, when a converted Israeli tank-carrier called Kerisnel left the port of Roscoff for Plymouth carrying trucks loaded with Breton vegetables such as cauliflowers and artichokes. The story, therefore, begins on 2 January 1973, 24 hours after Great Britain's entry into the Common Market (EEC).

From these humble beginnings however, Brittany Ferries as the company was re-named quickly opened up to passenger transport, then became a tour operator.

Today, Brittany Ferries has established itself as the national leader in French maritime transport: an atypical leader, under private ownership, still owned by a Breton agricultural cooperative.

Eighty five percent of the company’s passengers are British.

Key Brittany Ferries figures:

  • Turnover: €202.4 million (compared with €469m in 2019)
  • Investment in three new ships, Galicia plus two new vessels powered by cleaner LNG (liquefied natural gas) arriving in 2022 and 2023
  • Employment: 2,474 seafarers and shore staff (average high/low season)
  • Passengers: 752,102 in 2020 (compared with 2,498,354 in 2019)
  • Freight: 160,377 in 2020 (compared with 201,554 in 2019)
  • Twelve ships operating services that connect France, the United Kingdom, Ireland and Spain (non-Covid year) across 14 routes
  • Twelve ports in total: Bilbao, Santander, Portsmouth, Poole, Plymouth, Cork, Rosslare, Caen, Cherbourg, Le Havre, Saint-Malo, Roscoff
  • Tourism in Europe: 231,000 unique visitors, staying 2.6 million bed-nights in France in 2020 (compared with 857,000 unique visitors, staying 8,7 million bed-nights in 2019).