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Displaying items by tag: Noel Butler

Dublin Bay Frostbites regulars Roy Van Maanen (Greystones SC) and Noel Butler (National YC) both finished second in their respective fleets at the RS Aero US Midwinters in Florida last weekend.

Varied conditions tested sailors in all wind strengths in very pleasant Florida temperatures across the race week held at Davis Island Yacht Club in Tampa.

Butler had a consistent performance in the shifty breeze on day two in the 7 fleet, scoring 3,2,3 to secure his podium, while Van Maanen enjoyed a game battle with Philip Myerson of Cedar Point YC in Connecticut for first in the 5 fleet, with the US sailor coming up trumps this time out.

The Irish contingent also competed in the Florida State Championship, with Butler taking third place and Van Maanen placing a more than respectable sixth.

And in the Round the Bay Long Distance Race on 8 February, Butler narrowly missed out on first place — under 10 seconds on handicap — to make it a trifecta of podium finishes.

Noel Butler and Roy Van Maanen (right) at dinner with fellow RS Aero sailors during the race week | Credit: Noel ButlerNoel Butler and Roy Van Maanen (right) at dinner with fellow RS Aero sailors during the race week | Credit: Noel Butler

Butler commented on social media: “Delighted to finish 2nd 7 rig in the RS Aero Class North America Midwinter Championships and 3rd in the Florida State Championships

“Thanks to organiser Ryan Schenck and all at the beautiful Davis Island Yacht Club for the hospitality and a great event.

“Thanks to the Cedar Point Yacht Club RS Aero sailors for providing charter boats and driving them all the way from CT to FL and back!

“Thanks to the Hummingbird Gang (Jeff Dunmall, Madhavan Thirumalai, Boris Mezhibovskiy, Roy Van Maanen) for the epic accomodation, food and fun!”

Both are back in action in Ireland this weekend, with the INSS RS Aero Super Series on Saturday and the DMYC Frostbites on Sunday.

Published in RS Aero

Noel Butler of the National Yacht Club is Stateside this week for the 2023 Florida RS Aero Winter Series in Tampa.

Davis Island Yacht Club — known for its steady winter winds ranging from 8-15 knots on any given day — is hosting the weeklong event that comprises the Florida State Championships on Monday 6 and Tuesday 7 February, the Round the Bay long-distance race on Wednesday 8 February and the Midwinters over the weekend of 10-12 February.

In the meantime, Butler’s absence will give his fellow competitors in the Viking Marine DMYC Frostbite Series a chance to reshuffle the leaderboard.

Published in RS Aero

Dublin Bay Sailing Club (DBSC) PY dinghy overall leader Noel Butler was on the podium at the weekend at the third Italian RS Aero event of the season on the beautiful Island of Elba.

The event was dominated by national champion Filipo Vincis from Sardinia, with Davide Mulas also from Sardinia in second.

Butler, of the National Yacht Club, finished third and Greystones/RStGYC’s Roy Van Maanen finished fourth in a small but very competitive fleet and very light and tricky conditions.

Both Irish sailors will be back in action as usual in DBSC racing on Tuesday evening in Scotsman’s Bay.

At the end of the month, Van Maanen, Daragh Sheridan of Howth (the recently crowned Irish national champion) and Butler will compete in the RS Aero World Championships in Cascade Locks in the Columbia River Gorge near Portland, Oregon, USA.

Published in RS Aero
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National Yacht Club sailor Noel Butler could not attend the AIB DBSC prizegiving in Dun Laoghaire's National Maritime Museum on Friday evening last to collect his trophy. Still, his winter Turkey Shoot shipmates made sure the Windmill Leisure and Marine Perpetual Trophy got to the multi-champion dinghy ace promptly by presenting it to him dockside on Sunday morning, before the second race of the 2021 Turkey Shoot Series on Dublin Bay.

It's the second year in succession. Butler, a former Laser II World Champion, has won the trophy for his PY performance in his RS Aero 'Orion' dinghy.

Butler is sailing on the J/97 Windjammer for the Turkey Shoot, another winning yacht from Friday night's ceremony. The Lindsay Casey skippered boat from the Royal St. George Yacht Club won DBSC's Premier award: the Waterhouse Shield, for the best yacht in a handicapped series across all DBSC fleets. 

Read more about Friday's prizegiving at the National Maritime Museum here.

Published in DBSC
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#fireball – Noel and Ed Butler enhanced their overnight Fireball lead at the Munsters in Lough Ree to take the title with a 5pt margin writes Cormac Bradley. Adding a 1, 3 to their score of 4pts they had the luxury of swapping roles for the last race, Noel taking to trapezing.

Another combination entered the winner's enclosure for Race 6, Team Rumball, Kenneth & Alexander and with a 4th in Race 5, this elevated them to 3rd overall.

Barry McCartin, recently back from Australia and Conor Kinsella had a 5, 2 to secure 2nd overall. These three sailed most consistently over the weekend, allowing them a comfortable points margin over fourth placed Conor Clancy and Stephen Campion, who weren't too shabby with a 2, 2, 5, 5, 7, 8 results sheet.

Niall McGrotty and Neil Cramer had a much better day with a 2, 5, Neil Colin & Margaret Casey had a 4th in the last race and Louise McKenna & Hermine O'Keeffe scored another 3rd.

Smyth &Bradley scored two 9ths to hold onto 5th place overall, but in the words of a (in) famous Scot it was a squeaky bum session as Murphy & Voye closed to 3pts.

Three boats contested the Silver fleet, Evans/Caulfield from Sligo, Power/Barry and Chambers/McGuire from Dun Laoghaire. The title went West by a margin of 6pts from Power/Barry.

1. Butler/Butler 15061 8pts
2. McCartin/Kinsella 15093 13pts
3. Rumball/Rumball 15058 15pts
4. Clancy/Campion 14807 21pts
5. Smyth/Bradley 15007 30pts
6. Murphy/Voye 14908 33pts
7. McGrotty/Cramer 14938 35pts
8. McKenna/O'Keeffe 14691 36pts
9. Miller/Donnelly 14713 40pts
10. Colin/Casey 14775 42pts

6 excellent races were set by Race Officer John Leech and his team, each of just about one hour duration. Courses were adjusted continuously to fit in with the 1 hour constraint.

Hospitality by LRYC was superb with soup and rolls after racing and a great meal on Saturday night. The prize giving was held outside today such was the mildness of the weather.

We convene again in DL in 2 weeks time for the rescheduled Leinsters, to be hosted by DMYC with the Class AGM down for the Saturday evening. Volunteers for the committee will be needed!

Published in Fireball
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The Fireball Leinster Championship at Howth YC this weekend has 20 confirmed entries to date, including the current National Champions and pre-event favourites Noel Butler and Shane McCarthy from Dun Laoghaire Motor Yacht Club. The southside pairing has already won the Open Championship at Killaloe and the Ulsters at East Down. Other leading contenders include Simon McGrotty of Skerries, Neil Colin of DMYC and Kenneth Rumball of the Royal St.George.

Published in Racing

Galway Port & Harbour

Galway Bay is a large bay on the west coast of Ireland, between County Galway in the province of Connacht to the north and the Burren in County Clare in the province of Munster to the south. Galway city and port is located on the northeast side of the bay. The bay is about 50 kilometres (31 miles) long and from 10 kilometres (6.2 miles) to 30 kilometres (19 miles) in breadth.

The Aran Islands are to the west across the entrance and there are numerous small islands within the bay.

Galway Port FAQs

Galway was founded in the 13th century by the de Burgo family, and became an important seaport with sailing ships bearing wine imports and exports of fish, hides and wool.

Not as old as previously thought. Galway bay was once a series of lagoons, known as Loch Lurgan, plied by people in log canoes. Ancient tree stumps exposed by storms in 2010 have been dated back about 7,500 years.

It is about 660,000 tonnes as it is a tidal port.

Capt Brian Sheridan, who succeeded his late father, Capt Frank Sheridan

The dock gates open approximately two hours before high water and close at high water subject to ship movements on each tide.

The typical ship sizes are in the region of 4,000 to 6,000 tonnes

Turbines for about 14 wind projects have been imported in recent years, but the tonnage of these cargoes is light. A European industry report calculates that each turbine generates €10 million in locally generated revenue during construction and logistics/transport.

Yes, Iceland has selected Galway as European landing location for international telecommunications cables. Farice, a company wholly owned by the Icelandic Government, currently owns and operates two submarine cables linking Iceland to Northern Europe.

It is "very much a live project", Harbourmaster Capt Sheridan says, and the Port of Galway board is "awaiting the outcome of a Bord Pleanála determination", he says.

90% of the scrap steel is exported to Spain with the balance being shipped to Portugal. Since the pandemic, scrap steel is shipped to the Liverpool where it is either transhipped to larger ships bound for China.

It might look like silage, but in fact, its bales domestic and municipal waste, exported to Denmark where the waste is incinerated, and the heat is used in district heating of homes and schools. It is called RDF or Refuse Derived Fuel and has been exported out of Galway since 2013.

The new ferry is arriving at Galway Bay onboard the cargo ship SVENJA. The vessel is currently on passage to Belem, Brazil before making her way across the Atlantic to Galway.

Two Volvo round world races have selected Galway for the prestigious yacht race route. Some 10,000 people welcomed the boats in during its first stopover in 2009, when a festival was marked by stunning weather. It was also selected for the race finish in 2012. The Volvo has changed its name and is now known as the "Ocean Race". Capt Sheridan says that once port expansion and the re-urbanisation of the docklands is complete, the port will welcome the "ocean race, Clipper race, Tall Ships race, Small Ships Regatta and maybe the America's Cup right into the city centre...".

The pandemic was the reason why Seafest did not go ahead in Cork in 2020. Galway will welcome Seafest back after it calls to Waterford and Limerick, thus having been to all the Port cities.

© Afloat 2020