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Displaying items by tag: Scotsman's Bay

Rescue services rescued a man from off Dun Laoghaire Harbour on Sunday afternoon (August 13th).

Coastguard Rescue Helicopter 116, Dun Laoghaire Harbour RNLI, the local Coastguard unit, and nearby pleasure craft were all involved in rescuing a man 'treading water' in Scotsman's Bay. 

Coastguard Rescue Helicopter 116 - operating over Dun Laoghaire in the search and rescue of a man in the water in the south of Dublin Bay Photo: AfloatCoastguard Rescue Helicopter 116 - operating over Dun Laoghaire in the search and rescue of a man in the water in the south of Dublin Bay Photo: Afloat

After a search that began at Sandycove Point and the Forty Foot Bathing Place, local yachts and Rescue 116 located the man in the middle of Scotsman's Bay, who was retrieved from the water by Dun Laoghaire Harbour RNLI's inshore lifeboat.

The lifeboat requested an ambulance to meet it on its return to the Harbour with the casualty.

Published in Dublin Bay

#DublinBay - Works on the redeveloped Dun Laoghaire Baths project at Newtownsmith reached a significant milestone given the arrival this morning by sea of the first load of rock armour to protect a newly built jetty, writes Jehan Ashmore.

As Afloat previously reported a consignment of huge granite boulders arrived last month into Dun Laoghaire Harbour by barge since identified as the Selina. The rock armour loaded in Falmouth, Cornwall, has remained in the Irish port for almost a fortnight but is now ready to be installed to protect the new Scotsman's Bay jetty quay from erosion. 

The jetty forms part of the Dun Laoghaire Baths site and is Dublin Bay's newest quay for swimming and fishing.  In addition, the facility is also intended to be an embarkation point for small boats and canoes setting off into Scotsman's Bay, located between the harbour's East Pier and Sandycove. The public amenity project for Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council was contracted to SIAC Construction, while the design was carried out by DLR's Architects' Department, which will see a new public café linked to an outdoor terrace with views over both bays, along with studio workspaces for artists and new lifeguard facilities. 

At 84m long Selina and with a beam of 20m the barge was towed by Wicklow based Alphamarine's Husky at the stern while Brixham based Marine & Towage Services MTS Indus took charge at the bow. In addition, prior to departing Dun Laoghaire Harbour, a pilot from Dublin Port Company cutter Liffey embarked to assist operations that saw the flotilla round the East Pier into Scotsman's Bay where the workboats are in close proximity of the rocky coastline. 

Barge Scotsmans bayTugs Husky and MTS Indus with barge Selina offload rock armour in Scotsmans bay Photo: Afloat.ie

According to Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council, the rock armour will be stockpiled adjacent to the new jetty until it is ready to be placed into a more precise allocation. This will require off-loading of the barge by using several diggers on board, however, the operation only be carried out typically during a 3 to 4-hour window at high tide level. The operation may take between 3 to 4 high tide cycles before the work is completed to surround the jetty that is weather permitting expected to take a fortnight to complete.

DLRCoCo added during the rock armour process, there may be increased noise levels in the off-loading operations and that they apologised for any inconvenience this may cause.

The Commissioners of Irish Lights have deployed a temporary buoy in Scotsman’s Bay in south of Dublin Bay. 

The buoy has been deployed to test a wave generator system. The buoy is an IALA Special Mark, yellow in colour, bearing a yellow ‘X’ topmark with the light characteristic Fl.Y.5s.

The buoy is located on the following position: Latitude 53°17.519’N, Longitude 006°07.136’W, a location in an area where Dublin Bay Sailing Club will set marks for their Summer Season starting in April.

The Commissioners of Irish Lights buoy will be on station for approximately 3 months, according to a Dublin Port Company notice from Harbour Master Michael McKenna that is downloadable below.

Published in Dublin Bay
You could be in the hot seat at next month's International Match Racing Challenge - provided you'e got €200 to spend.
 
The top-level entertainment package for the Royal St George Yacht Club's second annual event, set for the weekend of 23-24 July, will put yacht racing fans on board with a team "experiencing the thrills and tension of the race as it happens along with the competitors".
 
 
A spectator package - which will set fans back €100 - gives a bird's-eye view of all the racing in Scotsman's Bay "as well as the added bonus of firing the starting gun", according to the RSGYC.
 
The second International Match Race Challenge will see Ireland’s top six match racing teams go head to head against a world team consisting of six international crews from France, Germany, Australia, New Zealand and the UK. Ireland will be hoping to avenge their 36-29 loss to the world at last year's inaugural event.
 
Match Racing involves head-to-head racing between two identical boats over short 20 minute courses, with each boat having four crew members. At the end of the competition and after approximately 90 races, there will be an overall individual winner. In addition, the combined scores of the six Irish teams and the six international teams will deliver an overall team winner.

You could be in the hot seat at next month's International Match Racing Challenge - provided you'e got €200 to spend.

The top-level entertainment package for the Royal St George Yacht Club's second annual event, set for the weekend of 23-24 July, will put yacht racing fans on board with a team "experiencing the thrills and tension of the race as it happens along with the competitors".

A spectator package - which will set fans back €100 - gives a bird's-eye view of all the racing in Scotsman's Bay "as well as the added bonus of firing the starting gun", according to the RSGYC.

The second International Match Race Challenge will see Ireland’s top six match racing teams go head to head against a world team consisting of six international crews from France, Germany, Australia, New Zealand and the UK. Ireland will be hoping to avenge their 36-29 loss to the world at last year's inaugural event.

Match racing involves head-to-head racing between two identical boats over short 20 minute courses, with each boat having four crew members. At the end of the competition and after approximately 90 races, there will be an overall individual winner. In addition, the combined scores of the six Irish teams and the six international teams will deliver an overall team winner.

Package One
THE HOT SEAT
€200 per person
Experience the thrills and tension of the race as it happens aboard!

 

12:00 Meet and Greet in Club
12:30 Race Briefing and Intro to the Event
12:45 Light Lunch
13:30 Trip on Yacht around Dublin Bay
14:30 Arrive at Spectator area to watch racing
15:00 Hot Seat Race
16:15 Return to shore
16:30 BBQ and Drinks
Hot Seaters need to be prepared to get wet and be active!

Package Two
PURE SPECTATOR
€100 per person
Get a Bird's Eye view of all the action!

12:00 Meet and Greet in Club
12:30 Race Briefing and Intro to the Event
12:45 Light Lunch
13:30 Trip on Yacht around Dublin Bay
14:30 Arrive at Spectator area to watch racing
15:00 Step on Board the Starter's Boat and fire the Starting Gun
16:00 Return to shore
16:30 BBQ and Drinks

Published in RStGYC
Not content with being the biggest (and fastest) keelboat class in the country the SB3 class association in Dun Laoghaire intends to break new ground this winter and further expand the class. In a letter to members class captain Justin Burke is urging owners to get behind a new off season initiative. "To keep the class vibrant we need to encourage new boats and members to join the fleet" he says. 

New sailors are invited to try a sail on the 'one design performance boat' in a special Open Day on Saturday, 9th October between 1030 and 1600. Registration begins at 9.30am.

Boats will be alongside at the National Yacht Club in the harbour for demo runs and class members will be available to discuss the Sportsboat design.

The recent SB3 Nationals staged in Howth this month attracted a fleet of 48 boats racing with attendance from all the major Irish sailing centres. Internationally Ireland sends a team to the World championships and the inaugural world championships were held here in Dun Laoghaire in 2008 with a massive fleet of 137 boats.

The class association will organising sailing in Scotsman's Bay on October 9th with RIB transfers to the boats. Experienced or novice sailors are all invited to participate. Those wishing to sail ideally should advise the organisers first of their time slots and make sure they bring their sailing wet weather gear and a life jacket. Short races will also be run to allow visitors get a feel of the boats.

To make a provisional booking, please call or text Justin on 087 2417542

Published in SB20

Ireland's offshore islands

Around 30 of Ireland's offshore islands are inhabited and hold a wealth of cultural heritage.

A central Government objective is to ensure that sustainable vibrant communities continue to live on the islands.

Irish offshore islands FAQs

Technically, it is Ireland itself, as the third largest island in Europe.

Ireland is surrounded by approximately 80 islands of significant size, of which only about 20 are inhabited.

Achill island is the largest of the Irish isles with a coastline of almost 80 miles and has a population of 2,569.

The smallest inhabited offshore island is Inishfree, off Donegal.

The total voting population in the Republic's inhabited islands is just over 2,600 people, according to the Department of Housing.

Starting with west Cork, and giving voting register numbers as of 2020, here you go - Bere island (177), Cape Clear island (131),Dursey island (6), Hare island (29), Whiddy island (26), Long island, Schull (16), Sherkin island (95). The Galway islands are Inis Mór (675), Inis Meáin (148), Inis Oírr (210), Inishbofin (183). The Donegal islands are Arranmore (513), Gola (30), Inishboffin (63), Inishfree (4), Tory (140). The Mayo islands, apart from Achill which is connected by a bridge, are Clare island (116), Inishbiggle (25) and Inishturk (52).

No, the Gaeltacht islands are the Donegal islands, three of the four Galway islands (Inishbofin, like Clifden, is English-speaking primarily), and Cape Clear or Oileán Chléire in west Cork.

Lack of a pier was one of the main factors in the evacuation of a number of islands, the best known being the Blasket islands off Kerry, which were evacuated in November 1953. There are now three cottages available to rent on the Great Blasket island.

In the early 20th century, scholars visited the Great Blasket to learn Irish and to collect folklore and they encouraged the islanders to record their life stories in their native tongue. The three best known island books are An tOileánach (The Islandman) by Tomás Ó Criomhthain, Peig by Peig Sayers, and Fiche Blian ag Fás (Twenty Years A-Growing) by Muiris Ó Súilleabháin. Former taoiseach Charles J Haughey also kept a residence on his island, Inishvickillaune, which is one of the smaller and less accessible Blasket islands.

Charles J Haughey, as above, or late Beatle musician, John Lennon. Lennon bought Dorinish island in Clew Bay, south Mayo, in 1967 for a reported £1,700 sterling. Vendor was Westport Harbour Board which had used it for marine pilots. Lennon reportedly planned to spend his retirement there, and The Guardian newspaper quoted local estate agent Andrew Crowley as saying he was "besotted with the place by all accounts". He did lodge a planning application for a house, but never built on the 19 acres. He offered it to Sid Rawle, founder of the Digger Action Movement and known as the "King of the Hippies". Rawle and 30 others lived there until 1972 when their tents were burned by an oil lamp. Lennon and Yoko Ono visited it once more before his death in 1980. Ono sold the island for £30,000 in 1984, and it is widely reported that she donated the proceeds of the sale to an Irish orphanage

 

Yes, Rathlin island, off Co Antrim's Causeway Coast, is Ireland's most northerly inhabited island. As a special area of conservation, it is home to tens of thousands of sea birds, including puffins, kittiwakes, razorbills and guillemots. It is known for its Rathlin golden hare. It is almost famous for the fact that Robert the Bruce, King of Scots, retreated after being defeated by the English at Perth and hid in a sea cave where he was so inspired by a spider's tenacity that he returned to defeat his enemy.

No. The Aran islands have a regular ferry and plane service, with ferries from Ros-a-Mhíl, south Connemara all year round and from Doolin, Co Clare in the tourist season. The plane service flies from Indreabhán to all three islands. Inishbofin is connected by ferry from Cleggan, Co Galway, while Clare island and Inishturk are connected from Roonagh pier, outside Louisburgh. The Donegal islands of Arranmore and Tory island also have ferry services, as has Bere island, Cape Clear and Sherkin off Cork. How are the island transport services financed? The Government subsidises transport services to and from the islands. The Irish Coast Guard carries out medical evacuations, as to the RNLI lifeboats. Former Fianna Fáíl minister Éamon Ó Cuív is widely credited with improving transport services to and from offshore islands, earning his department the nickname "Craggy island".

Craggy Island is an bleak, isolated community located of the west coast, inhabited by Irish, a Chinese community and one Maori. Three priests and housekeeper Mrs Doyle live in a parochial house There is a pub, a very small golf course, a McDonald's fast food restaurant and a Chinatown... Actually, that is all fiction. Craggy island is a figment of the imagination of the Father Ted series writers Graham Linehan and Arthur Mathews, for the highly successful Channel 4 television series, and the Georgian style parochial house on the "island" is actually Glenquin House in Co Clare.

Yes, that is of the Plassey, a freighter which was washed up on Inis Oírr in bad weather in 1960.

There are some small privately owned islands,and islands like Inishlyre in Co Mayo with only a small number of residents providing their own transport. Several Connemara islands such as Turbot and Inishturk South have a growing summer population, with some residents extending their stay during Covid-19. Turbot island off Eyrephort is one such example – the island, which was first spotted by Alcock and Brown as they approached Ireland during their epic transatlantic flight in 1919, was evacuated in 1978, four years after three of its fishermen drowned on the way home from watching an All Ireland final in Clifden. However, it is slowly being repopulated

Responsibility for the islands was taking over by the Department of Rural and Community Development . It was previously with the Gaeltacht section in the Department of Media, Tourism, Arts, Culture, Sport and the Gaeltacht.

It is a periodic bone of contention, as Ireland does not have the same approach to its islands as Norway, which believes in right of access. However, many improvements were made during Fianna Fáíl Galway West TD Éamon Ó Cuív's time as minister. The Irish Island Federation, Comdháil Oileáin na hÉireann, represents island issues at national and international level.

The 12 offshore islands with registered voters have long argued that having to cast their vote early puts them at a disadvantage – especially as improved transport links mean that ballot boxes can be transported to the mainland in most weather conditions, bar the winter months. Legislation allowing them to vote on the same day as the rest of the State wasn't passed in time for the February 2020 general election.

Yes, but check tide tables ! Omey island off north Connemara is accessible at low tide and also runs a summer race meeting on the strand. In Sligo, 14 pillars mark the way to Coney island – one of several islands bearing this name off the Irish coast.

Cape Clear or Oileán Chléire is the country's most southerly inhabited island, eight miles off the west Cork coast, and within sight of the Fastnet Rock lighthouse, also known as the "teardrop of Ireland".
Skellig Michael off the Kerry coast, which has a monastic site dating from the 6th century. It is accessible by boat – prebooking essential – from Portmagee, Co Kerry. However, due to Covid-19 restrictions, it was not open to visitors in 2020.
All islands have bird life, but puffins and gannets and kittiwakes are synonymous with Skellig Michael and Little Skellig. Rathlin island off Antrim and Cape Clear off west Cork have bird observatories. The Saltee islands off the Wexford coast are privately owned by the O'Neill family, but day visitors are permitted access to the Great Saltee during certain hours. The Saltees have gannets, gulls, puffins and Manx shearwaters.
Vikings used Dublin as a European slaving capital, and one of their bases was on Dalkey island, which can be viewed from Killiney's Vico road. Boat trips available from Coliemore harbour in Dalkey. Birdwatch Ireland has set up nestboxes here for roseate terns. Keep an eye out also for feral goats.
Plenty! There are regular boat trips in summer to Inchagoill island on Lough Corrib, while the best known Irish inshore island might be the lake isle of Innisfree on Sligo's Lough Gill, immortalised by WB Yeats in his poem of the same name. Roscommon's Lough Key has several islands, the most prominent being the privately-owned Castle Island. Trinity island is more accessible to the public - it was once occupied by Cistercian monks from Boyle Abbey.

©Afloat 2020