Four Cork divers put a full year of training and preparation to the test as they embarked on an expedition to the wreck of the Lusitania off the Old Head of Kinsale last week.

As Cork Beo reports, Timmy Carey — who had previously explored the wreck five times — was joined by three novices in the first ever all-Cork dive to the final resting place of the RMS Lusitania, the Cunard liner which was torpedoed by a German U-boat during the First World War.

For many years the wreck was owned by US businessman Gregg Bemis, who supported numerous dives to the site to learn more about its fate — which has sparked numerous theories about its demise and its cargo. Some of these were tackled in a somewhat controversial documentary by National Geographic in 2012.

Bemis signed over ownership of the shipwreck to the Old Head of Kinsale Lusitania Museum a year before his death at the age of 91 in May 2020.

Considered the “Mount Everest of dives”, the Lusitania is a challenging dive at almost 100 metres below the surface in total darkness.

But Ronan Barry, Brendan Desmond and Dick Vaughan, fellow members of the Blackwater Sub Aqua Club along with Carey, proved their mettle as they had the rare opportunity to get up close with the wreck for nearly half an hour.

Cork Beo has more on the story HERE.

As many other fleets have put their boats to bed for the winter, Kinsale Yacht Club is gearing up to host the Laser Class for an end of season event this coming weekend.

The event is proudly sponsored by James Matthews of Matthews of Cork

This event follows on from the hugely successful staging of one of the few sailing events that took place last year again, under the stewardship of Principle Race Officer, John Stallard.

The largest fleet of the event is the ILCA 4 with 26 entered, followed by 24 ILCA 6 and 11 ILCA 7

Local sailors Micheal O'Suilleabhain will be hoping to go one better than last year where is he won the ILCA 6 but this year has entered the ILCA 7 fleet; last year ILCA 7 winner Paddy Cunnane will do his best to maintain his crown.

Jonathan O'Shaughnessy, following on from his Nationals win, will hope to maintain his form in the ILCA 6 fleet but there will be stiff competition from the master section of the fleet and local sailor Dorothy Matthews.

The ILCA 4 fleet has a number of new sailors moving up from other fleets but maintains loads of experience within the ranks with Luke Turvey from Howth, Eimer McMorrow Moriarty from TBSC expected to battle against local sailors Darragh Collins, Isabel McCarthy and Daniel Mallon

Full details along with NOR and Sailing Instructions can be found here

The final race of the championship decided the top four places overall of the O'Leary Life Irish Dragon Nationals at Kinsale with Dublin Bay sailors Peter Bowring, Neil Hegarty and David Williams taking the title.

The race was sailed in a consistent 10 knots of breeze from the southeast with a swell.

After a general recall, the fleet started on the U flag.

At the end of the first run, the top four, Serafina, Phantom, Ghost and Little Fella, arrived at the gate only seconds apart and again chose different sides. After rounding the windward mark the second time and while Phantom, Serafina and Little Fella were covering each other on the left side of the run, Ghost came down the right side, took advantage of a slight wind shift and established a substantial lead.

Third overall Serafina - Daniel & Sean Murphy, Brian Goggin & John O'Connor

Fourth overall - Cameron Good, Simon Furney & Henry Kingston Photo: Bob Bateman

On the final beat, Ghost chose to sail up the middle of the course, followed by Phantom and Serafina while Little Fella went up the right side. Ghost could not be caught and took line honours. Little Fella took advantage of a good lift to recover from 5th to 2nd. Phantom's 3rd, however, was enough to secure Peter Bowring, Neil Hegarty and David Williams the title, Serafina came 4th.

With Phantom, the National Champion, 2nd to 4th ended on 16 points each, and it went to countback. Two wins were enough to secure Ghost - Colm Dunne, Colm Daly & Dan McCloskey 2nd overall with Serafina - Daniel & Sean Murphy, Brian Goggin & John O'Connor in 3rd. Little Fella - Cameron Good, Simon Furney & Henry Kingston had to settle for 4th.

Dragon prizewinners at Kinsale Yacht Club Photo courtesy of Matthias Hellstern

Click here for results. See photo galleries here and day two here

Two wins for the Royal St. George Yacht Club's Phantom skippered by Neil Hegarty put the Dublin Bay Dragon crew in the lead after day two of the class national championships in Kinsale in County Cork.

After four races sailed (and no discard), Hegarty, sailing with Peter Bowring and David Williams, has three race wins to his credit, giving the Dublin trio a four-point margin over day one leader Cameron Good of the host club. 

Brian Goggin's Serafina, also of Kinsale, is third overall. 

Lighter conditions than the first day led Race Officer John Stallard to make the decision to shorten the race at the end of the second run in race four. MarJ, Adrian Bendon KYC, secured second with Serafina 3rd and Ghost 4th.

With a discard due to kick in tomorrow, three races are left in the championship and light airs are forecast.

Results are here

Dragon Irish Nationals Day two Photo Gallery by Bob Bateman

A lone sailor was rescued after his boat suffers engine failure and a sail blow out off the Old Head of Kinsale.

The Courtmacsherry All-Weather Trent Class RNLI Lifeboat was called out this afternoon Tuesday at 2 pm to go to the aid of a 30-foot yacht with a lone sailor on board that got into difficulties two miles south-west of the Old Head of Kinsale in West Cork. The Courtmacsherry All-Weather Lifeboat, Frederick Storey Cockburn under Coxswain Sean O'Farrell and a crew of 5 were away quickly from their moorings, after being alerted by the Coastguard that the yacht had suffered engine failure and a sail blow out on passage from Glandore to Kinsale.

Once the Lifeboat reached the causality at 2.26 pm, Lifeboat Coxswain O'Farrell assessed the situation. As the casualty was completely disabled and conditions at sea were worsening, a decision was taken to put the Lifeboat towline on board the yacht and proceed under tow to the nearest port of Kinsale. Conditions at sea today were fresh and blustery Force 5 winds with strong 3 metre swells off the Old Head. The Lifeboat proceeded to tow the causality back to Kinsale at a slow, safe speed and arrived at the safe surrounds of the Harbour Marina at 4.30 pm. The sailor was mighty pleased to see the Lifeboat today and expressed his extreme thanks to all involved in today’s rescue.

The RNLI Lifeboat crewmembers under Coxswain Sean O'Farrell after they arrived back to base in Courtmacsherry

The Courtmacsherry RNLI Lifeboat voluntary Deputy Launching Authority Vincent O'Donovan said, “With the freshening winds today, it was great to reach the causality so quickly and give the Lone sailor the comfort that he required. Great praise is due again for the fast response of all the crew and officers who left their workplaces and rushed to the station to help a fellow seaman in distress at sea this afternoon”.

The Courtmacsherry RNLI Lifeboat Crew involved in this afternoon’s callout were Coxswain Sean O Farrell, Mechanic Stuart Russell and crewmembers Mark John Gannon, Dara Gannon, Dave Philips and Dean Hennessy.

This was the 21st callout of 2021 for the All-Weather Lifeboat Station in Courtmacsherry.

Royal Cork J/109 Jelly Baby was the winner of SCORA's coastal race from Kinsale to Baltimore completing the passage in a corrected time of 7 hours 57 minutes and 16 seconds. 

There were six entrants for the overnight feeder race to join boats already in Baltimore and Schull for next week's Calves Week Regatta. 

It is the second coastal victory for the Brian Jones skippered Crosshaven yacht this season, having previously won Kinsale Yacht Club's Fastnet Race in July.

The Jones crew beat Michael Carroll's larger Elan 40 from Kinsale that finished on a corrected time of 8:53:01.

Frank Doyle's J112 Cara was the only other finisher with George Radley's Half Tonner Cortegada, Frank Caul's Prince of Tides and Padraig O'Donovan's Chameleon all retiring.

The six boat SCORA Kinsale to Baltimore Race fleet make slow progress along the West Cork coast Photo: Bob Bateman

A prizegiving will be held at Baltimore Sailing Club today. 

Following the departure of Paul Murphy after 18 years of service, Richard McKinlay has been appointed Marina Manager at Kinsale Yacht Club.

He is joined by Ciaran Newport as Maintenance Technician on the marina.

The club has installed a mesh network for Wi-Fi on the marina.

Wins in the second and third races in the Squib Southern Championships at Kinsale Yacht Club this afternoon has handed the overnight lead to Northern Ireland's Peter Wallace and Fiona Ward.

The Wallace and Ward partnership from Royal North of Ireland Yacht Club on Belfast Lough have a four-point cushion over local Kinsale pair Matthias Hellstern and Colm Daly on 11 points. 

KYC pair Matthias Hellstern and Colm Daly are lying in second place Photo: Bob Bateman

Currently in third place, Kinsale clubmates Ian Travers and Keith O'Riordan are on 12 points. 

12 boats are competing with ten from the host club and two Northern visitors.

Full results are here

Racing continues tomorrow

A well-timed postponement meant the nine-boat Kinsale Yacht Club SCORA Fastnet Race got away in a great breeze this morning at 10 am for its annual offshore race even though the fleet will not now round the Rock but the much closer Kowloon Bridge south cardinal buoy instead. 

Scroll down for start photo gallery below

The Kowloon Bridge buoy that marks the position of a wrecked ship is just off Toe Head on the West Cork coast giving boats a much easier chance of completing the course back to Kinsale in the forecasted light winds.

The boats started on a tight reach before popping spinnakers as they reached Kinsale's harbour mouth.

Sponsored by UK Sailmakers Ireland, the fleet includes the on form host club J109 entry of Artful Dodjer (Finnbarr O'Regan). 

The Kinsale J109 entry of Artful Dodjer (Finnbarr O'Regan) Photo: Bob Bateman

Last year's winner the Grand Soleil 40 Nieulargo (Denis and Annamarie Murphy) is also racing along with the Grand Soleil 34 Justina (John Treanor) from the National Yacht Club in Dun Laoghaire Harbour as well as other cruiser racers, Reavra Too, White Tiger, Valfreya and Flyover from Dunmore East in County Waterford. 

Grand Soleil 40 Nieulargo (Denis and Annamarie Murphy) Photo: Bob Bateman

The Dublin Bay Grand Soleil 34 Justina dockside in Kinsale with skipper John Treanor (left) and among the crew Adam Winkelmann (second from left) the organiser of June's Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Race Photo: Bob Bateman

Bob Bateman's Kinsale SCORA Fastnet Race Start Photo Gallery

Kinsale RNLI’s lifeboat launched on Saturday 3 July to help a solo yachtsman struggling at sea with damaged sails.

The yachtsman had left the Caribbean island of Carriacou on Thursday 13 May en route to the UK. But three weeks into the voyage, the 51ft ketch lost engine power, forcing the skipper to continue his 6,500km journey under sail.

He told his rescuers that his yacht was becalmed in the Atlantic for 10 days when the wind dropped. Then after he was able to resume his voyage, the sails were damaged, further hampering progress.

By the time the Irish Coast Guard became aware of his plight on Saturday morning, the vessel was travelling at just three knots per hour with no prospect of reaching its intended destination.

Kinsale RNLI’s volunteers tracked the vessel online throughout the day and grew increasingly concerned for its safety. At 6pm, the lifeboat was requested to launch by the coastguard to assess the situation, and the crew located the vessel off the Old Head of Kinsale.

Lifeboat helm Jonathan Connor placed crew member Felix Milner on board the stricken yacht and, after consultation, decided that taking the ketch under tow was necessary to assist the vessel to reach the nearest safe and suitable port.

Milner remained on board the yacht on the final leg of the journey to Kinsale Harbour to safeguard the wellbeing of the skipper, who was exhausted but uninjured despite his long ordeal.

After arriving into Kinsale at 9.15pm, the yachtsman enjoyed his first hot shower in over seven weeks before being reunited with his son and two daughters, who live in West Cork and were waiting for him on the pier.

Commenting on the rescue, the yachtsman said: “The RNLI Kinsale are some of the nicest people I have ever met. Their expertise and commitment leave me humbled. It is an institution I have always supported and will do so for the rest of my days.”

Kinsale helm Connor added: “It is a tribute to the yachtsman’s seamanship that he made a 6,500km voyage single-handed and remained calm and focused despite the many problems he encountered in the course of his journey.

“He is very fit and able but was clearly exhausted after 52 days alone at sea and it was the right decision to help him over the final hurdle and bring him safely to Kinsale.”