#rcyc – It was as a Thursday night should be! This is a quote from former RCYC Admiral Conor O'Donovan as he returned to the club after racing on a glorious summer evening writes Claire Bateman. It was the first evening of the Union Chandlery league and the Royal Cork clubhouse looked resplendent with the new mosaic compass at the base of the flagstaff and the newly awarded Eco blue flag for the Royal Cork marina flying proudly in the warm evening breeze.

The twenty six strong fleet sailed in a 10knot E/SE breeze. Adrielle was the committee boat with Paul O'Shea as principal race officer and he sent the fleet on a course first to Corkbeg and then to Cuskinny before a beat to East Ferry 2. They then had a run against the blinding wonderful sunset to No. 12 and had some loops between Corkbeg and Grassy. The whitesail fleet only had one loop before finishing the race.

The evening ended with a BBQ for competitors.

In glorious sunshine, with some real summer heat at last, the town of Cobh in Cork Harbour was en féte to day writes Claire Bateman.

Scroll down for photos by Bob Bateman.

Adding to the mardi gras atmosphere and towering over the town was the magnificent cruise ship, Independence of the Seas, a Freedom Class Vessel of some 154,407 gross tonnes and 1120ft. in length.

She carries 4,370 passengers catered for by 1,360 crew.

She is a regular visitor to the Port of Cork that has fifty scheduled cruise ship calls for this season.

Today in Cobh could have been a scene from Spain or France such was the colour, excitement, entertainment on the promenade, food and craft fairs.

#CorkHarbour - Rowboat and kayak trips, harbour cruises, street markets and much more will be in store for Cork Harbour's maritime festival Ocean to City from tomorrow 1 June.

The highlight of the 10-day festival as it's been since 2005 will be An Rás Mór on Saturday 8 June, a 28km rowing race that celebrates Cork's unique maritime heritage and attracts entries from all over the world.

The course begins at Crosshaven and crosses Cork Harbour via Cobh, Monkstown, Passage and Blackrock before reaching the finish line at Lapp's Quay in Cork’s city centre.

An expected 500 Irish and international rowers will compete in a diverse range of vessels including currachs, Irish coastal rowing boats, Bantry longboats, kayaks, Cornish pilot gigs and Chinese dragon boats.

On-street entertainment, food markets and live music will also reverberate from the Lapp's Quay finish line throughout the day before the finale event and prize giving which will take place in the Clarion Hotel.

Other events during the week include the Dragon Boat Challenge tomorrow afternoon from 2pm-8pm at Lapp's Quay and kayak expeditions along the River Lee on Tuesday 4 June and Friday 7 June - not to mention the Cork City Marathon on Bank Holiday Monday 3 June.

For more see the festival programme HERE.

Crosshaven lifeboat rescued a faller in Cork Harbour this afternoon.

Coast Guard radio paged the volunteers of Crosshaven RNLI lifeboat at the request of the Ambulance Service after a male fell from height onto the foreshore
near Cobh.

The lifeboat with Kieran Coniry, Ian Venner and Vincent Fleming launched at 3.35pm and made its way to the incident.

On arrival, It was agreed to medevac the casualty and stretcher by lifeboat to an accessible slipway in Cobh, where once again the casualty was handed back into the care of the ambulance service for transport to hospital.

Cork's Crosshaven inshore lifeboat launched at 1.25pm today to reports of a 37' dismasted yacht off Roberts Head on the Cork harbour coastline. (See video below)

The crew of Alan Venner, James Fegan and Vince Fleming made best speed to the yacht about 5 miles from the station.

On arrival the crew helped secure the remains of the mast to the toe rail before escorting the yacht back to Crosshaven.

The lifeboat gave the yacht an alongside tow into it's marina berth as it entered Crosshaven.

Weather conditions were good with a force 5 South westerly wind. The lifeboat was rehoused and ready for service at 16.30.

#optimist – Twin brothers Harry and Johnny Durcan in top two slots at the youth sailing Optimist Trials with two races left to be sailed today  at Royal Cork Yacht Club writes Claire Bateman.

Fifty six Optimist invitees based, on results from National and Regional events during 2012, were invited to participate in trials to select teams to represent Ireland at World and European events. A selection of an under twelve years Development Squad will also be made to compete in Britain.

The first trial took place at Lough Derg Sailing Club consisting of an eight race series and the second trial, also an eight race series, is currently due to finish at Royal Cork Yacht Club today.

14 year old twins Johnny and Harry Durcan of the host club, currently lead the fleet on 32 and 43 points respectively. However, Harry is all set try to top his brother tomorrow. Johnny, an all round sailor, has emerged from his Optimist specialist twin's shadow, to hold first place by 11 points followed by Megan Parker of SSC in third place on 71 points followed in fourth place by her club mate Alix Buckley on 80 points.

In fifth place is James McCann of the host club on 81 points.

The weather yesterday was 15 to 22 knots of wind which tested the fleet especially the under twelves, and congratulations are due to all on having made the trials and putting up a tremendous display of dedicated sailing.

Huge excitement this morning as the top 56 Optimist youth sailors in Ireland congregate in Royal Cork Yacht Club for the second leg of the 2013 Trials series in Cork Harbour.

The Trials series takes place over two long weekends. Comprising 16 races it is the selection process for the 2013 Optimist teams. 19 sailors will compete in the Optimist World Championships (Lake Garda), European Championships(Lake Balaton, Hungary) and the French Nationals (Crozon, Brittany).

In addition, all sailors in their 12th year or younger will be selected for the Under 12 squad which will compete in the UK Optimist Nationals in Largs, Scotland.

The first leg of Trials traditionally coincides with the Youth Nationals event, so 8 races have already been completed in Lough Derg Yacht Club over the Easter holiday. The host club for the second leg (RYC) is watching its own sailors anxiously as four of them are currently placed in the top 5 positions, which will make the Worlds team - Harry and Johnny Durcan, Richard McGinley and James McCann, with Alix Buckley (SSC) the only girl in the top 5.

On the water, the Race Officer on Irish Mist was able to set up his mark close to the no. 10 buoy thus giving a long beat in to Luck beach and the fleet got in three races today and the trials continue tomorrow and Monday.

Perfect sailing conditions on the south coast marked the finale of the Marshall Marine Textiles April sailing League at Royal Cork Yacht Club on Saturday writes Claire Bateman.

There was a northerly breeze tempered by the bright sunshine and the cruisers were sent to No. 5 before beating in the harbour to No. 10 and then on to a course that gave them plenty of running, reaching and beating before returning to finish at Grassy. The day was described by Batt O'Leary, winner of IHS, as a wonderful and most enjoyable day of sailing of which there have not been too many so far this season.

Also sailing in the harbour were Fevas and some Laser Radials out for practice. However, the biggest gathering of boats was reserved for the Optimists, with the beginners group having a ball with their Instructors and other more senior Optimist sailors giving a helping hand.

Also in view of the forthcoming Optimist trials next weekend for the International Team, a group of Optimist Sailors from Kinsale Yacht Club were working up and joined with a group from TeamX Training from Dublin who were accompanied by their Coach Denis Passke assisted by Séafra Guilfoyle and they later joined in with the regular Royal Cork Optimist sailors racing under Race Officer Michael McCann.

Hopefully today saw the start of the fine weather for the coming sailing season and the new Optimist Class Captain, Frank Thompson, should be very pleased with the success of the day and the previous weekend highly successful novice intruductory session.

#coastguard – Minister for Transport, Tourism & Sport Leo Varadkar has welcomed the opening of a new state-of-the-art Irish Coast Guard facility at Crosshaven in Co. Cork.

The purpose-built facility was developed by the Department of Transport, Tourism & Sport and the OPW to provide a modern base for Crosshaven Volunteer Coast Guard Unit, as well as a Coast Guard Regional HQ and Training centre. The building can also serve as an emergency management co-ordination centre for use by other statutory services.

Minister Varadkar said: 'The Crosshaven team is made up of 20 local volunteer members and I am delighted to have this opportunity to thank them for their dedication and hard work. They train every week and provide weekly for a 24 hour, seven day emergency response to shoreline and coastal emergencies. I also want to congratulate the volunteers who today received their long-service medals. They are richly deserved'.

The new station was officially opened on behalf of the Government by Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Simon Coveney, who also presented long service medals to volunteers drawn from local Coast Guard Units. Following the ceremony a Coast Guard helicopter landed in the vicinity of the station, affording members of the public an opportunity to view the helicopter and to meet the crew.

The largest element of the Crosshaven building is the boathouse or garage area, which is fitted with large roller shutter doors to allow for the rapid response of vehicles and boats. The upper level has an operations room, office and training room.

Following the success of previous events, Meitheal Mara will host the third annual Cork Harbour Summer School on Monday 10th June 2013 at the NCMI [National Maritime College of Ireland], Ringaskiddy.

The Summer School will have stories about seafaring and traditional boat-building and rowing from Ireland and overseas.

Workshops where experiences of maritime projects will be exchanged.

The 3rd Cork Harbour Summer School will be the finale of Ocean to City, Cork's Maritime Festival which will feature a programme of activities from Saturday 1st June to Monday June 11th.

There will be ample time for mingling and exchange of views informally between contributors and audience, which is an integral part of this event.