#corkharbour – Failte is the appropriate name for the first Irish boat most foreign ships and cruise liners will meet when they enter Cork harbour. The Port of Cork today officially named a new pilot boat at the Port of Cork City Marina. Built by Safehaven Marine, "Failte" will be replacing the "Sonia" which was named after Sonia O'Sullivan and has served the Port gallantly for the past fourteen years.

Dermot O'Mahoney, Chairman of the Port of Cork said "An Irish welcome is synonymous with the Port of Cork and reflects our attitude to all vessels that call to our harbour so it is fitting that we are christening our new pilot boat "Failte" today".

Captain Pat Farnan, Harbour Master and Deputy Chief Executive of the Port of Cork continued "Our pilots and launch crew provide a service that is second to none. Their skill and seamanship has seen some of the world's largest vessels such as the "Queen Mary 2" and the "Independence of the Seas" navigated safely in and out of our Port and I have no doubt "Failte" will serve the Port well for many years to come. The launches are required to operate in all weather conditions, 365 days a year and must be built to a very high standard to make this possible."

Safehaven Marine is a local Cork based company, employing 25 staff in Little Island and Youghal. Since the company was founded in 2008, they have supplied pilot boats to countries across the globe from Scandinavia to the Middle East and are now one of Europe's leading manufacturers of GRP pilot boat.

Safehaven Marine, Managing Director Frank Kowalski commented "We are delighted to once again be supplying the Port of Cork's new pilot vessel, "Failte" having also built their last new pilot boat, the "Gleann Mór" six years ago. It is extra special for us to be working with our local Port in delivering this vessel, which is a proud example of our high level design and engineering."

The pilot launches undertake in excess of 3,000 services per annum to vessels of all types including cruise ships and cargo vessels.

#rnil – A French yacht with a fouled propelller  on passage to Kinsale in foggy conditions has been towed safely to Crosshaven in Co. Cork by the RNLI. At 7.20pm last night, Valentia Coast Guard tasked Crosshaven RNLI lifeboat to assist a 12m yacht with two people on board, 2 miles south of Power Head that had a fouled propellor. Weather conditions at the time were calm with heavy fog banks rolling off the coast.

Roberts Head is midway between the mouth of Cork Harbour and Kinsale the French registered yacht was on passage to Kinsale when they became entangled in an old lobster pot line and were effectively anchored. Crosshaven Lifeboat under the command of Ian Venner with crew Ritchie Kelleher and Vincent Fleming cut away the line and took the yacht in tow, arriving back in Crosshaven some 2 hours later.

The yacht was safely berthed at the Boatyard.

#COBH REGATTA - A parish priest is set to join a group of Cobh residents who will abseil from the turrets of the town's cathedral in an effort to save the Cobh People's Regatta.

According to the Irish Examiner, the fundraising challenge aims to support the annual regatta, which will run this year from 17-19 August.

"There are so many worthy causes out there, we needed something unique and this is it," said organiser Kathleen Geary. "I looked for an iconic building in Cobh for the abseil and the cathedral fitted the bill."

Fr Michael Leamy not only gave permission for the group to use the cathedral for the event this Saturday 4 August, but also signed up himself and is training hard with his 14 fellow abseilers at Ardmore Adventures.

Last year's regatta enjoyed plenty of wind and sunshine for the boats taking part, as reported on Afloat.ie.

#rnli – Two young teenagers were rescued last night by the Crosshaven RNLI lifeboat after being cut off by the tide at Fort Camden. The two boys tried to make their way to safety across the rocks as the tide came in and wisely retreated back to the safety of Camden pier when they realized they were putting themselves in danger. The boys contacted the Coast Guard at Valentia who requested the volunteer crew to launch Crosshaven lifeboat at 10.15pm, to assist. The two youths were brought back to the lifeboat station at Crosshaven and required no further assistance.

#corkweek2012 – Last night's Upbeat Opening to Cork Week 2012 took place in a mood of palpable optimism and with the expectancy of a wonderful week ahead writes Claire Bateman. SCROLL DOWN THE PAGE FOR MORE PHOTOS! The buoyant mood had been set and the expectancy raised to even greater heights by the huge success of the Saturday and Sunday All Aboard @ Cork Week open days at the Royal Cork Yacht Club that far exceeded all expectations and resulted in the club being visited by over a thousand members of the public over the two days. It was a phenomenal experience for all involved and great credit must go to all concerned and in particular to the Cork Week Chairman, Pat Lyons, who mustn't have slept for six months at least.

The Official Opening that nearly didn't happen, but that's a story for the end of this paragraph, was performed by one of our own members, the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Simon Coveney, who received a rapturous welcome. The Minister did indeed deliver a splendid speech that was both uplifting and encouraging. He told us what it felt like to remember being in the club as a child of five years of age and never would have thought in his wildest dreams he would be coming back as Minister for the Marine. He referred to the importance of the loyal sponsors who have remained with the event and named them all, in particular he spoke of the importance of the support from Fáilte Ireland with the publicity garnered by the event. He told of the huge work put in by Pat Lyons, Cork Week Chairman and Admiral Peter Deasy, and was full of admiration for the effort put in by the staff and particular attention was paid to the volunteer input by the club members. He also thanked the efforts put in by the overseas visitors who had travelled to attend and the huge home support. The Minister was so enthused and obviously so much at home in his own club he was utterly relaxed and the enthusiastic audience responded with their applause. In fact, he was so relaxed he was about to leave the podium when he suddenly remembered he had come to open Cork Week and hadn't officially done so and returned again to the podium to loud cheers from the assembled throng as he declared the event officially open.

It was very pleasing to note the attendance of so many Royal Cork former Admirals at the Official Opening Amongst these were Bill Walsh, who sailed Coral in the first ever Cork week in 1978, Tony O'Connor, Paddy McGlade, Anthony O'Leary, Bill O'Mahony and last but certainly not least former Admiral T.E. Crosbie, who, while we were waiting for the Official Opening to take place, regaled your scribe in his own inimitable style with wonderful tales going back to 1938 when the club was the Royal Munster Yacht Club. Now in his eighty second year former Admiral Crosbie will tomorrow (Monday) compete in Cork Week helming his well known 'No Excuse'.

So on that note I return to Cork Week 2012 and wish all competitors and officials an enjoyable week with safe sailing and great competition.

#corkweek – Royal Cork Yacht Club is bracing itself for the arrival of well over a thousand competitors in the next few days and over the past few weeks, local sailors have been working hard preparing their yachts moored in the safe confines of the marina. A steady stream of yachts from overseas has begun to arrive in Crosshaven to get ready for the big event, with many more expected to over the coming days.

Whilst the courses for Cork Week remain in the same likeable format, Cork Week Racing Chairman, Anthony O'Leary has revealed that there are some enterprising changes to the Harbour Course Race. "For the last day of racing, we intend to have the whole fleet in Cork Harbour, which should be a fantastic spectacle," commented O'Leary. "The Race Committee has also decided to award a long standing and very prestigious trophy at this year's event. The Carroll Cup dates back to 1858 and this year it will be the prize for a Harbour Race Time Trial. The Moonduster Mark – Cobh Mark –No.18 buoy section is a distance of 1.8nm and it is our intention to time each boat in the Harbour Race over this distance and apply their IRC handicap, to find the winner of the Carroll Cup 2012. The particular part of the course passes an area known as The Holy Ground and is featured in song and verse and is very much part of the folklore of Cork Harbour."

The Royal Cork is the oldest yacht club in the world and a glittering array of silverware will be awarded at Cork Week. In addition, for 2012 all class winners will also go home with a fine keepsake. The Belleek Group has been making fine china in Ireland for well over a century and overall class winners will receive a Belleek Living Trophy as a memento of their success.

Over one hundred yachts will be competing at Cork Week and the fun-factor looks like it could be at an all time high. Dermot Cronin from the Malahide Yacht Club will be racing his First 40.7, Encore and this is not the first venture to Cork Week for Dermot and his crew, as he explains; "We enjoyed 2010 so much, even though we suffered a badly cracked mast with my old J/35. We did a pub-crawl to 'wake' our lost mast and loved the barbecued cod and black pudding served up by the local pubs. We'll definitely be setting out in search of that this year. I particularly like a smaller regatta at Cork. After top class racing on the water, shoreside has a more laid back feel than past years. In the days of 600+ boats, getting to the bar was like wrestling through rush hour on the London underground!"

The ½ tonner "Insatiable" was built in 1985 and beautifully restored with the help of the Pendennis Shipyard in Falmouth. The crew are all friends from Cornwall and include a National and European Laser 4000 champion, Jon Wilson. Skipper Tim Cunliffe explains why the team have decided to bring "Insatiable" to Cork Week for the first time. "Most of the crew have been to Cork Week before and what makes us come back is good racing and on shore entertainment, some provided by our own crew! All of us have sailed to a very high level and we see Cork Week as a major regatta that we hope to do well in and hopefully win.

From the Clyde, Christine and Robin Murray's First 40, "Elf Too" will be competing at Cork Week, "Elf Too" arrived safely in Crosshaven on the 24th June and Christine is really looking forward to Cork Week. "This is the fourth time, I have come for the regatta and I just love it, Crosshaven is where my husband and I confessed our undying love for each other. The racing is so well managed and we all just have such a great laugh. We are also looking for a crewmember for Cork Week to cover for maternity leave for our pit-girl, if you apply you will definitely need a sense of humour." For more information visit: www.corkweek.ie

#CORK HARBOUR NEWS - Two anchors were recovered recently from the wreck of the historic Easter Rising gun running vessel in Cork Harbour, as The Irish Times reports.

Divers led by Eoin McGarry from Dungarvan and archaeologist Laurence Dunne from Tralee retrieved the anchors from the wreck of the Aud some 36 metres below the surface on Tuesday 19 June, in an operation that was two years in the planning.

The Aud was carrying 20,000 rifles and millions of rounds of ammunition in a shipment from the German military, arranged by Roger Casement, when the British navy uncovered the plan and took the vessel as it approached Tralee Bay.

But the vessel was scuttled by its Captain Karl Spindler as the ship was being taken to Cork Harbour. The wreck has rested at the bottom of the harbour near Daunt's Rock ever since.

The Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht says the anchors will be undergoing conservation work over the next three years and will eventually be displayed in various locations provided by Cobh Town Council and Tralee and Fenit Harbour Commissioners.

RTÉ News has video footage of the dive team's discoveries, while The Irish Times has more on the story HERE.

#RESCUE - The Evening Echo reports on the 'miracle rescue' of a man who fell from his boat in Cork Harbour after he was spotted by telescope.

The incident happened on Saturday, when the 37-year-old man from Carrigaline went overboard from a RIB near Haulbowline Island. It is understood that the man was struck by the RIB after he entered the water.

With no other boats in the area at the time, it was by a sheer stroke of luck that he was spotted from a mile away by a man looking out through a telescope at Fort Camden in Crosshaven.

A rescue effort was quickly mobilised, with the Cork Pilot boat and Crosshaven lifeboat both speeding to the scene.

The man, who was found seriously injured, was taken to the Crosshaven lifeboat station from where he was rushed to hospital.

An RNLI spokesperson said the man was "incredibly lucky to have been spotted from shore".

The injured man's family have since praised the telescope user, who is as yet unknown, for his quick thinking in ensuring the rescue of the father-of-two. The Evening Echo has more on the story HERE.

It's the second dramatic rescue in Cork in the past few weeks, coming after brave volunteers from the Baltimore RNLI halted a runaway RIB heading for a busy pier, as previously reported on Afloat.ie.

Cork Harbour's Dave Hennessy is getting ready for his seventh Round Ireland race in two weeks time. The two times winner of the 704-mile offshore race in the vintage Granada 38 Cavatina gives some advice on what's involved in a successful circuit of Ireland.

Well we are off again on our seventh Round Ireland Yacht Race, this time with the very grateful sponsorship of CH Marine on board. We were asked for some ideas on tactics for the race, as we have been lucky enough to win it twice in the past.

Tactics

I think tactics play a small part in this race.The choice of boat would be the first consideration. It is a 704–mile offshore race around Ireland. The boat needs to be able to sail to her handicap over a wide range of conditions over a six day period by night and day. Cavatina is a 1979 design, weighs nine tons, has a long, sharp overhanging bow, a narrow enough stern, and like many heavy displacement boats, can keep moving in light conditions as well as coming into her own in heavy winds. In this year's fleet we seem very much the tortoise among the hares but we have been there before! The overall Fastnet winner in 2005 was a French" tortoise" beating us into second place overall by 22 minutes.

Seamanship

The next 'tactical' issue is crew. We are 12 years campaigning Cavatina offshore and have almost the same crew lining out every year. Our average age would be in late 50s but the group bring a range of skills to the boat – experience, stamina, good humour, sailing ability, mechanical, electrical skills.

The 'good humoured' crew of Cavatina go for their seventh Round Ireland race later this month. Photo: Bob Bateman

We managed to finish the '07 Fastnet where 240 of the 300 entrants were forced to retire.This is fair testimony to the crew's seamanship. I recall a bad night a few years ago approaching Inistrahull off the north coast under spinnaker with a rising gale forecast. We needed to drop the kite, gybe to avoid Scotland, but when we went to ease the halyard we found it had jumped the sheave and jammed solidly in the block at the masthead.

There was no way under the conditions to go up the mast. There was talk of shooting it with a flare even, but it was John Murphy who had the idea to ease the sheets as the boat slid down a wave, causing the kite to rise and the halyard to sit right on the sheave once again.The plan worked, kite came down for a few hours, went up again meaning we reached the fair tide at Rathlin and went on to win that race overall!

Sail Wardrobe

Another "tactical" issue to plan for is your sail wardrobe.You need to look at your boat's strengths and weaknesses in order to sail at your best in all conditions. Eric Lisson is shrewd in this regard and saw that the point of sailing from being close hauled to when you can carry a kite on a tight reach was critical for us. With Des McWilliam they came up with a Code Zero which we are only supposed to carry up to 15-knots apparent. This sail has won races for us. We also have a big overlapping furling Genoa.This means we can easily "change gear" when other crews are dragging headsails on deck or putting off marginal calls. Our main is quite small and is only reefed when it really blows.This again is a setup I feel lends itself well to offshore racing.

Cavatina passes along the Wicklow coast at the start of the 2010 Round Ireland. Photo: Bob Bateman

Victualling

Yet another issue to deal with at the planning stage is food.The crew need to be fed well to sail at their best over that time length. We pre-cook and freeze 6 main meals which are eaten in evening.We cook an FIB (full Irish breakfast) in the morning, usually served in sandwiches. Proper clothing is also essential. Thanks again CH Marine. We finished in Wicklow one year with two crew definitely hypothermic who would have been no good to us if there was another 50 miles in the race!

Lady Luck

Probably the most honest thing i can say re on the water tactics is that it is mostly luck.There are 4 tidal gates to negotiate. You sprint to Tuskar to find that gate open or closed. You slog to windward to Fastnet along the south coast, beating into the bays, risking being becalmed, or you take a chance on a long starboard tack to the south to avoid light winds.You push to reach the North Channel between Rathlin and Scotland with the gate open.This is the most critical piece of luck. We made it last year only to be completely becalmed towards Belfast Lough managing 6 miles in 10 hours! We didn't win that race! The final gate is approaching Wicklow itself. Many is the boat has come to a halt in view of the town lights, trying to sail against five knot tides in light night airs.

So if it is really down to luck why do so many do it? Yes it is a challenge heading off south past Wicklow Head into the "unknown" but for me it is the indescribable sense of achievement in "completing the circle". DO IT!

Good luck to crew of Eric Lisson, Ian Hickey, Lennie Donnery, Sean Hanley, Kelly and Dave Hennessy!

#1720 – With no wind expected for Cork Harbour today Mark Mansfield retained his 1720 national title after two days of competition in Cork Harbour. See our earlier reports from 1720 Day one and 1720 Day two for results and action photos from Bob Bateman.