The Irish Coast Guard service today issued an important warning to the public about high winds, gales and flooded areas. This warning comes following a weather warning and a strong gale warning issued by Met Eireann today. Southwest winds veering westerly will strengthen during this afternoon with stormy conditions becoming widespread.

Speaking today, Chris Reynolds Director of the Coast Guard said: "The public is strongly advised not to go out on exposed coasts, cliffs, piers, harbour walls, beaches, promenades or any other coastal areas. The principal dangers from this weather system will be due to gusts of 100 to 140 km/hr expected with the most severe in exposed parts of Ulster and Connacht. Showers will be heavy and thundery at times merging to give longer spells of rain in the north. Highest temperatures 9 to 11 degrees. Huge waves can be whipped up by high seas. These waves can pose hazards to anyone close to the shoreline. In coastal waters, rough seas are often the cause for capsizing fishing vessels. Some of these accidents can take place so quickly that there is no time for the crew to send out distress signals."

He continued: "Do not attempt to cross at fast running river or flood water fords as they may be stronger and deeper than you think. Flooded urban areas may contain many hazards, not least of which include submerged open manholes and downed power lines. The combination of tides, forecasted gale warnings for the next day or so, high sea conditions and swollen rivers may result in very dangerous conditions. Remember to monitor weather broadcasts when travelling and heed the advice of the RSA on road use during severe weather and high winds ."

Specific advice from the Coast Guard today is:

· Stay away from the shoreline and do not engage in water sports;

· Owners of small vessels and fishing vessels in coastal waters should seek shelterand secure them properly with moorings;

· Ships in the open sea should take heeds of weather forecasts and warnings and avoid the sea area with the most treacherous conditions.

Mr. Reynolds ended by saying: "If you do see someone in difficulty in the sea, on the shore, cliffs, lakes or rivers dial 999 or 112 and ask for the Coast Guard. "

Some interesting Irish waterfront property is on the market on the Shannon Estuary at Foynes deepwater port in county Limerick and also at Passage East in Co. Waterford. The properties will be of interest to those in the marine industry and anyone looking for coastal property in Ireland too.

A significant commercial and industrial facility immediately opposite the entrance to Foynes port is being sold on the instruction of Shannon Foynes Port Company.

A former Pilot Station Building, Passage East, Co. Waterford is being sold on the instruction of the Port of Waterford. The 1500 sq. foot building is located within the village and in close proximity to the pier.

Perhaps either property can be the basis of a coastal home? If you're looking for inspiration, look no further than Sailing champion Brad Butterworth's new $3.9 million Auckland hideaway has won an architects' design prize in New Zealand.

The winning America's Cup skipper also stands to win a national award for his taste in housing. His Waiheke Island hideout, dubbed the Rock House, originally annoyed neighbours, who nicknamed it "Brad's Pit".

 

A Shannon Estuary search and rescue operation was mounted early yesterday (Wednesday) after a yacht was reported adrift and at risk of entering a busy shipping and ferry lane.

The alarm was raised shortly after 8.30am after a member of the public spotted the yacht drifting off Labasheeda village in south west Clare. The person reported that there appeared to be nobody on board the vessel. The Irish Coast Guard Marine Rescue Centre at Valentia in Co Kerry was contacted and staff there alerted the RNLI Lifeboat based at Kilrush. The Shannon based Coast Guard rescue helicopter was also scrambled. More HERE from Pat Flynn in the Clare Herald.

When Adam Flannery joined his family on holiday to Kilbaha, Co Clare this summer, little did he know that he would be assisting in a school science project that began some 6,000km away.

Yet that's exactly what happened when the 17-year-old picked up a message in a bottle on the beach at the Loop Head peninsula village.

"It was washed up on the shore, over the wall from Keatings Pub,” Adam's father Steve Flannery told the Clare Champion. “It was just an ordinary green wine bottle with a sealed rubber cork on it."

But the bottle was part of a study of ocean currents conducted by a science class at Melbourne High School, on the east coast of Florida, USA.

Adam followed the instructions inside to contact the school and give them the good news. Melbourne High science teacher Ethan Hall confirmed that the find was the first to cross the Atlantic in the four years he's conducted the project.

The bottle was thrown into the water close to the Gulf Stream in late April 2009 before beginning an incredible 16-month journey to west Clare at the mouth of the Shannon. It's currenty with the Flannery family at their home in Athlone, but they plan to return it to Kilbaha next summer.

The Irish Ports Association will hold the annual conference for the industry on Friday, 24 September. The venue is Thomond Park Conference Centre, Limerick and the theme is 'Ports Policy for an export led recovery'.

For further details and enquiries contact Evelyn or Carmel at Shannon Foynes Port Company at Tel: 00 353 (0)69 731 00, Fax: 353 (0)69 731 38 or Email:  [email protected]

In addition a PDF for the conference can be downloaded from the port company website www.sfpc.ie

The September Series of racing continued at Foynes Yacht Club last Sunday, where a record entry of craft 'took to the water' in their respective classes.

In class 1 Battle stands as the leader so far, closely followed by Hello and Golden Kopper.

In the white sails division Marengo is heading the group, who is beating stiff competition from the other yachts, and in the Mermaid division, Sea Fox and Argo are also battling for line honours.

The weather conditions were a force 4 to 5 westerly wind, with quite a large swell pertaining for most of the race.

The Officer of the Day, Ray McGibney sent class 1 down to the Loughill buoy and back up the Clare shore to round the Sturamus mark and finish at the clubline.

In a keenly contested race in class 1, Donal McCormack and John-Paul Buckley on Battle, fought off Liam Madden on Hello, who was closely followed by John and Edward Conway on Golden Kopper.

The white sails division raced down to the Loughill mark and back to the club finish line, and this is being led by Pat Finucane on Marengo, who has two wins so far. In second place is Dave Bevan on Mariposa.

In a very exciting race between Mermaid class captain, Conor Roche on Sea Fox and Darragh McCormack on Argo, who were literally 'neck and neck' for all of the race, but in the end the tactical skills of Conor took the better of Darragh at the finish line.

So far, the series has been well supported by all members, who are also vieing for the laurels in their divisions. Racing next Sunday starts at 1pm.

On Saturday last with the weather favourable, members of Foynes Yacht Club raced in the annual Cappa fixture, which has been on the sailing calendar for a considerable time.

Unfortunately, the Glin Castle race was cancelled beyond Foynes Yacht Club control, but instead the Cappa race was held on Saturday instead of Sunday.

Two classes raced, Class 1 and 2. Class 1 were racing for the Cappa Cup, while Class 2 competed for the Sean Keating Trophy.

Eleven yachts 'took to the water', where Officer of the Day, Ray McGibney sent both fleets 'off' for an 11am start. A force 4 to 5 north-westerly wind made sailing quite tricky for the fleet. With the tide 'flushing' down the estuary and choppy seas made the race somewhat interesting, where the boats had to tack to reach the Clare coastal village of Cappa.

With a hard fought race and more or less neck and neck, in class 1 winners of the recent Carrigaholt cup, Battle, emerged victorious beating off John and Edward Conway in Golden Kopper, who came in second. Third was Andrew Bracken on Joyrider. 

In class 2 the Sean Keating Trophy was won by James McCormack on Alphara; second was Pat Finucane on Marengo and third Jazmin 2.

A crews race back up the estuary to Cooleen Point took place, where a Bar-B-Que was held in the clubhouse afterwards, where the culinary delights of the chef's kept the hungry sailors wanting more.

Next Sunday the September series of racing will commence for all classes, and it is envisaged that all boats will be racing in their respective classes. All crew and skippers are asked to be at the club at 1pm, where a briefing will take place before racing. First gun for all races will be 2.30pm.

Club racing continues every Wednesday evening with first gun at 7pm.

A test flight for Ireland's first seaplane service took place in Cork Harbour on Friday afternoon. Harbour Flights Ireland has applied for planning permission to set up a landing base in Cobh to run its service having already acquired flight rights at Mountshannon, Co Clare. Test flights ran on Harbour Flights' four-seater plane. The Irish Times has a full report HERE. The company website is HERE.

Volunteers at Kilrush Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) station on the Shannon Estuary have received a new state-of-the-art lifeboat which enters service this month.

The Atlantic 85 RIB (Rigid Inflatable boat) is not only bigger and more powerful than Kilrush's existing craft but it also fitted with the latest Search and Rescue technology and instrumentation, equipping the service to continue saving lives into the next generation. Kilrush is one of only two stations in Ireland and the UK which will receive such an upgrade this year.

Following the construction of a new station in 1996, an Atlantic 21 B Class lifeboat was placed on temporary duty at the Kilrush station however it was replaced by a new Atlantic 75 lifeboat the following October. Fourteen years later, this vessel will now be replaced by the new Atlantic 85.

Kilrush Lifeboat Operations Manager John Lamb said, "This is a great vote of confidence in the crew here at Kilrush. It shows that we are doing what is being asked of us and that are being rewarded by being entrusted by this the latest in lifeboat technology and development"

The Atlantic class of lifeboats is named after Atlantic College, where the design was originally developed. Like previous RIBs, it has a manually operated self-righting mechanism, deploying an airbag mounted atop the A-frame arch. It is capable of being beached in an emergency without sustaining damage to engines or steering gear. The Atlantic 85 is fitted with radar and VHF direction finding equipment and can be operated safely in daylight in a force 6/7 and at night in a force 5/6 gale.

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In the first installment of a new weekly maritime blog on Afloat.ie, marine correspondent Tom MacSweeney says our ports are vital national assets;

It astonishes me that the Government should consider selling off the country’s ten major port companies - Dublin, Cork, Dun Laoghaire, Waterford, Shannon/Foynes, Drogheda, Galway, Wicklow, New Ross and Dundalk.

Ninety-five per cent of Irish exports and imports go by sea through our ports which are the vital entry and exit points of our transport system. To consider privatising them is an example of how unaware the Government is that Ireland is a small island community on the periphery of Europe.

The lesson of transport chaos caused by the Icelandic ash grounding aircraft this year has not been learned. It demonstrated how vital maritime transport is to this island nation.

Dublin Port Company - a profitable state company

This is a smash-and-grab raid, redolent of a bankrupt Government philosophy. It is one thing to consider selling off the family jewels when, at least, the householder would still have access to the house. To sell off the ports is akin to the householder selling off the driveway, porch and front door to the house, then having to pay for the right to use them to enter the house in the future.

The Government has failed to develop a national ports policy. In the Progressive Democrat-fuelled era when privatisation, competition and profits were its driving force, the ports were moved out of direct State ownership and turned into semi-State competing bodies. Iarnrod Eireann was permitted to largely opt out of rail freight operations through the ports. Turned loose to compete against each other, the port companies followed no overall national policy for the benefit of the nation and now their future has been put in the hands of a group whose chairman advocates the sale of State companies and has already shown a lack of concern for the marine sector by shutting down the national sail training programme.

Aspects of journalism these days disappoint me after 45 years in the profession. Colm McCarthy who led Bord Snip Nua, is now chairing what is, effectively, ‘board privatisation,’ yet sections of the media seem largely to accept his views without question. I have not seen a lot of reportage which refers to his scathing opposition to the building of the DART, the Dublin Area Rapid Transport system, which he described as financial insanity and profligacy. Had those views been accepted, there would be no DART in Dublin, the consequences of which today are interesting to consider.

Privatisation of the ports should be strongly opposed. These are vital national assets. The lesson of selling-off Eircom has also, apparently, been forgotten by the Government.

Dun Laoghaire Port on Dublin Bay

A Republic should be an entity in which there is open debate about public policy, not decision-making by elites. Flogging off our best assets, which is what this move by the Government is about, will not solve the nation’s problems. It is shocking to think that money from the sale of our vital transport arteries, the ports, could go to benefit those property speculators and banks which have bankrupted this nation.

This article is reprinted by permission of the CORK EVENING ECHO in which Tom MacSweeney writes maritime columns twice weekly. Evening Echo website: www.eecho.ie