# ROWING: The Irish Universities Championships, which fell to the weather last month, have been rescheduled to Friday, May 24th, the eve of Metro Regatta, at Blessington. The event will run on a very pared-down version of the original programme. The Irish Schools’ Regatta becomes a separate event to be run on Friday, June 28th.

Hopes of rescheduling Skibbereen Regatta have faded due to the lack of a suitable date.

# ROWING: A decision will be made this afternoon on whether this weekend’s two big regattas at the National Rowing Centre will go ahead. The Skibbereen Regatta is fixed for Sunday and the Irish Universities and Schools’ Championships for Saturday, but both are in doubt because of the forecast of bad weather around the Co Cork venue.

#ROWING: John Keohane was the fastest men’s single sculler and Marie O’Neill the fastest woman at the big Skibbereen Head of the River at the National Rowing Centre in Cork on Saturday. Skibbereen’s men’s quadruple scull were the fastest crew of the day, with a winning time of 10 minutes 30 seconds for the 3,800 metres.

Skibbereen Head of the River, National Rowing Centre, Farran Wood, Cork, Saturday (Selected Results)

Head One

Women, Eight – Junior 16: Shannon 13:27.

Quadruple Scull – Senior: Skibbereen 11:36. Intermediate: University of Limerick 13:43. Novice, coxed: Cork 13:30. Junior 18A: Skibbereen 12:01, 2 Shandon 12:12, 3 Castleconnell 12:22.

Head Two

Men

Single Sculls: 1 Lee Valley (J Keohane) 12:01, 2 University of Limerick (Penny) 12:03, 3 Cork IT (O’Donovan) 12:19. Intermediate: 1 Skibbereen (Burns) 12:33, 2 UCC (McGuckin) 12:42, 3 Skibbereen (Leonard) 12:44. Novice: 1 Lee (Keogh) 12:45, 2 Clonmel (Murphy) 13:06, 3 UCC (Stanton) 13:34. Junior 18A: 1 Lee (Mitchell) 12:25, 2 Skibbereen (Ryan) 12:26, 3 Presentation (Keohane) 12:34. H

Head Three

Women, Pair – Senior: Cork 14:23.

Single Scull – Senior: 1 Cork (O’Neill) 13:12, 2 Skibbereen (Walsh) 13:13, 3 Skibbereen (Fitzgerald) 13:44. Intermediate: 1 Lee Valley (K Corcoran-O’Hare) 13:45, 2 Cork (Judge) 14:25, 3 Fermoy (Dowling) 14:35. Novice: 1 University of Limerick (Griffin) 15:13, 2 Lee (McGrath) 15:19, 3 University of Limerick (Mooney) 15:39. Junior 18A: 1 Skibbereen (Walsh) 13:46, 2 Fermoy (Shinnick) 13:47, 3 Cork (Hamel) 14:23. Junior 16: Cork (Beechinor) 14:37.

Head Four

Men, Four, coxed – Junior 18A: Presentation 12:08.

Double Sculls – Senior: 1 Lee Valley 11:18 and Skibbereen/Cork IT 11:18. Intermediate: Skibbereen 11:30. Novice Lee 12:06. Junior 18A: 1 Skibbereen 11:13, 2 Lee 11:16, 3 Shandon 11:30. Junior 16: Skibbereen 11:44.

Head Five

Women, Four – Senior: Cork 11:49. Intermediate, coxed: Shandon 13:06. Novice, coxed: 13:42.

Double Scull – Senior: 1 Skibbereen B 12:35, 2 Skibbereen A 12:36. Intermediate: Killorglin 13:10. Junior 18A: 1 Fermoy 12:40, 2 Graiguenamanagh 13:40, 3 Cork 14:01. Junior 16: Muckross 13:16.

Head Six

Men, Eight – Intermediate: University of Limerick 10:52. Junior 18A: Presentation 10:42. Junior 16: Presentation 11:54.

Quadruple Sculls – Senior: Skibbereen 10:30. Intermediate One: University of Limerick 11:32. Junior 18A: 1 Skibbereen 10:29, 2 Lee 10:34, 3 Shandon 10:49. Junior 16, coxed: Clonmel 11:13.

Rolling Head (Two Kilometres)

Quadruple Sculls - Junior 15, coxed: Killorglin 7:45.

#TOURISM - Winter might be upon us, but it's a great time to plan a new year holiday in Ireland on the sea, according to the UK's Daily Echo.

From night-time paddling in with renowned kayaking instructor Jim Kennedy, to snorkelling in Baltimore, relaxing in Skibbereen and and fresh seafood lunches in Kinsale, a vacation in Cork can appeal to any taste.

Whale and dolphin watching is a big draw for the region, too, as Ireland's coast – the first cetacean sanctuary in Europe - plays host to a growing variety of species.

The summer feeding grounds off the southern coast are particularly busy, and tourist boats are often treated to whales breaching the surface and surrounded by dolphins putting on a show.

The Daily Echo has more on the story HERE.

Skibbereen brought their titles up to five for the first two days of the National Rowing Championships in Cork by taking the women’s senior pair through Christine Fitzerald and Denise Walsh and combining with Lee Valley to win the men’s senior quadruple scull. The women’s Junior 18A eight was an emphatic win for St Michael’s, and Sarah Allen of Bann, who is just 16, was also in commanding form as she won the women’s novice single sculls championship.

The main action of the day ended with Anthony English of UCD taking the men’s intermediate single scull and Castleconnell’s Dylan Quigley and Adrian Sheahan taking the men’s junior 18A double scull.

National Rowing Championships, National Rowing Centre, Cork – Day Two

Men

Eight – Intermediate: 1 Queen’s 6:00.1, 2 Trinity 6:01.7, 3 Neptune 6:05.5.

Four, coxed – Junior 18A: 1 Bann 6:33.5, 2 St Joseph’s College 6:41.8, 3 Portora 6:47.6. Masters, coxed (non-Championship): 1 Commercial/City of Derry, 2 Fermoy, 3 Galway RC.

Pair – Senior: 1 Queen’s (E Mac Domhnaill, M Ewing) 6:56.7, 2 Grainne Mhaol 7:01.1, 3 St Michael’s 7:01.7, 4 Queen’s B 7:12.9, 5 Galway B 7:15.0, 6 Galway A 7:52.7.

Sculling, Quadruple – Senior: 1 Skibbereen/Lee Valley (G O’Donovan, G Murphy, K McCarthy, C Dowling) 6:05.1, 2 Queen’s 6:07.2, 3 University of Limerick/Garda 6:09.7.

Double – Junior: 1 Castleconnell (D Quigley, A Sheahan) 6:37.4, 2 Lee 6:44.2, 3 Commercial 6:45.7.

Single – Intermediate: 1 UCD (A English) 7:17.8, 2 Skibbereen 7:27.9, 3 Neptune 7:31.0. Junior 16 (non-Championship): 1 Cork (D Buckley) 7:38.1, 2 Offaly (Phelan) 7:38.6, 3 Cork 7:50.4.

Women

Eight – Junior 18A: 1 St Michael’s 6:49.3, 2 Cork 7:00.3, 3 Portora 7:03.6.

Pair – Senior: 1 Skibbereen (C Fitzgerald, D Walsh) 7:53.0, 2 Commercial 8:02.8, 3 St Michael’s 8:03.6.

Sculling, Quadruple – Senior: 1 Skibbereen 6:51.2, 2 Old Collegians/Three Castles 6:51.7, 3 St Michael’s 7:14.5. Junior 16 (non-Championship): 1 Galway 7:27.1, 2 Commercial 7:39.1, 3 Muckross 7:49.3.

Double – Intermediate: 1 Commercial 7:35.1, 2 Skibbereen 7:40.0, 3 Garda 8:17.0.

Single – Novice: 1 Bann (S Allen) 8:43.2, 2 Shandon (R Mertz) 8:47.9, 3 Queen’s (H Adley) 8:50.7. Junior 18A: 1 Fermoy (H Shinnick) 8:05.9, 2 Skibbereen (M Dineen) 8:10.7, 3 Portora (K Cromie) 8:19.7.

Cork and Kerry took the first senior prizes on offer at the National Rowing Championships at the National Rowing Centre in Cork today. The Skibbereen senior women’s four of Orla Hayes, Christine Fitzgerald, Denise Walsh and Michelle (Shelly) Dineen had plenty to spare over Queen’s in their final, while Sean Casey and Cathal Moynihan of Muckross won the men’s senior double, also from Queen’s.

 Kerryman Neil Prendeville, who rows with Castleconnell, continued the trend when he won the junior single scull from clubmate Adrian Sheehan.   The women's junior double scull was won by Jenny Russell and Katie Cromie from Enniskillen club Portora. 

National Rowing Championships, National Rowing Centre, Farran Wood, Cork

Day One

Men

Eight – Junior 16 (non-Championship): 1 Galway RC, 2 St Joseph’s College, 3 Cork RC.

Four, Intermediate, coxed: 1 UCD 6:26.3, 2 Queen’s  6:29.5, 3 Neptune 6:33.3

Sculling, Quadruple – Novice, coxed: 1 Shandon 6:54.5,  Queen’s 6:58.3, 3 St Michael’s 7:02.1.

Double – Senior: 1 Muckross (S Casey, C Moynihan) 6:30.8, 2 Queen’s 6:31.7, 3 Lee Valley 6:36.3, 4 Skibbereen 6:41.8, 5 Galway 6:48.9.

Single – Junior 18A: 1 Castleconnell (N Prendiville) 7:21.6, 2 Castleconnell (A Sheehan), 7:24.0, 3 Neptune (Griffin) 7:29.6.

Women 

Four – Senior: 1 Skibbereen (O Hayes, C Fitzgerald, D Walsh, M Dineen) 6:51.5, 2 Queen’s 6:58.5, 3 Muckross 6:58.9, 4 UCD 7:07.9, 5 Trinity 7:09.0, 6 NUIG 7:30.7. Novice, coxed: 1 NUIG 7:23.4, 2 Galway 7:24.7, 3 Queen’s A 7:38.2.

Sculling, Double – Junior 18A: 1 Portora (J Russell, K Cromie) 7:35.6, 2 Skibbereen 7:45.8, 3 Methodist College RC 7:52.6.

Skibbereen's strong support of the Grand League rowing series has paid dividends, as they are well on top of the table at the end of the four-regatta programme. The west Cork club also won both men's division one and women's division one. The prize for overall winner is €800 and division winners get €300.  

UCD stand on top of the Grand League points table after the first regatta of the season. Skibbereen, the hosts of last month's regatta are in second. Trinity, who won the Irish University Championships, have good showing for both their women's club, DULBC, and the men's club.  

Below is the  Grand League Rowing points table. Next up for the Grand League series: Queens Regatta, May 14th, Metro Regatta, May 28th and Cork & Monkstown Regatta, July 2nd.

Other challengers this season will be runners up Neptune along with St. Michael's, Limerick, Commercial and UCD who all finished in the top five last season. Skibbereen Regatta sees a number of impressive crews start their challenge to become Grand League winners. With the absence of an NUIG entry, UCD's Senior 4 - stand out as the crew to watch. Muckross Olympians Sean Casey and Cathal Moynihan race together for the first time in the Senior 2x. As has been the trend, the men's Intermediate 1x has a large entry, as do all junior events. The Novice 8+ and 4+ Grand League titles look set to be fought for, mainly by the University clubs.

This is the second year the new Grand League will run at selected Irish regattas. The new format is designed to give competitive rowers more race time and allows all rowers to compete on speed as opposed to competing in strictly age-related or  wins-related categories. The new system remains virtually unchanged from the 2010 season with all boats racing off in a series of heats which are timed, with the fastest six going into the A final and the next six into the B final.

Regatta hosts, Skibbereen RC, celebrated their 40th anniversary last year in impressive style, winning the Grand League and taking 14 national titles to bring the clubs' overall total to 123. They also hosted one of the country's best attended regattas last year with 456 crews racing. At international level, the club were well represented on national teams winning medals at the under 23 Worlds, the Coupe de la Jeunesse and Home Internationals.

The club capped off the year by opening a new boathouse, one of the largest ever built in Ireland. While the club's main emphasis is competitive rowing, they also take in 180 students for their annual schools rowing programme – an annual eight week course involving nine local schools.

The second Grand League regatta will be hosted by Queen's University in Castlewellan, Co. Down on May 14th.

Sailing tributes have been paid to legendary boat builder George Bushe, who died last week aged 89.

Born in Baltimore, Co Cork, Bushe got his start in boat building through his father, who make traditional punts. From there he went on to Skinner's Boatyard in Skibbereen and worked with the late Jack O'Driscoll in Ringaskiddy.

In the 1960s and '70s he worked at the Southcoast Boatyard in Rochestown, where be built many famous racing boats for Cork's premier sailing clans - such as the Golden Apple for the late Hugh Coveney, father of Minister for the Marine Simon Coveney.

Bushe went into semi-retirement in the 1970s, working at the Royal Cork Yacht Club, restoring boats in winter and even racing his own until the mid 2000s.

His remains were carried to St Patrick's Cemetary in Crosshaven aboard the Cánóg, the last boat he completed and which he raced competitively as recently as 2006.

George Bushe is survived by his wife Carmel and their children: Bernice, Fergus, sail maker Majella, shipwright Mark, and boat builder and sailor Killian Bushe, who just last month received the Fastnet Award for his own contributions to sailing.
 
The Irish Examiner has more on the story HERE.