Hello and welcome aboard this week’s edition of your maritime programme Seascapes ... we have music from Starboard Home and an exclusive wide ranging interview with the Chief Executive of Dublin Port Company – Eamonn O’ Reilly on the life of the port and its ongoing development ………….……we have music from Andy Irvine who headlines this weekend’s Fastnet Maritime and Folk Festival in Ballydehob in West Cork as Molgoggers head for the Falmouth Festival we wish them fair sailing ….……..more on that competition where you can propose a youngster for a Sail Training Bursary this Summer courtesy of Sail Training Ireland and Seascapes ; we congratulate Royal Ulster Yacht Club on their 150th Anniversary with the celebrations starting this weekend …….first this week as the Volvo Round Ireland Yacht Race vessels and crews gather in Wicklow Sailing Club. David Branigan went along for Seascapes to Dun Laoghaire this week to have a word with record holder Brian Thompson, first we hear from Justin Slattery.....
David Branigan talking there to Justin Slattery and Brian Thompson ..the Volvo Round Ireland Yacht Race begins this weekend from Wicklow Sailing Club ..we’ll have a full report on next Friday's edition of Seascapes …
Further north on the East coast …………… Greystones Sailing Club will officially open its new premises this Sunday when Minister Simon Harris will perform the official opening………. The Club, originally established in 1968, caters for over 350 members and is very much a family club, rooted in the Greystones community. Initially sailing was confined to Mirror dinghies launched from a rubber mat rolled out on the shingle on North Beach with boats transported to and from the harbour on the tops of cars. The old clubhouse was built in the early 1970’s and has continued to be a part of the Greystones community since then. Now with the opening of the new facility, the club boasts over 100 dinghy’s and 20 keelboats and has one of the strongest junior sections of any club along the East Coast and is set to grow.
This weekend one of our great musical troubadours and treasures plays the Fastnet Maritime and Folk Festival Ballydehob here is the man himself Andy Irvine with this classic “Banks of Newfoundland” taken from his album Abocurragh…..
Next here on Seascapes to Dublin Port Company where we recently met up with the Chief Executive Eamonn O'Reilly and talked about the current dredging of Dublin bay to facilitate the expansion of the Alexandra Basin Container Ferry and Cruise Liner traffic and his perspective on spoil being dumped at the Burford Bank and the Starboard Home Concert in the National Concert Hall as part of the 2016 Commemorations which is on next Wednesday and Thursday…….
Finally Seascapes talked with Eamonn O Reilly about the port’s dredging spoil which is deposited on The Burford Bank in Dublin Bay since the beginning of the last century……
Eamonn O Reilly Chief Executive of Dublin Port we’ll hear more about the brand new Dublin Port Company Seafarers Centre which houses the Mission to Seafarers and Stella Maris and we’ll also be talking to Dermot Desmond Ships visitor for the Mission to Seafarers…..if you are attending the Starboard Home concert we hope to see you there also they’ve added an extra night on Thursday next …. tickets on sale now www.nch.ie
Starboard Home Features new works by Paul Noonan, James Vincent McMorrow, Cathy Davey, Duke Special, Gemma Hayes, Jape, Colm Mac Con Iomaire, Lisa O’Neill, Declan O’Rourke, John Sheahan Paul Cleary and novelist Caitriona Lally.
Royal Ulster Yacht Club are celebrating their 150th anniversary …
The first event of the 150th Anniversary celebrations for the Club will take place this weekend ……………The Randox Health Sigma 33 UK & Irish National Championships has attracted twenty boats from throughout the UK and Ireland. From Lough Swilly to Waterford, from the Clyde to Falmouth taking in Liverpool and the Isle of Man on the way. The visitors will join the local boats for three days of racing on the open waters of Belfast Lough.
On next Saturday 25th June there is to be an Anniversary Sail Past of all the competing boats and visitors from the other Club in Belfast Lough. This should be quite a sight with the old and the new processing past the RUYC Clubhouse along with . The Sail Past will commence at 12.00 midday and will be followed by the Club’s Annual Regatta supported by Templeton Robinson.
The fortnight of celebrations concludes on Friday 1st July with a gala dinner. The RUYC acknowledge the support of Ards and North Down Borough Council in running these special events.
“Well that’s all folks for this weekon the sound desk this week Niall O Sullivan ………….. next Friday night here on your maritime programme Seascapes we meet some Sail Training Ireland sail trainees aboard the brig “Morgenster” in Cork and Waterford and hear about their experiences at sea we talk to the Captain of the vessel Harry Muster and speak with the Chairman of Sail Training Ireland Seamus McLoughlin ………………….. we’ll have music from Fairport Convention with “A Sailor’s Life” and a report from the Volvo Round Ireland Yacht Race ….plus we visit the Seafarers Centre in the heart of Dublin Port all that and much more until next Friday night tight lines and fair sailing.”
Marcus Connaughton
