The Naval Service OPV L.E. Roisin (P51) will be open to the public this afternoon (2-4pm) at the North Wall Quay, opposite The National Convention Centre Dublin, which celebrated its first anniversary last month, writes Jehan Ashmore.

It is only in recent years that larger vessels can berth at this stretch of the waterfront following the completion of several major construction projects over the last decade. From the building of the Convention Centre and the Samuel Beckett Bridge which involved using the dredger Hebble Sand (click HERE) during its construction process.

In addition the refurbishment of Spencer Dock sea-lock entrance that for many years was closed is now re-opened. The dock entrance featured in the start of the new television series 'Waterways'-The Royal Canal. Episode two is this Sunday on RTE 1 at 8.30pm.

Aside the 79m L.E. Roisin, the last large vessel to berth close to berth 16A was the French 58m tallship Belem, which was chartered by Alliance Francaise to celebrate their 50th anniversary in 2010 and for the inaugural French Hoist the Sail: Market Festival. The three-masted barque built in 1896 was once also owned by the Sir Arthur Ernest Guinness under the name of Fantôme II.

Situated between where L.E. Roisin is currently berthed and where the Belem had moored, is home to the 'resident' M.V. Cill Airne, a floating bar and restaurant dining venue at berth 16B. Another resident is the former lightship Kittiwake at berth 17B, though sited much further downstream at the end of North Wall Quay, opposite the O2 Arena and next to the East-Link Bridge.

There is a fourth resident, again berthed on the north quays, though the Jeanie Johnston unlike her counterparts is moored closer to the city-centre at Custom House Quay. Apart from yachts, leisure-craft and occasional private motor-yachts using the Dublin City Moorings, she is the only vessel to permanently occupy a berth between Samuel Beckett Bridge and the Sean O'Casey foot-bridge.

Waterways returns to RTÉ television after 16 years off the air this coming Sunday.

The original award-winning 1990s documentary series saw naturalist and poet Dick Warner undertake an epic journey traversing the canals of Ireland by barge.

This year filmmaker Stephen Rooke accompanied Warner as he returned to our inland waterways, this time to explore the newly restored Royal Canal and celebrate the reopening of the entire route from Dublin to the Shannon.

As previously reported on Afloat.ie, Warner travels on the Rambler, an original canal tug barge, from Dublin to Lough Ree - the first time it had followed the route since 1923. 

Along the way, Warner meets both experts and ordinary people who live along the banks, learning from them about its heritage, history and wildlife.

Filming is now complete on the new six-part series, Waterways - A Royal Canal, which begins this Sunday night.

According to Irish Film and Television News, Rooke re-assembled the core team from the original series, many of whom have gone on to work on successful films and TV shows.

The series begins on RTÉ One at 8.30pm on Sunday 2 October.

Waterways Ireland has confirmed that work will begin on the Royal Canal to excavate and reline 410 metres of the canal that runs between Lock 6 and 7 in the Phibsborough/Cabra area. The work is key to keeping the Canal navigable for a range of boats and will also address seepage through the canal embankment adjacent to Shandon Gardens.

The work which requires the dewatering of the canal will remove sediment and rubbish deposits from the central navigation channel before the construction of a new impervious lining to the canal. All material removed from the canals will be transported to licensed disposal facilities. Restoration of the existing towpath walls will also be undertaken to heritage approved standards.

Environmental surveys have been undertaken in full compliance with the regulatory authorities along with the planned removal of all fish to be carried under licence before onsite work begins.
A Traffic Management Plan will be agreed with Dublin City Council and implemented to keep traffic disruption to a minimum. Works are due to be completed by year end.

To facilitate works, the Royal Canal will be closed to navigation from 19 September 2011. The towpath from Lock 6 to the Liffey Junction Bridge on the north side and the Shandon Park area on the south side of the Canal will be closed for the duration of the contract. Following consultation and agreement with residents, a temporary roadway and bridge will also be constructed to provide access for the Coke Oven Residents through Shandon Park. This access will be suitable for emergency vehicles.

An engineer will be full time in attendance for the duration of the contract to ensure that issues which arise are dealt with in a prompt and efficient manner. For further information on the project please visit the Waterways Ireland web site www.waterwaysireland.org and check out the 'Navigation Information, Planned Works' page.

With sweeping lines the 54m private motor-yacht Fortunate Sun became the largest vessel to transit Dublin's Samuel Beckett swing-bridge, writes Jehan Ashmore.

She remained alongside this berth which is normally used by large commercial ships until the vessel sought a berth much closer to the city-centre. This led to a shift of berths in the evening when the 2003 built vessel headed upriver to the Dublin City Moorings facility at Custom House Quay, but this firstly required transiting through two bridges.

With a beam of 10.6m Fortunate Sun entered through the East-Link toll-lift bridge followed by the Samuel Beckett bridge, the Liffey's newest crossing point which opened in late 2009. The €60m bridge was commissioned by Dublin City Council and designed by the Spanish architect engineer Santiago Calatrava. To read more on the bridge click HERE.

Fortunate Sun is registered in the Caymen Islands and is capable of over 17 knots on a range of 5000 nautical miles. She has a steel hull and an aluminium superstructure and interiors also by Tim Heywood Design. In the early hours of tomorrow morning the vessel built by Oceanfast is to depart through the 5,700 tonnes bridge which was delivered by barge after a five-day voyage from Rotterdam.

There has been previous transits of the bridge notably the annual Dublin Rally organised by the the Inland Waterways Association of Ireland (IWAI). This year's Dublin Rally took place on 1 May when boats travelling on the Royal Canal descended via Croke Park and entered the Liffey at Spencer Dock. This required the Iarnrod Éireann bridge-lift and the water level in Spencer Dock to be lowered so to allow safe clearance under the Sheriff St. bridge.

From there the IWAI flotilla made the short passage downriver to re-enter another inland waterway system at the Grand Canal Dock, marking where the Liffey connects with the city's southern canal. The 2011 Dublin Rally was the first time since 1955 that boats could enter Dublin from the Shannon via the Royal Canal and the first time since 2004 that boats also joined from the Royal Canal.

A new documentary on Ireland's waterways is being filmed in Mullingar this week.

The series will follow naturalist and broadcaster Dick Warner as he explores the Royal Canal in time for the final reopening of the entire route.

Warner will be taking the Rambler, an original canal tug barsg, from Dublin through to Lough Ree for the first time since 1923.

Warner told the Westmeath Examiner that he's "enjoying the wildlife side of it the most, the kingfishers and herons, the wildflowers, that's what I've loved the most about this journey. We're making very good progress. We're in Ballymahon now and we hope to reach the Shannon by towards the end of this week."

Waterways - The Final Journey is set to come to our screens in August.

The Westmeath Examiner has more on the story HERE.

Nenagh resident and inland waterways enthusiast, Nick Theato, single-handed aboard 'Bo-Bo, a five metre Pedro trailer/sailer and Pat Kelly, Killadangan, with his son Andrew in 'Shu-Ra-Nu', a 6 metre Etap 20 trailer/sailer, plan to raise funds for Lifeboats Ireland by undertaking the IWAI Green & Silver Challenge in June, 2011. Their fundraising target is €5,000.00.

On the 25th June, 1946, Tom and Angela Rolt left Athlone aboard 'Le Coq', a 28ft.x8ft. converted ship's lifeboat on a voyage that would inspire contemporary and successive generations of inland waterways enthusiasts.

Tom Rolt wonderfully documented the voyage in his book 'Green & Silver', published in 1949, which has since become a classic. This work was instrumental in inspiring the small group who founded the Inland Waterways Association of Ireland in 1954, whose objective was to save the Shannon navigation from strangulation by low bridges. Indeed, the colour scheme of the IWAI's logo and burgee derive from the cover design of Rolt's book.

With the re-opening of the Royal Canal in October 2010, it is now possible to retrace Rolt's journey in full and complete the circular route formed by the Royal Canal, River Liffey, Grand Canal, River Shannon and Camlin River.

To celebrate this event, the IWAI has initiated the 'Green & Silver Challenge' in an effort to encourage people to make the circular journey. Nenagh resident, Nick Theato single-handed aboard 'Bo-Bo, a 16 foot Pedro trailer/sailer and Pat Kelly, Killadangan, with his son Andrew aboard 'Shu-Ra-Nu', a 20 foot Etap trailer/sailer, plan to raise funds for Lifeboats Ireland by travelling the full Green & Silver Route throughout June 2011.

Departing on June 1st, they will travel from Dromineer through Lough Derg and Lough Ree and enter the Royal Canal at Richmond Harbour. They plan to cross the Liffey in Dublin 17 days later, where they will take a welcome day off before commencing the return journey via the Grand Canal to Shannon Harbour. The journey will take approximately 28 days, will cover a minimum of 333 km. and navigate through 92 locks (some double), 91 of which are manual. Their fundraising target is €5,000

Nick Theato is Treasurer of the Lough Derg RNLI Fundraising Branch and Lough Derg Lifeboat Station at Dromineer.

Pat Kelly is Secretary of the Lough Derg RNLI Fundraising Branch.

Nick and Pat welcome all sponsorship, however modest. Contributions can be pledged online at http://www.mycharity.ie/event/green_silver_event/. Nick may be contacted on 086 1738014 ([email protected]). Pat is at 087 6908099 ([email protected]).

For further details / interviews / photos: Contact Pat Kelly at 087 6908099 ([email protected]). Support photography: Gerardine Wisdom 087 6522582 ([email protected]).

The Royal Canal (Irish: An Chanáil Ríoga) was originally built for freight and passenger transportation from the River Liffey at Dublin to the River Shannon at Cloondara in County Longford in Ireland. It fell into disrepair, but since has been restored for navigation. The Royal Canal's full length was re-opened on 1 October 2010.

Work commenced in 1790 and lasted 27 years before finally reaching the Shannon in 1817, at a total cost of £1,421,954 [1]. The canal passes through Maynooth, Kilcock, Enfield, Mullingar and Ballymahon has a spur to Longford. The total length of the main navigation is 145 kilometres (90 mi), and the system has 46 locks. There is one main feeder (from Lough Owel), which enters the canal at Mullingar. At the Dublin end, the canal reaches the Liffey through a wide sequence of dock and locks at Spencer Dock, with a final sea lock to manage access to the river and sea.

In 1843, while walking with his wife along the Royal Canal, Sir William Rowan Hamilton realised the formula for quaternions and carved his initial thoughts into a stone on the Brougham Bridge over the canal.

The Dublin - Mullingar railway line was built alongside the canal for much of the distance. The meandering route of the canal ensures a speed limiting curvature for the railway.

The canal travels across one of the major junctions on the M50/N3 in a specially constructed aqueduct.

By the 1970s the canal was falling into total disrepair and became a dumping ground for old cars and rubbish. Suggestions were made the inner Dublin part of the canal to become motorway which lead to the community forming an action group to encourage the Dublin City Council to clean and maintain the canal.

Waterways Ireland is now responsible for the canal. The full canal between the Liffey in Dublin and the Shannon in Co. Longford reopened on the 2nd of October 2010. Access points currently exist near Leixlip and at Maynooth, Enfield, Thomastown, Mullingar, Ballinea Bridge and Ballynacargy.

In 2006 a commemoration marker was erected at Piper's Boreen, Mullingar, to mark the 200 years since the canal reached Mullingar in 1806.

The Heritage Council of Ireland has a diverse range of marine topics that can be downloaded from their website through the Marine publications section. There are publications, reports and presentations available from this area of interest and can be accessed by clicking here

The following topics below are just some of the categories featured, they include the Bere Island Conservation Plan, Ireland's Sharks & Rays, Conserving Ireland's Maritime Heritage and an Audit of Maritime Collections.

The maritime heritage section of the Heritage Council covers the cultural, physical and ecological dimensions. In addition it embraces the legacies of past generations, their traditions and natural features of both coastal and offshore environments.

For those interested in freshwater topics, the Heritage Council also recognises the importance of our inland waterways and canal network. The Heritage Council has undertaken a Waterway Corridor Studies on the Shannon, as well as on parts of the Grand and Royal Canals. For further information and downloadable in PDF format logn to www.heritagecouncil.ie/inland_waterways/

Masters, owners and inland waterways users on the Grand Canal, the Barrow Navigation and the Royal Canal are advised that the daily seasonal working hours for Lock Keepers and Water Patrollers have recently been updated.  Specific details of the updated schedules are given on the attached ‘Working Hours’ table; including location, contact number & day off.  Please refer to the relevant Navigation Guides for the locations of the locks.

In landWaterways Ireland advises all Masters and users to contact Lock Keepers / Water Patrollers on the navigations prior to travel where possible.

Waterways Ireland reminds Masters and users to leave all locks as they were found.  It is normal to leave the lock empty with a tail rack up, the breast (upper) gates closed and all racks on the breast (upper) gate side of the lock down or closed. Please find full schedule of lock keepers hours attached below.

A section of the Royal canal on the inland waterways will be closed between 15 Nov 2010 until 1 Dec 2010 to facilitate works at the Blackwater Aqueduct near Enfield which is situated on the long level between locks 17 and 18.

In  Maynooth, due to the installation of new lock gates and bank repairs at the 14th Lock near Maynooth, the canal will be closed from 17th November 2010 to 31st January 2011, both dates inclusive. It will also be necessary on occasions to close the towpath for health and safety reasons.