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Displaying items by tag: Adrienne Cahalan

An offshore navigator Adrienne Cahalan with Irish roots is aiming to represent Australia in the new double-handed offshore class for the 2024 Olympic Games, teaming up with Nick Moloney to make a comeback to short-handed offshore sailing.

Cahalan, who is one of Australia's most celebrated yachtswomen, has served many roles for Irish sailing including weather expert at the 2000 Sydney Games where she is based.

Teaming up with her long time friend and sailing colleague their track record together includes the Volvo Ocean Race, the Vendee Globe and the Jules Verne trophy, winning numerous titles and breaking many sailing world records. Whilst Cahalan has previously competed on the Olympic circuit until now Nick’s focus has been on short-handed ocean and round the world racing.

Nick Moloney ZhikOffshore sailing adventurer Nick Moloney is Adrienne Cahalan's partner for a Paris 2024 Olympic bid

Cahalan was part of the Cheyenne crew which broke the Round the World World Speed Record in 2004, she has circumnavigated the globe on several projects, and has had four World Yachtswoman of the Year nominations. Her record-breaking participation in the Sydney to Hobart adds to her legacy. Cahalan has navigated Wild Oats XI to five-line honours victories, including two trebles – line honours, overall and race record. She has six Hobart line honours and two overall Hobart wins to her name.

Published in Olympic
Tagged under

#englishchannelsailing – The San Francisco-based Lending Club report that its CEO Renaud Laplanche and co-skipper Ryan Breymaier established a new world speed sailing record across the English Channel.

The sailors went from the Royal Yacht Squadron Cowes, Isle of Wight to Dinard, France, in 5 hours, 15 minutes, subject to ratification by the World Speed Sailing Record Council, aboard their 105-foot offshore trimaran Lending Club 2 at an average speed of 26.36 knots.

Other crewmembers included Jan Majer, Stanislas Delbarre, Olivier Laplanche, navigator Boris Herrmann, French racing veterans Jean-Baptiste Le Vaillant and Roland Jourdain, and OBR Quin Bisset. Shore-based weather routing was provided by Wouter Verbraak.

The previous record of 5 hours, 23 minutes was established by skipper Brian Thompson, Irish navigator Adrienne Cahalan and the crew of Maiden II, a 110-foot catamaran, in September 2002 at an average speed of 25.6 knots.

Published in Offshore

Royal National Lifeboat Institute (RNLI) in Ireland Information

The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) is a charity to save lives at sea in the waters of UK and Ireland. Funded principally by legacies and donations, the RNLI operates a fleet of lifeboats, crewed by volunteers, based at a range of coastal and inland waters stations. Working closely with UK and Ireland Coastguards, RNLI crews are available to launch at short notice to assist people and vessels in difficulties.

RNLI was founded in 1824 and is based in Poole, Dorset. The organisation raised €210m in funds in 2019, spending €200m on lifesaving activities and water safety education. RNLI also provides a beach lifeguard service in the UK and has recently developed an International drowning prevention strategy, partnering with other organisations and governments to make drowning prevention a global priority.

Irish Lifeboat Stations

There are 46 lifeboat stations on the island of Ireland, with an operational base in Swords, Co Dublin. Irish RNLI crews are tasked through a paging system instigated by the Irish Coast Guard which can task a range of rescue resources depending on the nature of the emergency.

Famous Irish Lifeboat Rescues

Irish Lifeboats have participated in many rescues, perhaps the most famous of which was the rescue of the crew of the Daunt Rock lightship off Cork Harbour by the Ballycotton lifeboat in 1936. Spending almost 50 hours at sea, the lifeboat stood by the drifting lightship until the proximity to the Daunt Rock forced the coxswain to get alongside and successfully rescue the lightship's crew.

32 Irish lifeboat crew have been lost in rescue missions, including the 15 crew of the Kingstown (now Dun Laoghaire) lifeboat which capsized while attempting to rescue the crew of the SS Palme on Christmas Eve 1895.

FAQs

While the number of callouts to lifeboat stations varies from year to year, Howth Lifeboat station has aggregated more 'shouts' in recent years than other stations, averaging just over 60 a year.

Stations with an offshore lifeboat have a full-time mechanic, while some have a full-time coxswain. However, most lifeboat crews are volunteers.

There are 46 lifeboat stations on the island of Ireland

32 Irish lifeboat crew have been lost in rescue missions, including the 15 crew of the Kingstown (now Dun Laoghaire) lifeboat which capsized while attempting to rescue the crew of the SS Palme on Christmas Eve 1895

In 2019, 8,941 lifeboat launches saved 342 lives across the RNLI fleet.

The Irish fleet is a mixture of inshore and all-weather (offshore) craft. The offshore lifeboats, which range from 17m to 12m in length are either moored afloat, launched down a slipway or are towed into the sea on a trailer and launched. The inshore boats are either rigid or non-rigid inflatables.

The Irish Coast Guard in the Republic of Ireland or the UK Coastguard in Northern Ireland task lifeboats when an emergency call is received, through any of the recognised systems. These include 999/112 phone calls, Mayday/PanPan calls on VHF, a signal from an emergency position indicating radio beacon (EPIRB) or distress signals.

The Irish Coast Guard is the government agency responsible for the response to, and co-ordination of, maritime accidents which require search and rescue operations. To carry out their task the Coast Guard calls on their own resources – Coast Guard units manned by volunteers and contracted helicopters, as well as "declared resources" - RNLI lifeboats and crews. While lifeboats conduct the operation, the coordination is provided by the Coast Guard.

A lifeboat coxswain (pronounced cox'n) is the skipper or master of the lifeboat.

RNLI Lifeboat crews are required to follow a particular development plan that covers a pre-agreed range of skills necessary to complete particular tasks. These skills and tasks form part of the competence-based training that is delivered both locally and at the RNLI's Lifeboat College in Poole, Dorset

 

While the RNLI is dependent on donations and legacies for funding, they also need volunteer crew and fund-raisers.

© Afloat 2020