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Displaying items by tag: Community Rescue Service

The Community Rescue Service (CRS) is a charitable search and rescue organisation operated by volunteers from communities across Northern Ireland and in the Queen’s New Year Honours the Regional Commander, Sean McCarry, from Co. Antrim, has been made an OBE (Order of the British Empire) acknowledging his work with the charity.

It is the only accredited Lowland Rescue search and rescue organisation in Northern Ireland and holds full membership of the Association of Lowland Search and Rescue (ALSAR). CRS provides all aspects of search and rescue falling under the remit of Lowland Rescue including ground and covers inland waters and rivers.

As Belfast Live reports Mr McCarry said, “For me it is very simple - this is a recognition not of myself but of the community who support the rescue service, the many volunteers, their families, for those, past and present, who have been involved, who built up this organisation."

The CRS which was founded in 2007, has volunteers across five districts in Northern Ireland. It responds to more than 400 missing person and emergency incidents every year, with members volunteering more than 90,000 hours of their time.

Mr McCarry added "We are so busy, it is not the type of thing that would ever come to my mind that this would happen. I am still in shock”

Esailing & Virtual Sailing information

The concept of e-sailing, or virtual sailing, is based on a computer game sailing challenge that has been around for more than a decade.

The research and development of software over this time means its popularity has taken off to the extent that it has now become a part of the sailing seascape and now allows people to take an 'active part' in some of the most famous regattas across the world such as the Vendée Globe, Route du Rhum, Sydney Hobart, Volvo Ocean Race, America’s Cup and some Olympic venues too, all from the comfort of their armchair.

The most popular model is the 'eSailing World Championship'. It is an annual esports competition, first held in 2018 and officially recognised by World Sailing, the sports governing body.

The eSailing World Championship is a yearly competition for virtual sailors competing on the Virtual Regatta Inshore game.

The contract to run the event was given to a private company, Virtual Regatta that had amassed tens of thousands of sailors playing offshore sailing routing game following major offshore races in real-time.

In April 2020, the company says on its website that it has 35,000 active players and 500,000 regattas sailed.

Virtual Regatta started in 2010 as a small team of passionate designers, engineers, and entrepreneurs gathered around the idea that virtual sailing sports games can mix with real races and real skippers.