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Displaying items by tag: Delays

#Delays - The Scenic Carlingford Ferry, which was set to launch this month has stated that it is "looking like it could be another couple of weeks" before the car-ferry is ready to get underway.

In the Dundalk Gazette, the Chief Executive of the ferry operator Pamela Houston said, “We are still hoping to set sail officially in June but it is looking like it could be another couple of weeks. We are quite simply at the mercy of bespoke navigational aids and once they are delivered and installed, we can get underway.”

“We are, as you would expect, following due process in terms of the official sequence for final approvals before opening the service for passengers. All the Captains are hugely experienced and already carry the official Certificate of Competency to operate a range of vessels, hence they can be seen putting the Ferry through its paces.”

For more on the story click here.

Published in Ferry

#StormDoris – A pair of rival ferries have not been able to enter Rosslare Harbour from Wales since this morning due to Storm Doris. The gale to storm force conditions have battered coasts and caused high seas leading to ferry travel disruption throughout the Irish Sea.

For approximately the last seven hours, due to the adverse weather conditions both Irish Ferries and Stena Line ferries have been forced to ride out the storm off the Wexford coast. This has had a knock-on effect as subsequent scheduled sailings in the reverse direction to Wales this morning were cancelled.

Isle of Inishmore and Stena Europe were both due to dock at the Wexford port before 07.00hrs this morning, however the ferries headed as far as the South Arklow buoy. This passage away from Rosslare has been repeated several times by the ferries as they wait for conditions to moderate so to enable berthing at the Wexford ferryport.

The next scheduled sailing for Isle of Inishmore for 20.45 is on time from Rosslare to Pembroke. For the latest information from Irish Ferries routes, click here.

The next scheduled sailing of the Stena Europe at 21.15 is on time from Rosslare to Fishguard. To check the latest sailing updates from Stena Line services, click here.

Further north on the central corridor, Dublin-Holyhead sailings as previously reported were also caught up in the storm. Notably a Stena Line ferry from Holyhead, Stena Adventurer was also unable to enter the capital port due to high winds. Stena Adventurer finally docked at around 12.30.

The next sailing this afternoon of Stena Adventurer from Dublin to Holyhead has been cancelled.

According to the latest information correct at time of posting, Stena Line, (all vehicle passengers) were to be accommodated on Irish Ferries 14:15hrs Epsilon sailing.

As for (foot passengers) they are been accommodated on the 15:10hrs Stena Nordica. For more information contact ferrycheck on +353 (0) 1 907 5300.

For those travelling with P&O information on the Larne-Cairnryan by clicking here. And for Dublin-Liverpool follow this link.

A weather update from Met Eireann can be consulted here 

Published in Ferry

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.