Menu

Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

Displaying items by tag: Irish Sailing Cruising Conference

Irish Sailing’s annual Cruising Conference is headed inland in 2019, with Lough Ree Yacht Club hosting the day-long event on Saturday 16 February.

Speakers and presenters confirmed for the day include Paul Scannell and Mary Healy, who cruised round Ireland in a 41-year-old inland waterways vessel.

The Irish Coast Guard will explain the ins and outs of a helicopter lift, while Kylie McMillan will share her experience of a man overboard scenario at night and the importance of having a plan and training for such critical situations.

Norman Kean will talk the future of diesel for leisure craft, and Damian Foxall will discuss sustainability and the changes made for the most recent Volvo Ocean Race.

Niall Hatch of BirdWatch Ireland will give a presentation on the lives of coastal birds and how to identify them, and the gathering will see Vera Quinlan’s vlog on preparing to sail the Atlantic circuit with children under 12.

Battery management onboard is the topic for Toni O’Leary of Union Chandlery, which is sponsoring the event and provides a Standard Horizon HX300E handheld VHF for a prize draw on the day.

Kilrush Marina is also supporting the 2019 conference and one lucky attendee will win a week’s marina berthage and sling wash, while four could win a night in the marina’s floating pods.

Tickets for the 2019 Irish Sailing Cruising Conference are €27.55– €32.88 available from Eventbrite€27.55– €32.88 available from Eventbrite.

Published in Cruising

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.