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Displaying items by tag: Irish Sea (Holyhead)

Ferry operator Stena Line is "preparing for the return of duty free" - which could even revive the Holyhead booze cruise after Brexit, reports NorthWalesLive.

Recent weeks and months has seen major concern over the impact of Brexit on trade at the port and the potential disruption - with fears about how prepared governments and businesses are for the changes.

But the return of duty free could bring some cheer.

Irish daytrippers were a regular sight on the streets of Holyhead during the 1980s and 90s, with the town’s shops and pubs benefiting while visitors took advantage of duty-free sales onboard while sailing.

It came to an end in 1999 when the EU scrapped the sale of tax-free alcohol, tobacco and perfume while travelling between member states.

But this is set to change after January 1.

UK Government has said that British passengers travelling to EU countries will be able to take advantage of duty-free shopping from January 2021.

This means that passengers will be able to buy duty-free alcohol and tobacco products, where available, in British ports, airports, and international train stations, and aboard ships, trains and planes.

The Irish Government also this week confirmed travellers from Ireland to the UK are set to enjoy duty and tax free purchases at ports and airports from 1 January - if their 2020 Brexit bill goes through as it stands.

It came after a push from the Irish Duty Free Alliance, which said it was able to show the clear benefits of duty and tax free sales to UK passengers.

For more click here including the UK Government which outlined examples of items and their reduction in savings.

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.