Displaying items by tag: Vessels open to public

2nd April 2016

NATO Vessels in Dublin Port Open to Public Over Weekend

HMS Ramsey (on left) alongside German auxiliary FGN Donau that visited Dublin Port as part of a six-strong NATO flotilla.

#NATOdublin - Following Afloat's report yesterday on the arrival of a NATO flotilla to Dublin Port, the Irish Times writes that the six ships will be open for viewing to the public over the weekend.

The ships, attached to Standing Nato Mine Counter Measures Group 1, will be berthed in Dublin until Monday at 10am. All ships will be open to visitors on Saturday and Sunday between 2pm and 4pm beside the East-link bridge.

The fleet engages in minehunting exercises, which involves dealing with historic maritime weaponry such as unexploded bombs, torpedoes, shells and mines from the two World Wars.

The fleet is part of the “enhanced high readiness Nato Reaction Force” and provides a “crucial element to Nato’s capabilities in area access and area denial operations”, according to the organisation.

The newspaper has more, click here to read.

Published in Naval Visits

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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.