Menu

Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

Displaying items by tag: WiFi service launched

#FerryWiFi - Former Miss Northern Ireland and sailing champion Tiffany Brien helped P&O Ferries launch 'Wi-Fi that Works' - a new service giving ferry passengers access to a high quality, dependable Wi-Fi connection sailing between Larne and Cairnryan.

Otherwise known as 'Peanut Butter Girl', the well-connected fitness fanatic with 33,000 Facebook fans enjoyed the speedy new service on-board P&O Ferries European Highlander.

For £3, passengers can spend up to 90 minutes surfing the web during the crossing with the option to stop and restart the service, conveniently saving minutes for another time. Payment can be made online using a credit or debit card or with cash at the on-board information desk.

Announcing the launch of 'Wi-Fi that Works', Neal Mernock, Sector Director, Irish Sea at P&O Ferries said: "We know it's important for all our passengers, whether travelling for business or leisure that they're able to go online and stay connected throughout their journey.

"We have worked hard to guarantee that the Wi-Fi service we have installed is of the highest quality, ensuring a reliable and unbroken service for passengers sailing between Larne and Cairnryan".

The Wi-Fi service is free of charge for Club Lounge passengers. Club Lounge tickets booked in advance cost £12 per person while tickets purchased on board cost £14 per person.

 

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.