Displaying items by tag: Aquabusiness

25th November 2020

Aquabusiness Course Offers Big Future for Graduates

Local graduates from the Aquabusiness course in Wexford Campus celebrated receiving their diploma having gathered in Kilmore Quay (as pictured above). The harbour also includes a marina on the south-east coast.

Graduates from Wexford Campus' Aquabusiness course have celebrated the completion of their studies.

As the Wexford People highlighted, this is the only course of its kind in the country, as the Higher Diploma in Business in Aquabusiness is now in its fourth year and continues to be popular among young candidates.

'The 2019/2020 cohort graduated with a virtual ceremony,' said lecturer Amy Allen. 'Covid-19 impacted their second semester quite significantly in that a number were scheduled to start industrial placement and of course lockdown restrictions did not permit this.

'However, the course is flexible and, as a teaching team, we feel we are very flexible and responsive to the sector's situation, so we managed to transfer some of these students onto an interdisciplinary project (desk-based).

'Those who really want to complete the placement are being put on hold until restrictions ease and they can rejoin their sponsor companies.'

Among those graduating were three students from Wexford, and others from as far afield as Cork, Galway and Donegal.

'These guys are from the farmed fishing sector, some are also from Bord Iascaigh Mhara (BIM) and work as marine biologists,' Ms Allen said.

More here from the newspaper.

Afloat adds according to BIM's website, the course is designed to cater for those looking to enter management, financial, research & development or regulatory roles in fisheries, aquaculture, seafood processing and related fields

Published in Fishing

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The Kingstown to Queenstown Yacht Race or 'K2Q', previously the Fastnet 450

The Organising Authority ("OA") are ISORA & SCORA in association with The National Yacht Club & The Royal Cork Yacht Club.

The Kingstown to Queenstown Race (K2Q Race) is a 260-mile offshore race that will start in Dun Laoghaire (formerly Kingstown), around the famous Fastnet Rock and finish in Cork Harbour at Cobh (formerly Queenstown).

The K2Q race follows from the successful inaugural 'Fastnet 450 Race' that ran in 2020 when Ireland was in the middle of the COVID Pandemic. It was run by the National Yacht Club, and the Royal cork Yacht Club were both celebrating significant anniversaries. The clubs combined forces to mark the 150th anniversary of the National Yacht Club and the 300th (Tricentenary) of the Royal Cork Yacht Club.

Of course, this race has some deeper roots. In 1860 the first-ever ocean yacht race on Irish Waters was held from Kingstown (now Dun Laoghaire) to Queenstown (now Cobh).

It is reported that the winner of the race was paid a prize of £15 at the time, and all competing boats got a bursary of 10/6 each. The first race winner was a Schooner Kingfisher owned by Cooper Penrose Esq. The race was held on July 14th 1860, and had sixteen boats racing.

In 2022, the winning boat will be awarded the first prize of a cheque for €15 mounted and framed and a Trophy provided by the Royal Cork Yacht Club, the oldest yacht club in the world.

The 2022 race will differ from the original course because it will be via the Fastnet Rock, so it is a c. 260m race, a race distance approved by the Royal Cornwall Yacht Club as an AZAB qualifier.

A link to an Afloat article written by WM Nixon for some history on this original race is here.

The aim is to develop the race similarly to the Dun Laoghaire–Dingle Race that runs in alternate years.

Fastnet 450 in 2020

The South Coast of Ireland Racing Association, in association with the National Yacht Club on Dublin Bay and the Royal Cork Yacht Club in Cork, staged the first edition of this race from Dun Laoghaire to Cork Harbour via the Fastnet Rock on August 22nd 2020.

The IRC race started in Dun Laoghaire on Saturday, August 22nd 2020. It passed the Muglin, Tuscar, Conningbeg and Fastnet Lighthouses to Starboard before returning to Cork Harbour and passing the Cork Buoy to Port, finishing when Roches's Point bears due East. The course was specifically designed to be of sufficient length to qualify skippers and crew for the RORC Fastnet Race 2021.