Displaying items by tag: Irish Coast Guard

14th September 2010

Dempsey Applauds Irish Coast Guard as new TV Series Showcases Vital Rescue Service

Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey TD today applauded the Irish Coast Guard service as a new TV series on Ireland's national search and rescue service begins on RTE 1 this evening.

Speaking today, Minister Dempsey said: "This exciting new series will be the first time that the Irish public will get an exclusive insight into the day-to-day life saving work of the Irish Coast Guard. I hope that viewers will appreciate the superb service that the Irish Coast Guard provides, frequently in very extreme conditions and often involving very real life and death situations."

Director of the Irish Coast Guard, Mr. Chris Reynolds said, "The main role of the Irish Coast Guard is to provide Ireland with 24/7/365 maritime and coastal search and rescue service, but this isn't all we do. All around our coastline, members of the Irish Coast Guard are always on standby to provide assistance for a variety of other incidents, including emergency medical transfers, mountain rescues, searches of our rivers and lakes and providing responses to pollution control and separately, support to communities in the islands off Ireland."

Mr. Reynolds concluded: "In the next few years, the Irish Coast Guard service will see further improvements in the capacity, range, speed and capability of our search and rescue service and this will help consolidate our position as one of the most respected Coast Guard services in the world."

The Irish Coast Guard service TV series Rescue 117 begins this evening, (Tuesday 14 September 2010 on RTE 1 at 8:30pm) and runs for 6 weeks.

Published in Coastguard

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New Rescue Series Airs on RTE This September-Promo Vid Here!

Rescue 117 is RTÉ’s new 6 part documentary series capturing rescues as they unfold from the Irish Coast Guard’s helicopter search and rescue base in Waterford, Ireland. The series airs on RTE1 at 8.30pm on 14th September. A promo video is below

Published in Rescue

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Ireland & La Solitaire du Figaro

The Solitaire du Figaro, was originally called the course de l’Aurore until 1980, was created in 1970 by Jean-Louis Guillemard and Jean-Michel Barrault.

Half a decade later, the race has created some of France's top offshore sailors, and it celebrated its 50th anniversary with a new boat equipped with foils and almost 50 skippers Including novices, aficionados and six former winners.

The solo multi-stage offshore sailing race is one of the most cherished races in French sailing and one that has had Irish interest stretching back over 20 years due to the number of Irish stopovers, usually the only foreign leg of the French race.

What Irish ports have hosted The Solitaire du Figaro?

The race has previously called to Ireland to the following ports; Dingle, Kinsale, Crosshaven, Howth and Dun Laoghaire.

What Irish sailors have raced The Solitaire du Figaro?

So far there have been seven Irish skippers to participate in La Solitaire du Figaro.

In 1997, County Kerry's Damian Foxall first tackled the Figaro from Ireland. His win in the Rookie division in DHL gave him the budget to compete again the following year with Barlo Plastics where he won the final leg of the race from Gijon to Concarneau. That same year a second Irish sailor Marcus Hutchinson sailing Bergamotte completed the course in 26th place and third Rookie.

In 2000, Hutchinson of Howth Yacht Club completed the course again with IMPACT, again finishing in the twenties.

In 2006, Paul O’Riain became the third Irish skipper to complete the course.

In 2013, Royal Cork's David Kenefick raised the bar by becoming a top rookie sailor in the race.

In 2018, for the first time, Ireland had two Irish boats in the offshore race thanks to Tom Dolan and Joan Mulloy who joined the rookie ranks and kept the Irish tricolour flying high in France. Mulloy became the first Irish female to take on the race.

Tom Dolan in Smurfit Kappa competed for his third year in 2020 after a 25th place finish in 2019. Dolan sailed a remarkably consistent series in 2020 and took fifth overall, the best finish by a non-French skipper since 1997 when Switzerland’s Dominique Wavre finished runner up. Dolan wins the VIVI Trophy.

Dolan finished 10th on the first stage, 11th on the second and seventh into Saint Nazaire at the end of the third stage. Stage four was abandoned due to lack of wind.

Also in 2020, Dun Laoghaire’s Kenneth Rumball became the eleventh Irish sailor to sail the Figaro.

At A Glance – Figaro Race

It starts in June or July from a French port.
The race is split into four stages varying from year to year, from the length of the French coast and making up a total of around 1,500 to 2,000 nautical miles (1,700 to 2,300 mi; 2,800 to 3,700 km) on average.
Over the years the race has lasted between 10 and 13 days at sea.
The competitor is alone in the boat, participation is mixed.
Since 1990, all boats are of one design.