Menu

Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

Displaying items by tag: Great Lighthouses

#Lighthouses - It is more than eight weeks ago when Bobby Kerr, Chair of Great Lighthouses of Ireland helped kick off summer in fine style when he announced the ‘Great Lighthouse, Great Fun’ photography competition.

The competition was held to invite all to discover the amazing coastlines of Ireland, the challenge was simple: take a photograph that best captures and expresses the best of summer fun at a lighthouse. 

“We had a huge number of entries, all a fantastic reflection of Ireland in summer... it was a challenging task for our judges to select (a) final ten, then five and (lastly) the winner,“ Kerr said.

“The winning image of Gar Heffernan holding Hook (Lighthouse) in his hands captured the essence of summer fun at our lighthouses. Well done, Gar. We look forward to meeting you,” said Kerr.

Gar and his family will enjoy a fantastic bespoke Great Lighthouses of Ireland experience for four people, which will include:

  • A two-night stay at any of the Great Lighthouses of Ireland self-catering houses
  • A personal tour with our leading storykeeper at any of our lighthouse attractions
  • A unique opportunity to meet the Irish Lights historian at Howth’s Baily Lighthouse to learn all about the history and heritage of Irish Lights
  • A chance to meet the Irish Lights team and learn more about how navigational aids work today

Speaking from SeaFest, Galway, Yvonne Shields, Chief Executive of Irish Lights said: “We look forward to welcoming our ‘Great Lighthouse, Great Fun’ winner and guests to Irish Lights to see the work involved in ensuring safe navigation around the coast of Ireland and (to) meet the team, whose technical and engineering expertise contributes to the development of our maritime economy. This weekend, we encourage all to come on board the Granualie at Seafest.” (See related ships on show tours).

Great Lighthouses of Ireland is an exciting collaboration between many private and public organisations in coastal communities, led and supported by Irish Lights. For event details and information about and booking Great Lighthouses of Ireland, see: www.greatlighthouses.com/shine-a-light

Twitter: @gtlighthouses | https://twitter.com/gtlighthouses

Facebook: @greatlighthousesofireland | https://www.facebook.com/greatlighthousesofireland

For full details and the competition terms and conditions, click this link here.

Published in Lighthouses

#Lighthouses - To kick off summer, Great Lighthouses of Ireland invite you to the 'Shine a Light on Summer' Festival this May Bank Holiday weekend and to take part in a 'Great Lighthouse, Great Fun' photographic competition to capture the best of summer fun at one of their great lighthouses.

To get a glimpse of all the great summer fun you can have at the Great Lighthouses of Ireland, watch this short video.

Shine a Light on Summer Festival

Shine A Light on Summer Festival is taking place from top to toe on the island of Ireland at five of our Great Lighthouses – at Fanad Head in the wilds of Donegal, at Hook the world's oldest working lighthouse in Wexford, at the majestic Loop Head and on the islands of Rathlin in the north and Valentia in the south west.

Be blown away by what you'll see, experience and discover at each site over the weekend. Meet fascinating lighthouse Storykeepers. Enjoy their tales of maritime marvels and nature's wonder, of heroic feats and the lightkeeping life. Discover crafts and traditions of times past and learn about modern coastal technology too.

Find out more by visiting this link. 

'Great Lighthouse, Great Fun' Photography Competition

As part of our Shine A Light On Summer Festival, we are launching our 'Great Lighthouse, Great Fun' photography competition.

We invite you to take a photograph that best captures and expresses summer fun at one of our Great Lighthouses of Ireland and enter it into our 'Great Lighthouse, Great Fun' photography competition.

The competition winner will enjoy a fantastic personal Great Lighthouses of Ireland experience for four people, including:

  • A two-night stay at any of the Great Lighthouses of Ireland self-catering houses
  • A personal tour with our leading 'storykeeper' at any of our lighthouse attractions
  • A unique opportunity to meet the Irish Lights historian at Howth's Baily Lighthouse for a chance to see and learn all about the history and heritage of Irish Lights
  • A chance to meet the Irish Lights team and learn more about how aids to navigation work today

This fantastic competition opens on Friday 4th May and closes on Wednesday 20th June 2018. To enter, simply post your photo on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook using the hashtag #GreatLighthouseGreatFun.

For full details and the competition terms and conditions, see this link :

Great Lighthouses of Ireland Chairperson, This , will announce the lucky winner during the Seafest www.seafest.ie on Saturday 30th June 2018.

Published in Lighthouses

Round Ireland Yacht Race Information

The Round Ireland Yacht Race is Ireland's classic offshore yacht race starts from Wicklow Sailing Club (WSC) and is organised jointly with the Royal Ocean Racing Club (RORC) and the Royal Irish Yacht Club (RIYC). This page details the very latest updates from the 2008 race onwards including the race schedule, yacht entries and the all-important race updates from around the 704-mile course. Keep up to date with the Round Ireland Yacht Race here on this one handy reference page.

2020 Round Ireland Race

The 2020 race, the 21st edition, was the first race to be rescheduled then cancelled.

Following Government restrictions over COVID-19, a decision on the whether or not the 2020 race can be held was made on April 9 2020 to reschedule the race to Saturday, August 22nd. On July 27th, the race was regrettably cancelled due to ongoing concerns about COVID-19.

Because of COVID-19, the race had to have a virtual launch party at the Royal Irish Yacht Club for its 21st edition

In spite of the pandemic, however, a record entry was in prospect for 2020 with 50 boats entered with four weeks to go to the race start. The race was also going big on size and variety to make good on a pre-race prediction that the fleet could reach 60. An Irish offshore selection trial also looked set to be a component part of the 2020 race.

The rescheduling of the race to a news date emphasises the race's national significance, according to Afloat here

FAQs

704 nautical miles, 810 miles or 1304 kilometres

3171 kilometres is the estimate of Ireland's coastline by the Ordnance Survey of Ireland.

SSE Renewables are the sponsors of the 2020 Round Ireland Race.

Wicklow Sailing Club in association with the Royal Ocean Racing Club in London and The Royal Irish Yacht Club in Dublin.

Off Wicklow Harbour on Saturday, August 22nd 2020

Monohulls 1300 hrs and Multihulls 13.10 hrs

Leave Ireland and all its islands (excluding Rockall) to starboard.

It depends on the boat. The elapsed record time for the race is under 40 hours but most boats take five or six days to complete the course.

The Race Tracker is https://afloat.ie/sail/events/round-ireland/item/25789-round-ireland-yacht-race-tracker-2016-here.

The idea of a race around Ireland began in 1975 with a double-handed race starting and finishing in Bangor organised by Ballyholme Yacht Club with stopovers in Crosshaven and Killybegs. That race only had four entries. In 1980 Michael Jones put forward the idea of a non-stop race and was held in that year from Wicklow Sailing Club. Sixteen pioneers entered that race with Brian Coad’s Raasay of Melfort returning home after six days at sea to win the inaugural race. Read the first Round Ireland Yacht Race 1980 Sailing Instructions here

 

The Round Ireland race record of 38 h 37 min 7 s is held by MOD-70 trimaran Musandam-Oman Sail and was set in June 2016.

George David’s Rambler 88 (USA) holds the fastest monohull race time of two days two hours 24 minutes and 9 seconds set in the 2016 race.

William Power's 45ft Olivia undertook a round Ireland cruise in September 1860

 

Richard Hayes completed his solo epic round Ireland voyage in September 2018 in a 14-foot Laser dinghy. The voyage had seen him log a total of 1,324 sea miles (2,452 kilometres) in 54 sailing days. in 1961, the Belfast Lough Waverly Durward crewed by Kevin and Colm MacLaverty and Mick Clarke went around Ireland in three-and-a-half weeks becoming the smallest keelboat ever to go round. While neither of these achievements occurred as part of the race they are part of Round Ireland sailing history

© Afloat 2020