Menu

Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

Displaying items by tag: James Gilna

A new exhibition of classic racing boat paintings by Afloat.ie reader James Gilna opens today (Wednesday 18 September) at the National Maritime Museum in Dun Laoghaire.

And the artist himself will be in attendance to discuss the works included in The Windward Mark from 5.30pm this Friday 20 September as part of Culture Night activities nationwide.

Paintings in the exhibition, which runs until Sunday 20 October, feature classic sailboats such as the Dublin Bay 21s and Howth 17s racing at Kingstown Harbour and in various locations around the Irish Sea.

A maritime artist based in Dublin, James Gilna is an alumnus of Dun Laoghaire School of Art and Design and the National College of Art and Design. He also sails and races Erica, his classic gaff rigged boat which was designed in 1897.

Earlier this year, Gilna tipped us to the auction of a painting by renowned maritime artist Montague Dawson of a boat supposedly racing on Lough Derg.

The events depicted in the painting were subsequently questioned by a Lough Derg yachting historian, who raised a number of points where Dawson may have taken artistic licence with his work.

About the Star Sailors League Gold Cup

In 2022, Sailing finally got its own World Cup, according to the promoters of the SSL (STAR SAILORS LEAGUE) Gold Cup. 

Like football in 1930 and rugby in 1987, the SSL Gold Cup is designed to crown the best sailing nation of all! The World's Top 56 countries, selected on their SSL Nation ranking, will battle their way through to raise the coveted and only Sailing World Cup trophy.

The SSL is the global inshore sailing circuit launched by Olympic athletes in 2012, by sailors for sailors. Its main philosophy considers the athletes (not the boats) as the “Stars” and it aims to showcase the annual global sailing championship with its over 15’000 regattas; it determines and celebrates the world leaders in sailing promoting the inshore regattas to the global audience.

The three main components of the SSL Circuit are the SSL Ranking published every Tuesday, updating the position of over 100,000 leading athletes, thus highlighting the world’s top inshore sailors. The SSL Finals taking place every year around November-December, it’s the annual final of the SSL Circuit among the 20/25 best athletes of the ranking, to crown the champion of the season. And the SSL Gold Cup, the ‘ultimate’ championship of the circuit with 56 nations among World Sailing members, to crown the best sailing nation.

In a mechanical sport where the race for technology sometimes gets in the way of the race for glory, the SSL aims for equal competition where the talent of the sailors is at the forefront and the champions become heroes that inspire new generations of sailors.

The SSL is a World Sailing Special Event since 2017.