Menu

Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

Displaying items by tag: National Lottery

Dundalk Sub Aqua Search & Rescue have been named as one of five finalists in the Sport category on this year’s National Lottery Good Causes Awards, as The Argus reports.

It comes just months after the Co Louth diving club celebrated its 20th anniversary.

Previously the volunteer SAR unit benefited from a National Lottery-funded sports capital grant for the purchase of a new RIB allowing for rescue attempts and training in more challenging conditions.

The winners of the 2022 National Lottery Good Causes Awards will be announced at a gala dinner this autumn.

The Argus has more on the story HERE.

Published in Diving

Visitors to the Merseyside Maritime Museum have just over a fortnight to view Endurance: Shackleton's Antarctic Adventure! writes Jehan Ashmore.

The exhibition which has been running since last July, tells the epic story of Sir Ernest Shackleton's 1914 expedition and the incredible real life tale of survival. For over two years, Shackleton and his men became castaways during their Antarctic ordeal.

Also featuring in the exhibition are 150 compelling images taken by the ships photograph, Frank Hurley who saved the negatives from perishing in the icy waters.

The Endurance exhibition ends on Sunday 27 February and admission is free. For further details logon to the National Liverpool Museums website here

Last year the Dublin Port Company named a new tug, Shackleton in honour of the Athy-born, polar explorer and a sister tug was named Beaufort after the Navan-born innovator, Sir Francis Beaufort.

To read about the tugs in their starring role in an advertisement made for the National Lottery last year click this link and to see the tugs in Making Magic mode click video

Published in Boating Fixtures
The ongoing broadcasting of the National Lottery TV advert-campaign 'Making Magic Happen' depicts an impressive 'man-made rainbow' display on the River Liffey, which was created by a pair of new tugs, a helicopter and the rising sun, writes Jehan Ashmore.
During a mid-summer morning, onlookers witnessed the spectacle created as the Dublin Port Company's new tug-sisters, Shackleton and Beaufort arrived close to the Sean O'Casey Bridge and the Convention Centre. In tandem the tugs fired 2,200 gallons of water reaching to heights of 70 metres and a throw of 95 metres. In fact the highest 'water fountain' reached some 10 metres above the equivalent height of nearby Liberty Hall.

The spectacular effect of the life-size rainbow had never been achieved before in Ireland. Steve Green, the director of the advertisement used a 35mm film, with footage from HD cameras, including one mounted on the helicopter which hovered over the 'new' landmarks of the 'Docklands'.

The imaginative advertisement was created by Sweet Media, the production company chosen to produce the campaign, under the direction of the National Lottery's advertising agency, DDFH&B. The soundtrack for 'Making Magic Happen' is the appropriately titled 'Pocketful of Rainbows', sung by Elvis Presley. The version used is Take 16 from the 1960 recording sessions for the 'G.I. Blues' soundtrack.

As for the stars of the advert, the tugs are named after Irish figures, Shackleton, named in honour of Antartic explorer Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton and Beaufort, named after Navan-born, Sir Francis Beaufort, who created the world-renowned wind-scale measurement.

The 50-bollard ton tugs cost €6m each and were built at the Astilleros Zamakona Shipyard, Bilbao. In March the tugs officially entered service after a joint naming ceremony was held in Dublin Port.

To view the tugs in water-firing, making magic mode!... click the link here

Published in Dublin Bay

Dun Laoghaire Regatta 2023 Cruisers Zero

There will be an 11-boat entry of Cruisers Zero IRC boats competing at Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta 2023: 

  • GBR 1681, Gelert, Corby 36, Brian Dixon
  • IRL 1156, BOD, Derek de Yong
  • IRL 3721 ValenTina, J112e,GP Johnny Treanor
  • GBR 4822R, El Gran Senor, J122, Jonathan Anderson
  • IRL 6888, El Pocko, Puma 42, Jonathan Nicholson
  • GBR 6509N, Max Too, Prima 38, Neil Thomas
  • IRL 985, Ghost Raider, J111, Norbert Reilly
  • IRL 4240, Prima Forte, Beneteau First 40, Patrick Burke
  • IRL 10800, Rockabill VI, JPK 10.80, Paul O'Higgins
  • IRL 2729, Searche,r Sunfast 3600, Pete Smyth
  • IRL 2237, WOW, Extreme 37, Timothy Kane