Menu

Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

Displaying items by tag: Kenmare

#Rowing: Enniskillen, Kenmare and the host club all had notable results at the giant Castleconnell Head of the River today. Enniskillen’s girls’ eights were fastest at junior 18, junior 16 and junior 15 level – and their junior 18 women’s quadruple also hit the mark. The top junior 18 single sculler was Eabha Benson of St Michael’s. Georgia O’Brien was the top senior single sculler.

O’Brien is a Kenmare woman, and her club of origin had two remarkable results. Tom Kelly won the junior 18 singles and teamed up with 16-year-old Rowan Glynn-Johnston in the junior 18 double sculls to record a brilliant time of 11 minutes 12 seconds. Kealan Mannix of the University of Limerick was the fastest senior with a time of 11 minutes 52 seconds.

Enniskillen’s junior men’s eight were the fastest of all, in nine minutes 58 seconds, while UCD B were the fastest four with a time of 10 minutes 21 seconds.

Published in Rowing

#Rowing: Seven different clubs won in the second session of finals on the second day of the Irish Championships. The races were run in hot sunshine.

Two women's finals senior finals were won in emphatic fashion. Georgia O'Brien of Kenmare won in the women's senior single sculls to give the club its second Championship. NUIG were also well in control in their victory in the women's senior pair.

Sadhbh Scully of Carlow, who is a junior, followed the trend in her big win in the women's club single sculls.

The women's junior 18 eights was a tighter affair, though Bann, once in the lead, held on strongly to rebuff Enniskillen.  

The men's junior quadruple was a big event, with Lee taking the title ahead of Three Castles and Neptune.

Cork clubs are having a good Championships, and UCC took the women's club eights.

Skibbereen figured strongly in some finals, but had their first Championship win when Kealan Mannix won the intermediate single sculls from Shane Haugh of Castleconnell.

Published in Rowing

#Rowing: NUIG had a very good first day at the Irish Championships at the National Rowing Centre, taking four titles.

They won the women's senior four, the women's intermediate eight and the women's club coxed four. Sadhbh O'Connor and Fiona Murtagh added the women's senior double sculls for the Galway club.

Enniskillen took two notable titles: their men's junior eight came through under pressure from Colaiste Iognaid, and the women's junior four won from Bann.

Fionnan Crowley retained his title in the men's senior single sculls. The Castleconnell man - a brother of Aileen, who was doing well in the Ireland pair at Rotterdam - won by under a length from Niall Beggan of Commercial, who came at him hard in the closing stages.

UCD's senior four also successfully defended their title.

Tom Kelly won the junior single - the first Championships for the Kenmare club. Kelly, who turns 17 next month, is coached by Noel Casey, who is 85. Casey as based in Britain for decades and coached British women's crews to the Los Angeles Olympic Games.

Carlow's Sadhbh Scully and Ciara Egan won the women's junior double - a first title at this level for the club.

Trinity won the men's club eight in a good race, while Cork Boat Club won the men's intermediate coxed four, and Anna Liffey the women's intermediate pair.

NUIG pushed Queen's hard in the men's novice coxed quadruple, but the Belfast men came through. The women's novice coxed quad from Queen's also won, giving them two victories on a busy day.

Published in Rowing

#Rowing: Georgia O’Brien has been chosen to represent Ireland at the Coupe de la Jeunesse. The Kenmare girl was added to the team, which will compete in Belgium on July 29th and 30th, after Cork Regatta. However, Rory Quinn and Oisin Clune, who had been in the mix for the Coupe de la Jeunesse team, were not chosen. They have been named in the team for the Home International Regatta in Scotland on July 22nd.

Junior Team selections 2017
The following junior teams have been selected to race at international regattas this coming summer.
Junior World Championships (Trakai, Lithuania, August 2-6)
JW2x
Margaret Cremen (Lee Rowing Club)
Aoife Casey (Skibbereen RC) Coach: Dan Buckley (Lee RC)
(Eleanor Casey, Skibbereen RC will travel with the crew as chaperone).
Coupe de la Jeunesse (Hazewinkel, Belgium, July 29-30)
JM4x-
Barry O'Flynn (Cork BC)
Matt Dundon (Clonmel RC)
Jack Keating (Carlow RC)
James Quinlan (Castleconnell BC) Coach: Ray Morrison (Fermoy RC) JW1x Georgia O' Brien (Kenmare) Coach: Ray Morrison (Fermoy RC)
JW2-
Ellie O' Reilly (Fermoy)
Gill McGirr (Fermoy) Coach: John Walsh (St Joseph's RC)
JM4-
Nathan Timoney (Enniskillen)
Barry Connolly (Cork BC)
Ross Corrigan (Enniskillen)
Aaron Johnston (Enniskillen) Coach: John Walsh (St Joseph's RC)
Home International (Strathclyde, Scotland, July 22)
Junior Women - Sweep Team
JW 4+
Siobhan Maxwell (Commercial)
Aishling Keogh (Commercial)
Mia Kovacs (Shandon)
Chelsey Minehane (Shandon)
Cox: Vicky Hanlon (Cork BC)
JW4-
Mia Jane Elliot (Enniskillen)
Zoe McCutcheon (Enniskillen)
Caitlyn Fee (Enniskillen)
Miriam Kelly (Enniskillen)
JW2-
Megan Tully (Shannon)
Megan Carmody (Shannon) Coach: Fran Keane (Presentation College RC)
*The JW Eight will be a combination of the 4+ and the 4-
Junior Men - Sweep Team
Olly O' Toole (Commercial)
Edward Meehan (Commercial)
Michael Lynch (Commercial)
Ewan Jarvis (Commercial)
Tom McKeon (SMRC)
Dylan O' Byrne (SMRC)
Odhran Donaghy (Enniskillen)
Jack Dorney (Shandon)
Calum MacRae (Methodist)
Alexander Wilson (Methodist)
Cox: Rory Farragher (Enniskillen) Coach: Stewart Davis (Lee RC)
Junior Women - Sculling Team
Cliodhna Nolan (Carlow RC)
Ciara Browne (Workmans)
Anna O'Sullivan (Fermoy RC)
Ciara Moynihan (Workmans)
Aoibhinn Keating (Skibbereen)
Ella Buckley (Lee Valley)
Ruth Carson (Bann) Coach: Amy Phelan (Colaiste Iognaid)
Junior Men - Sculling Team
Aaron Christie (Bann)
Tadhg McKnight (Three Castles)
Andy O' Toole (Carlow)
Ross O' Brien (Carlow)
Alex Byrne (Shandon BC)
Rory Quinn (Three Castles)
Oisin Clune (Three Castles) Coach: TBC
Published in Rowing

Tributes have been paid to the Kenmore man who died after his canoe capsized on Sunday (31 January).

As the Belfast Telegraph reports, Bill Topham was canoeing with a friend to islands in Kenmare Bay for a duck-shoot when their two-man vessel overturned in high winds as Storm Henry swept in from the Atlantic.

While his friend was able to swim to shore a few hundred yards away, Topham disappeared – and his body was recovered the following morning (Monday 1 February) after hundreds turned out to help with the search in often stormy conditions.

"Bill Topham and Kenmare, they sort of almost defined each other - willing to help everybody, always there and ready," said Rev Michael Cavanagh of St Patrick's Church of Ireland of the electrician, survived by his wife and three children.

The Belfast Telegraph has more on the story HERE.

Published in News Update

#MarineWildlife - A minke whale who beached along a river far upstream from Kenmare has been rescued thanks to the timely response of locals.

As RTÉ News reports, it's believed that the whale - found some 3km from the Kerry coastal town along the River Roughty – is the deepest inland such marine wildlife has ever been found in Ireland.

Two local boats guided the lone whale back towards the sea after tireless effort by community volunteers to keep it alive out of the water during low tide.

Published in Marine Wildlife

#ROWING: Portora won the Stephen Doran prize for best club at Athlone Regatta on Saturday. The Enniskillen club won a remarkable 11 finals, including clean sweeps of the men’s and women’s junior 18, junior 16 and junior 15 eights – with Bann of Coleraine coming in second in the junior 18 races. Portora also won the junior men’s coxed four and junior women’s coxless four.

The men’s senior single sculls winner was Turlough Hughes of UCD, with Damien Kelly of Garda second. Conor Carmody of Shannon won the junior 18 single sculls.

Kenmare celebrated their recent affiliation to Rowing Ireland by recording their first win – in the men’s noviced coxed quadruple sculls.

Published in Rowing

Hugo Montgomery Swan, the editor of Powerboat & Rib Magazine is part of the line up at Dromquinna Manor's Motor Boat Weekend this May bank Holiday at Kenmare, Co. Kerry. Dromquinna's John Brennan promises a weekend 'filled with adventure and activities' dedicated to motor boat enthusiasts on Kenmare Bay. The weekend format is below. A pdf flyer is also available for download below.

Friday

7pm Welcome Reception at Dromquinna Manor 

Speaker Hugo Montgomery Swan Editor of Powerboat & Rib Magazine Organiser of Round Ireland Challenge 2013

9pm Tom Crean Restaurant - Explorer Dinner

Hosted by Tom Crean's grandaughter who will tell of his epic voyages following
dinner. €35 Reservations 064 6641589.

Saturday

10am Navigation Workshop

11am Mechanical Workshop with Marine Motors Cork

12pm Basic Safety Demonstration

1pm Launch of 'The Men's Shed' Curragh

Blessing of the Boats

2pm Treasure Hunt on Kenmare Bay

A leisurely fun filled excursion on Kenmare Bay

6pm Helens Bar Kilmackillogue

Optional night cruise back to Kenmare

Sunday

7-9am Refuelling

10am Bull Run for Fun

The famous annual outing to The Bull Rock

Lunch in Portmagee at own expense

Afternoon Cruise to The Skellig Rocks

Return to Dromquinna Manor

Total distance 120 miles

7pm BBQ at Dromquinna Manor

€20. Reservations 064 6642888

Monday

Wash down and depart

Published in Powerboat Racing
Tagged under

#IRISH HARBOURS - Protesters took to the water off Kerry's piers last month in an organised swim drawing attention to proposed harbour bylaws designed to regulate the activities of water users.

“We need to make the public aware they have to make submissions,” Denise Collins told The Irish Times from Kells, which hosted one of the largest swims. “Traditional activities such as swimming will be over-regulated, we fear.”

The proposed bylaws would give Kerry County Council greater control over 16 of the county's 57 harbours and piers, including Kells, Kenmare, Portmagee, Brandon and Ventry.

Under the new bylaws, strict regulations would be placed on the use of loudhailers, landing and unloading passengers and freight, waste and even movement around the harbour.

"Draconian" charges are also set to be imposed on fishermen and other harbour users, while campaingers also feel that a ban on swimming and diving could also be added to the list.

The proposed bylaws already suffered a set-back earlier this year when Kerry County Councillors decided to restart the consultation process to allow the fishing industry, tourism operators and other interests more time to make submissions.

According to the Irish Examiner, only two submissions had been received by the council as of its January monthly meeting, despite senior council officials working for months on the draft proposals.

Cllr Toiréasa Ferris commented that the proposed charges in particular "would have huge implications for fishermen, some of whom might currently be earning only between €40 and €50 for a 14-hour day."

As previously reported on Afloat.ie, charges may also soon be hiked on yachts berthing at Ireland's main fishing harbours, a list that includes Dingle in Co Kerry.

Irish Marine Federation chairman David O'Brien expressed concern at the potential for such charges to damage "the good tourism dividend for coastal towns", noting that for every euro spent on a harbour berth, €10 was normally spent in the locality.

Published in Irish Harbours

Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta

From the Baily lighthouse to Dalkey island, the bay accommodates six separate courses for 21 different classes racing every two years for the Dun Laoghaire Regatta.

In assembling its record-breaking armada, Volvo Dun Laoghaire regatta (VDLR) became, at its second staging, not only the country's biggest sailing event, with 3,500 sailors competing, but also one of Ireland's largest participant sporting events.

One of the reasons for this, ironically, is that competitors across Europe have become jaded by well-worn venue claims attempting to replicate Cowes and Cork Week.'Never mind the quality, feel the width' has been a criticism of modern-day regattas where organisers mistakenly focus on being the biggest to be the best. Dun Laoghaire, with its local fleet of 300 boats, never set out to be the biggest. Its priority focussed instead on quality racing even after it got off to a spectacularly wrong start when the event was becalmed for four days at its first attempt.

The idea to rekindle a combined Dublin bay event resurfaced after an absence of almost 40 years, mostly because of the persistence of a passionate race officer Brian Craig who believed that Dun Laoghaire could become the Cowes of the Irish Sea if the town and the local clubs worked together. Although fickle winds conspired against him in 2005, the support of all four Dun Laoghaire waterfront yacht clubs since then (made up of Dun Laoghaire Motor YC, National YC, Royal Irish YC and Royal St GYC), in association with the two racing clubs of Dublin Bay SC and Royal Alfred YC, gave him the momentum to carry on.

There is no doubt that sailors have also responded with their support from all four coasts. Running for four days, the regatta is (after the large mini-marathons) the single most significant participant sports event in the country, requiring the services of 280 volunteers on and off the water, as well as top international race officers and an international jury, to resolve racing disputes representing five countries. A flotilla of 25 boats regularly races from the Royal Dee near Liverpool to Dublin for the Lyver Trophy to coincide with the event. The race also doubles as a RORC qualifying race for the Fastnet.

Sailors from the Ribble, Mersey, the Menai Straits, Anglesey, Cardigan Bay and the Isle of Man have to travel three times the distance to the Solent as they do to Dublin Bay. This, claims Craig, is one of the major selling points of the Irish event and explains the range of entries from marinas as far away as Yorkshire's Whitby YC and the Isle of Wight.

No other regatta in the Irish Sea area can claim to have such a reach. Dublin Bay Weeks such as this petered out in the 1960s, and it has taken almost four decades for the waterfront clubs to come together to produce a spectacle on and off the water to rival Cowes."The fact that we are getting such numbers means it is inevitable that it is compared with Cowes," said Craig. However, there the comparison ends."We're doing our own thing here. Dun Laoghaire is unique, and we are making an extraordinary effort to welcome visitors from abroad," he added. The busiest shipping lane in the country – across the bay to Dublin port – closes temporarily to facilitate the regatta and the placing of six separate courses each day.

A fleet total of this size represents something of an unknown quantity on the bay as it is more than double the size of any other regatta ever held there.

Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta FAQs

Dun Laoghaire Regatta is Ireland's biggest sailing event. It is held every second Summer at Dun Laoghaire Harbour on Dublin Bay.

Dun Laoghaire Regatta is held every two years, typically in the first weekend of July.

As its name suggests, the event is based at Dun Laoghaire Harbour. Racing is held on Dublin Bay over as many as six different courses with a coastal route that extends out into the Irish Sea. Ashore, the festivities are held across the town but mostly in the four organising yacht clubs.

Dun Laoghaire Regatta is the largest sailing regatta in Ireland and on the Irish Sea and the second largest in the British Isles. It has a fleet of 500 competing boats and up to 3,000 sailors. Scotland's biggest regatta on the Clyde is less than half the size of the Dun Laoghaire event. After the Dublin city marathon, the regatta is one of the most significant single participant sporting events in the country in terms of Irish sporting events.

The modern Dublin Bay Regatta began in 2005, but it owes its roots to earlier combined Dublin Bay Regattas of the 1960s.

Up to 500 boats regularly compete.

Up to 70 different yacht clubs are represented.

The Channel Islands, Isle of Man, England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, Ireland countrywide, and Dublin clubs.

Nearly half the sailors, over 1,000, travel to participate from outside of Dun Laoghaire and from overseas to race and socialise in Dun Laoghaire.

21 different classes are competing at Dun Laoghaire Regatta. As well as four IRC Divisions from 50-footers down to 20-foot day boats and White Sails, there are also extensive one-design keelboat and dinghy fleets to include all the fleets that regularly race on the Bay such as Beneteau 31.7s, Ruffian 23s, Sigma 33s as well as Flying Fifteens, Laser SB20s plus some visiting fleets such as the RS Elites from Belfast Lough to name by one.

 

Some sailing household names are regular competitors at the biennial Dun Laoghaire event including Dun Laoghaire Olympic silver medalist, Annalise Murphy. International sailing stars are competing too such as Mike McIntyre, a British Olympic Gold medalist and a raft of World and European class champions.

There are different entry fees for different size boats. A 40-foot yacht will pay up to €550, but a 14-foot dinghy such as Laser will pay €95. Full entry fee details are contained in the Regatta Notice of Race document.

Spectators can see the boats racing on six courses from any vantage point on the southern shore of Dublin Bay. As well as from the Harbour walls itself, it is also possible to see the boats from Sandycove, Dalkey and Killiney, especially when the boats compete over inshore coastal courses or have in-harbour finishes.

Very favourably. It is often compared to Cowes, Britain's biggest regatta on the Isle of Wight that has 1,000 entries. However, sailors based in the north of England have to travel three times the distance to get to Cowes as they do to Dun Laoghaire.

Dun Laoghaire Regatta is unique because of its compact site offering four different yacht clubs within the harbour and the race tracks' proximity, just a five-minute sail from shore. International sailors also speak of its international travel connections and being so close to Dublin city. The regatta also prides itself on balancing excellent competition with good fun ashore.

The Organising Authority (OA) of Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta is Dublin Bay Regattas Ltd, a not-for-profit company, beneficially owned by Dun Laoghaire Motor Yacht Club (DMYC), National Yacht Club (NYC), Royal Irish Yacht Club (RIYC) and Royal St George Yacht Club (RSGYC).

The Irish Marine Federation launched a case study on the 2009 Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta's socio-economic significance. Over four days, the study (carried out by Irish Sea Marine Leisure Knowledge Network) found the event was worth nearly €3million to the local economy over the four days of the event. Typically the Royal Marine Hotel and Haddington Hotel and other local providers are fully booked for the event.

©Afloat 2020