Displaying items by tag: Newtownards

9th December 2015

Ulsterbus Crashes Onto Strangford Lough Beach

#BusCrash - HM Coastguard teams from Bangor and Portaferry were on the scene at Strangford Lough this morning (Wednesday 9 December) after a bus crashed from Portaferry Road onto the beach below.

No passengers were on board when the Ulsterbus crashed through a wall on the road outside Newtownards in Co Down just before 6.55am.

The driver was taken to hospital as workers cleared debris from the road and raced to recover the bus from the beach before high tide, as the Belfast Telegraph reports.

The Northern Ireland Environment Agency also sent officers to the scene to check for any pollution that may have occurred. The PSNI and ambulance service were also in attendance.

Published in News Update

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GP14 Hot Toddy Event At Newtownards Was Race Officer's 'Nightmare'

#gp14 – The GP14 Hot Toddy 2014 has been won by Ruan O'Tiarnaigh & Mel Morris writes Curly Morris. The forecast seemed promising with warm weather and some wind. However although the autumn warmth was there, Newtownards' sheltered position surrounded by low hills meant wind was minimal and a race officer's nightmare. The nice little breeze present while rigging disappeared but eventually a light westerly appeared and racing got under way in 3 -4 knots of wind around about 1.00 pm.

With a little more breeze on the left side of the track, boats coming in on port to the first mark did best with Dan & Hugh Gill and Ruan O'Tiarnaigh (standing in for the injured Ger Owens) with Melanie Morris rounded in the top positions, holding these for the next round. With the breeze slowly falling by the time boats started the run it was clearly going to be a long and difficult leg. The two leaders chose to gybe with the rest of the fleet sticking to starboard gybe and making better headway. Heading for the leeward mark Paddy O'Connor & Brendan Brogan seemed to have the lead, but J P McCaldin & Liz Copland and Alistair Duffin & Brendan McGrenagham rounding around 10th place sailed high to the area where the breeze was strongest on the beat and found enough extra wind to bring them into the leeward mark in first and second place. With the race being shortened at the leeward mark these became the finishing positions.

With little wind troubling the surface of the water nearly half the boats chose to take a break ashore, but most of them found they were unable to get back to the starting line when enough breeze appeared mid afternoon to start a second race. Fourteen boats made the start and were joined by J P who had made great efforts to get to the line from the shore. Again the breeze was best on the left and Keith Louden & Alan Thompson made a fast start and found the right way to the first mark followed by Ruan & Mel. With tighter reaches there was less opportunity for place changing. Ruan & Mel mounted a challenge on the second beat and were looking forward to the run when they realised the race was to be finished at the windward mark - a good decision with the wind falling again. Curly Morris & Laura McFarland held third with Katie Dwyer & Michelle Riley in fourth. The next boats coming up to the line received a shock when two boats suddenly appeared from the previously unfavoured right- Brenda Preston sailing with John McRobert and Newenham de Cogan & Andy Corkhill slipping into fifth and seventh positions.

On Sunday the early morning breeze again died but with a ripple appearing the fleet sailed slowly out to the race area for a start after midday for what was probably the calmest race of the weekend. Katie & Michelle with a great start got to the windward mark ahead of Dan & Hugh and held them off during the two downwind legs. With the wind again falling the beat was very difficult. Katie and Dan going up the middle found a big "hole" in the wind. Boats on the left did better with Ruan & Mel just managing to hold off a challenge from boats further to the left with Alistair and J P taking second and third. Alistair's performance was particularly note worthy - he collected a very expensive 720 at the gybe mark and then capsized on the last beat overdoing a roll tack! A memorable and entertaining end to a challenging but pleasant weekend.

GP 14 Hot Toddy Trophy

1 Ruan O'Tiarnaigh Gold 10 2 1 13
2 Keith Lowden Gold 5 1 7 13
3 Curly Morris Gold 6 3 6 15
4 J P McCaldin Gold 1 14 3 18
5 P O'Connor Gold 3 6 12 21
6 Shane MacCarthy Gold 4 8 10 22
7 Alistair Duffin Gold 2 26 2 30
8 Katie Dwyer Silver 19 4 8 31
9 Brenda Preston Bronze 21 5 13 39
10 Dan Gill Silver 9 26 4 39
11 Brian Andrews Bronze 14 11 17 42
12 Newenham de Cogan Silver 20 7 15 42
13 Peter Fallon Silver 13 26 5 44
14 Steven Nelson Silver 7 26 11 44
15 Michael Cox Silver 18 10 16 44
16 Tom Molloy Gold 12 9 26 47
17 Lawerence Baalham Bronze 8 26 14 48
18 Adrian Lee Bronze 16 13 26 55
19 Bill Johnson Silver 11 26 18 55
20 Gerard Brady Bronze 24 12 20 56
21 Simon Jeffery Bronze 26 26 9 61
22 Jack Buttimer Bronze 25 15 26 66
23 Joe Kelly Bronze 15 26 26 67
24 Anthony Hutton Bronze 22 26 19 67
25 Daniel Gallagher Silver 17 26 26 69
26 Mollie Egan Bronze 23 26 26 75

Published in GP14

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Baby Seal Found at NI Plant Hire Yard

A lost baby seal surprised workers at a plant hire yard in Strabane, Co Tyrone earlier this month, BBC News reports.

Staff at WT Hire were put in touch with a seal sanctuary in Newtownards when the pup was discovered on 6 January.

""I couldn't understand what it was," said staff member Nigel Gilchrist. "I certainly didn't expect to see a seal."

The "bright-eyed" and "healthy" looking seal pup is presumed to have wandered from a nearby stream that runs to the River Mourne.

BBC News has more in the story, including video, HERE.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-12126136

A lost baby seal surprised workers at a plant hire yard in Strabane, Co Tyrone earlier this month, BBC News reports.

Staff at WT Hire were put in touch with a seal sanctuary in Newtownards when the pup was discovered on 6 January.

""I couldn't understand what it was," said staff member Nigel Gilchrist. "I certainly didn't expect to see a seal."

The "bright-eyed" and "healthy" looking seal pup is presumed to have wandered from a nearby stream that runs to the River Mourne.

BBC News has more in the story - including video - HERE.

Published in Marine Wildlife

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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

What is Dun Laoghaire Regatta?

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

When is Dun Laoghaire Regatta?

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

Where is Dun Laoghaire Regatta held?

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.

How big is Dun Laoghaire Regatta?

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.

How old is Dun Laoghaire Regatta?

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

How many boats compete at Dun Laoghaire Regatta?

Up to 500 boats regularly compete.

How many yacht clubs are represented at Dun Laoghaire Regatta?

Up to 70 different yacht clubs are represented.

Where do the yachts come from to compete at Dun Laoghaire Regatta?

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

How many boats are visiting boats at Dun Laoghaire Regatta?

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.

What type of yachts race in Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta?

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.

What famous sailors race in Dun Laoghaire Regatta?

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.

How much does it cost to enter Dun Laoghaire Regatta?

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.

Where can spectators view Dun Laoghaire Regatta?

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.

How does Dun Laoghaire regatta compare to international regattas?

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.

Why is Dun Laoghaire Regatta so unique?

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.

Who organises Dun Laoghaire Regatta?

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).

What does Dun Laoghaire Regatta contribute to the local economy?

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.