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Displaying items by tag: World Shore Angling Championships

#Angling - It was double gold for Ireland’s men and women at the World Shore Angling Championships in Wexford this week, as the Irish Examiner reports.

And it’s a result that’s put the sport of shore angling firmly “back on the map” in Ireland, according to the Irish Federation of Sea Angling’s Brian Reidy.

Top prize for the men’s team saw them leap up two spots from their bronze-medal finish at last year’s event in Portugal’s Algarve, their best placed finish since winning in 2010 (they also came third in 2012).

But it was an even more impressive outing by the Irish women’s team, who were competing for the first time ever at top level and held on to their early lead for the full week’s fishing.

The Belfast Telegraph profiled the team ahead of the competition, noting that it was a family affair: mother and daughter Janet Snoddy and Lisa Gormley cast their lines as part of the six-women squad, while Lisa’s father — and Janet’s husband — Jim Gormley served as team manager.

Published in Angling

#Angling - It was a podium finish in Portugal for Team Ireland at the 32nd World Shore Angling Championships last month.

A fourth-place finish on a tough fourth day of the week-long contest was enough to secure the bronze medal for Ireland's eight-strong angling team in the Algarve on 26 November, as Fishing in Ireland reports.

"The importance of this result cannot be overstated," said Irish Federation of Sea Anglers (IFAA) chairman Michael Quinn as the team arrived back at Dublin Airport on 28 November.

"It shows that Ireland’s anglers are among the very best in the world and can compete with the very best in the world at the highest international level."

Ireland last claimed the world bronze medal in the Netherlands in 2012,as previously reported on Afloat.ie.

Next year's Shore Angling Worlds will be held in Wexford between 12 and 19 November.

Published in Angling

#ANGLING - Ireland's shore angling team have taken the bronze medal at the 2012 World Shore Angling Championship held at Veere in the Netherlands.

Brian Cooke of the Irish Federation of Sea Anglers (IFSA) reports that the fishing was very tough over the week, with anglers casting into a shipping channel that contained tackle grabbing ledges.

The predominant species were dabs to 30cm, whiting, pouting and some lovely soles, he says, noting that the weather was very changeable, and gales combined with big tides to test the resolve of the competitors. Most fish were taken at distance and zones were won with 15-25 fish.

The Irish team improved their position each day, finishing seventh on day 1 and moving up to fifth and fourth on succeeding days.

Coming into the final session, the Irish needed to close a four-point gap on the Italian team in third, which Cooke describes as "a massive gap to overturn in this event given the quality of the opposition".

But the Irish team pulled it off, says Cooke, "using all their experience and skills to leapfrog the Italians and claim another World Championship medal for an Irish Shore team.

"The qualification pool system has certainly proved a success, this medal adding to the gold won by Ireland in South Africa in 2010," he adds.

Cooke congratulated team manager Tom Lillis and the six-man squad: Martin Howlin, Joe Duggan, John O’ Brien, Derek Kenrick, Eugene Farrelly and Kieran Begadon.

Published in Angling

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