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#SHANNON - Waterways Ireland has just released details of its scheme for renting berths for houseboats on the Grand Canal at Shannon Harbour.

Under the scheme, boaters can rent one of eight fully-serviced berths for their houseboat on a 12-month extended term licence running from 15 March 2012 to 14 March 2013.

Amenities on-site include electricity supply, access to pumps and clean water, shower facilities and limited car parking. Pre-paid smart cards are required to utilise some facilities.

As space is limited, the berths will go to the highest bidders, with the minimum acceptable bid set at €1,250 (a security deposit of €250 is required).

It is expected that licence holders will live on board their vessels as their main residence. Winning bidders are also expected to arrange their own refuse collection from the site.

The closing date for bids is 23 February 2012. The Waterways Ireland website has the application form plus more information about the scheme and details of the licence agreement.

Published in Inland Waterways

The ISAF World Match Racing Tour (WMRT), sailing's global match racing tour, has today opened the bidding process for cities, regions and countries from around the globe to enter the race for the right to host a stage of sailing's leading world series.

WMRT is an exciting and spectator friendly discipline with leading skippers and their teams taking each other on in short, sharp, high adrenalin, head-to-head battles in identical boats. Recognised by the International Sailing Federation (ISAF) with special event status, WMRT is a professionally managed tour currently consisting of nine events worldwide. The Tour culminates in the crowning of a World Champion.

The bidding process, which will be managed by venue acquisition consultancy Regatta International, will see six new venues selected to join the Tour from the 2012-2013 seasons. The new venues will win the right to hold a World Championship stage, each lasting for 5 days.

Cities, countries and regions interested in finding out more about WMRT, the benefits associated with being a host venue, and what the application process is, can find full details and register their interest at http://application.wmrt.com/.

Commenting on the opening of the bidding process, WMRT CEO Jim O'Toole commented, "The World Match Racing Tour is a well proven marketing platform for destinations wishing to showcase their facilities, infrastructure and organisational capacities, increase their international tourism profile and attract inward investment.

"We are currently undergoing an intense period of expansion and are looking forward to partnering with venues who share our ambition. We have already fielded strong levels of interest from potential venues and by opening up the bidding process we'll be requiring bidding venues to meet certain criteria.

"These will range from essential requirements such as proving they can ensure good winds, to logistical, marketing and financial commitments, as well as guaranteeing they can provide the level of infrastructure associated with a world class level sporting event."

Regatta International's Director Terry Newby said, "The World Match Racing Tour is already one of sailing's most respected brands with outstanding events around the world. The opportunity to work with interested parties to develop the series to 15 stages by 2013 is a hugely exciting prospect.

"Over the past 10 years WMRT has developed into a very well organised series which attracts top class sailors while drawing a huge global audience and media footprint. The benefits for venues looking to host a stage are numerous, ranging from strong economic returns to developing international awareness. We look forward to collaborating with bidding cities to maximise their chances of success."

Published in Match Racing

Ireland's Trading Ketch Ilen

The Ilen is the last of Ireland’s traditional wooden sailing ships.

Designed by Limerick man Conor O’Brien and built in Baltimore in 1926, she was delivered by Munster men to the Falkland Islands where she served valiantly for seventy years, enduring and enjoying the Roaring Forties, the Furious Fifties, and Screaming Sixties.

Returned now to Ireland and given a new breath of life, Ilen may be described as the last of Ireland’s timber-built ocean-going sailing ships, yet at a mere 56ft, it is capable of visiting most of the small harbours of Ireland.

Wooden Sailing Ship Ilen FAQs

The Ilen is the last of Ireland’s traditional wooden sailing ships.

The Ilen was designed by Conor O’Brien, the first Irish man to circumnavigate the world.

Ilen is named for the West Cork River which flows to the sea at Baltimore, her home port.

The Ilen was built by Baltimore Sea Fisheries School, West Cork in 1926. Tom Moynihan was foreman.

Ilen's wood construction is of oak ribs and planks of larch.

As-built initially, she is 56 feet in length overall with a beam of 14 feet and a displacement of 45 tonnes.

Conor O’Brien set sail in August 1926 with two Cadogan cousins from Cape Clear in West Cork, arriving at Port Stanley in January 1927 and handed it over to the new owners.

The Ilen was delivered to the Falkland Islands Company, in exchange for £1,500.

Ilen served for over 70 years as a cargo ship and a ferry in the Falkland Islands, enduring and enjoying the Roaring Forties, the Furious Fifties, and Screaming Sixties. She stayed in service until the early 1990s.

Limerick sailor Gary McMahon and his team located Ilen. MacMahon started looking for her in 1996 and went out to the Falklands and struck a deal with the owner to bring her back to Ireland.

After a lifetime of hard work in the Falklands, Ilen required a ground-up rebuild.

A Russian cargo ship transported her back on a 12,000-mile trip from the Southern Oceans to Dublin. The Ilen was discharged at the Port of Dublin 1997, after an absence from Ireland of 70 years.

It was a collaboration between the Ilen Project in Limerick and Hegarty’s Boatyard in Old Court, near Skibbereen. Much of the heavy lifting, of frames, planking, deadwood & backbone, knees, floors, shelves and stringers, deck beams, and carlins, was done in Hegarty’s. The generally lighter work of preparing sole, bulkheads, deck‐houses fixed furniture, fixtures & fittings, deck fittings, machinery, systems, tanks, spar making and rigging is being done at the Ilen boat building school in Limerick.

Ten years. The boat was much the worse for wear when it returned to West Cork in May 1998, and it remained dormant for ten years before the start of a decade-long restoration.

Ilen now serves as a community floating classroom and cargo vessel – visiting 23 ports in 2019 and making a transatlantic crossing to Greenland as part of a relationship-building project to link youth in Limerick City with youth in Nuuk, west Greenland.

At a mere 56ft, Ilen is capable of visiting most of the small harbours of Ireland.

©Afloat 2020