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Displaying items by tag: Excursion trips

Operator Dublin Bay Cruises excursion vessel St. Bridget has completed an annual overhaul at Howth Boatyard and returned to the capital’s Grand Canal Dock this morning in preparation for the forthcoming season, writes Jehan Ashmore.

St. Bridget was observed off the Baily Lighthouse, on the Howth Peninsula, where the feature is one of many prominent coastal landmarks that line the beautiful expanse of Dublin Bay. The operator of boat trips and cruises is to resume service on the day preceding St. Patricks Day which this year falls on a Sunday.

In addition to made-made structures, there are wonderful opportunities to take in the marine life-life based on seven excursions, with embarkation available from Dublin City Centre, Dun Laoghaire Harbour and Howth Harbour. There are also tours from Howth around Ireland’s Eye, and from Dun Laoghaire circling Dalkey Island and into Killiney Bay along with the backdrop of the Wicklow mountains.

In the meantime, this morning the St. Bridget arrived to Dublin Port which involved the busy scene of shipping activity, before the 26m vessel reached the Tom Clarke (East Link) Toll-Bridge. At that stage, the bridge's opening-span of 45m was raised to enable the vessel to transit through into the Dublin ‘Docklands’ stretch of the River Liffey.

No sooner had St. Bridget passed under the bridge, the vessel turned into the nearby loch gate (Ringsend Gut) of the Grand Canal Dock basin on the south side of the city. This is where the vessel routinely occupies a berth during the winter months, however it won’t be long before its’ role will see excursionists embark in eagerness to take in the wonderful sights of the capital’s distinctive horse-shoe shaped bay.

Published in Dublin Bay

The Irish Cruiser Racing Association (ICRA) Information

The creation of the Irish Cruiser Racing Association (ICRA) began in a very low key way in the autumn of 2002 with an exploratory meeting between Denis Kiely, Jim Donegan and Fintan Cairns in the Granville Hotel in Waterford, and the first conference was held in February 2003 in Kilkenny.

While numbers of cruiser-racers were large, their specific locations were widespread, but there was simply no denying the numerical strength and majority power of the Cork-Dublin axis. To get what was then a very novel concept up and running, this strength of numbers had to be acknowledged, and the first National Championship in 2003 reflected this, as it was staged in Howth.

ICRA was run by a dedicated group of volunteers each of whom brought their special talents to the organisation. Jim Donegan, the elder statesman, was so much more interested in the wellbeing of the new organisation than in personal advancement that he insisted on Fintan Cairns being the first Commodore, while the distinguished Cork sailor was more than content to be Vice Commodore.

ICRA National Championships

Initially, the highlight of the ICRA season was the National Championship, which is essentially self-limiting, as it is restricted to boats which have or would be eligible for an IRC Rating. Boats not actually rated but eligible were catered for by ICRA’s ace number-cruncher Denis Kiely, who took Ireland’s long-established native rating system ECHO to new heights, thereby providing for extra entries which brought fleet numbers at most annual national championships to comfortably above the hundred mark, particularly at the height of the boom years. 

ICRA Boat of the Year (Winners 2004-2019)