Menu

Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

Displaying items by tag: Belfast Waterworks

#modelboatracing – Further to the IOM model yacht class development in Northern Ireland thanks to Brian O'Neill who joined the fleet about 3 years ago and who has rallied other people from the North to our activity, a new club has emerged over the winter of 2013 in Belfast Waterworks writes Gilbert Louis.

This location is not new to model boats as the activity started in 1933 and lasted until the mid 1960's when a fire burned down the club house. But now model boats are back sailing on this man made pond. It is entirely purpose build for Belfast County needs in concrete. It is flat bottom and with a depth of around 1.2m it is plenty for our model boats.

This was made possible by the support of the Belfast Council who welcomed the request, happy to see activity on this pond once more – A big thank you to the Council for their support !

I hope this will be the first of more inland ponds open to our activity to come. For now most of our sailing is on the sea but we are tight to the tides whereas on a pond we could schedule sailing well in advance.

Fair play to Bill, Wayne and Brian for making this a reality and adding to our sailing venues.

You can find all the information about the Belfast waterworks model boat club on their website 

For now they are sailing RG65 and in particular Drafon Force 65, IOM and occasionally A class too.

Published in Model Boats

Irish Sailing

The Irish Sailing Association, also known as Irish Sailing, is the national governing body for sailing, powerboating and windsurfing in Ireland.

Founded in 1945 as the Irish Dinghy Racing Association, it became the Irish Yachting Association in 1964 and the Irish Sailing Association in 1992.

Irish Sailing is a Member National Authority (MNA) of World Sailing and a member of the Olympic Federation of Ireland.

The Association is governed by a volunteer board, elected by the member clubs. Policy Groups provide the link with members and stakeholders while advising the Board on specialist areas. There is a professional administration and performance staff, based at the headquarters in Dun Laoghaire, Co. Dublin.

Core functions include the regulation of sailing education, administering racing and selection of Irish sailors for international competition. It is the body recognised by the Olympic Federation of Ireland for nominating Irish qualified sailors to be considered for selection to represent Ireland at the Olympic Games. Irish sailors have medalled twice at the Olympics – David Wilkins and Jamie Wikinson at the 1980 games, and Annalise Murphy at the 2016 games.

The Association, through its network of clubs and centres, offers curriculum-based training in the various sailing, windsurfing and powerboating disciplines. Irish Sailing qualifications are recognised by Irish and European Authorities. Most prominent of these are the Yachtmaster and the International Certificate of Competency.

It runs the annual All-Ireland Championships (formerly the Helmsman’s Championship) for senior and junior sailors.

The Association has been led by leading lights in the sailing and business communities. These include Douglas Heard, Clayton Love Junior, John Burke and Robert Dix.

Close to 100 sailors have represented Ireland at the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Membership of Irish Sailing is either by direct application or through membership of an affiliated organisation. The annual membership fee ranges from €75 for families, down to €20 for Seniors and Juniors.