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A Sigma 33 One Design keelboat racing on Dublin Bay Photo: AfloatA Sigma 33 One Design keelboat racing on Dublin Bay Photo: Afloat

Displaying items by tag: Red Bay Boats

Leinster Boats offers a Redbay Stormforce 7.4m RIB for sale.

The 'complete package' includes a 250 hp Suzuki outboard engine, a Rollercoaster trailer, and full instrumentation.

As regular Afloat readers know, this RIB range is Irish-built in the Glens of Antrim at Cushendall under master builder Tom McLoughlin and his team. The range is well known for its sea-keeping abilities.

Yacht Broker Ronan Beirne of Leinster Boats says this example is an 'all weather' RIB that is well cared for and recently serviced.

"The Redbay 7.4 is a true open sea adventure rib with many having circumnavigated Ireland," he says.

"This rib is meticulously maintained by a caring owner, with everything in full service. The perfect family rib is available now and ready to go", he adds.

See the full advert here

Published in RIBs
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Volunteers at Red Bay RNLI saved a swimmer on Monday evening (13 June) after she got into difficulty 200m from the shore at Cushendall in County Antrim.

The inshore lifeboat helmed by Emmet Connon and with three crew members onboard, was on a training exercise in Red Bay when at 7.35 pm, a crew member standing on the shore outside the lifeboat station spotted a swimmer in great difficulty. He immediately raised the alarm and the crew on exercise diverted the short distance to the scene.

Weather conditions at the time were good, with an overcast sky and calm seas.

On arrival, the crew observed that the swimmer was struggling to stay afloat. Two crew members jumped into the sea and went to her aid before rescuing the casualty from the water and bringing her onboard the lifeboat where casualty care was administered as the lifeboat made its way back to the station.

Back at the shore, the casualty was handed into the care of a waiting ambulance crew and subsequently transferred to hospital.

Speaking following the call out, Red Bay RNLI Helm Emmet Connon said: ‘This was a frightening experience for the swimmer, and we would like to wish her a speedy recovery. Time was of the essence this evening and we would like to commend our fellow crew member who spotted the casualty was in danger and immediately raised the alarm which allowed us to get to her so quickly and bring her to safety.’

Published in RNLI Lifeboats

The Red Bay Boats 1150 offshore RIB launched by County Kerry boaters John and Adam Brennan two years ago is on the market.

As Afloat reported in December 2018, the stunning all-white vessel has filled the role of luxury day cruiser and long distant explorer but after two years of service is up for sale.

According to the advert on Afloat here, the 'extremely capable cruiser' is in 'perfect condition with every option installed by the manufacturer'. 

Launched November 2018 with just over 3,000 miles covered in the 2019 season. It can entertain up to 12 people on day trips. Priced at €295k you can see full specs and photos here.

Published in Boat Sales
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Renowned hospitality specialist John Brennan of Dromquinna Manor and the Park Hotel in Kenmare in County Kerry is best known for his entertaining and informative “At Your Service” double act on television with his brother Francis. In it, the brothers bounce ideas off each other as they bring their unrivalled expertise to bear on some difficult challenges in product-improvement across a wide range of problematic hospitality establishments all over Ireland.

Yet as anyone who has ever enjoyed the superb food and glorious location of his Boathouse restaurant down by the harbour at the Dromquinna Manor wedding venue and glamping holiday set up on the shores of the beautiful Kenmare River will know, John Brennan has a secret life as a serial boat development enthusiast. His Dromquinna-based flotilla does offer hotel guests the possibility of a speedy voyage down the Kenmare River for some unexpected lunch venues. But those who know him are well aware that really it’s all about John’s abiding impulse to create the perfect fast multi-purpose boat and in pursuit of that he and his son Adam have been working with the specialist RIB development team at Redbay Boats at Cushendall in County Antrim.

boathouse dromquinna2 The Boathouse Restaurant at Dromquinna Photo: W M Nixon

It’s intriguing that father-and-son boat connoisseurs from the distant southwest of Ireland should be so closely linked to a design and production unit in the far northeast of the country. But the reality is that the development of big multi-purpose high speed RIBs is simply a world apart from the humdrum existence of most of us, and we can only watch in wonder as it attracts folk like infrastructure construction magnate Kevin Lagan, who has steadily worked his way up through the Redbay Stormforce size range such that his current machine – with very comfortable cruising accommodation for six - is all of 58ft long.

John Brennan for his part is particularly interested in the detailed technical side and every aspect of planning, designing and creating a boat which provides good performance and onboard comfort with the maximum eco-friendly credentials. And in Tom McLaughlin’s creative team of Gary Fife and designer Owen McKinley, the Dromquinna duo have found kindred spirits with whom to push the envelope of boat development for John’s requirement for “a serious long-distance cruiser”.

john brennan3Hospitality guru John Brennan of Kenmare in Kerry has a secret life as a serial boat design-and-build developer, using the scope offered by the variations possible in the large Redbay Stormforce RIBs built at Cushendall in County Antrim.
In fact, with a Redbay Stormforce RIB, pushing the envelope is what it’s all about, as the company are cheerfully flexible about size changes as the specification develops. Thus although the Brennans’ Redbay 1150 Dromquinna is now nicely run in and functioning just as planned, even as she was nearing completion John and Adam were well aware that John’s busy mind already had the next boat taking shape in concept form, so the Redbay 1150 Dromquinna is now for sale as progress accelerates on a bigger and more sophisticated craft, due for delivery in April 2021.

redbay 1150 dromquinna4Home berth – the Redbay Storm 1150 Dromquinna at Dromquinna quay in Kerry
The most recent set of drawings for the new boat date from March 3rd and illustrate a customised version of Redbay’s Stormforce 14.50. But with a clear programme now in place to guide Dromquinna Manor through the lockdown, the boat team have gone back to the drawing board and we’ll be looking at a Stormforce 16.50 (that’s just over 54ft) with three engines, as an extra two metres length and an additional 0.5m beam were required to accommodate a smaller eco-friendly centre-line engine which will drive her at a gentle 5-7 knots of hyper-economy and minimal pollution for a range of 1800 miles.

However, if you’re in a hurry the big beasts either side will give a top speed of 38 knots, but that only provides 400 miles range, whereas 750 miles is available at 20 knots.

At this boat size, you’re able to provide a second layer of accommodation under the deck saloon, which is an irresistible challenge for someone with John Brennan’s turn of mind. Full-size three-dimensional jigsaw puzzles that would bewilder many of the rest of us are just his thing.

redbay 1150 dromquinna speed5Dromquinna shows her speed and style – after meticulous planning and attention to detail, this special machine is now for sale as the project is very successfully completed, and her owner seeks a fresh challenge in his new Redbay Stormforce 1650
With almost all waterborne life in Ireland on hold, it’s top creativity time for designers and concept developers to do their thing. At a time when sailboat designer Mark Mills of County Wicklow is our “Sailor of the Month” for his success in designing both successful racing machines and highly developed sailing superyachts, it’s good to know that the lines of communication are red hot between the Mountains of Kerry and the Glens of Antrim as another ingenious Brennan powerboat takes shape.

Published in RIBs
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County Antrim RIB builder Red Bay Boats Ltd has disptached its latest 11m RIB to a new home in the Isle of Man.

The slick black Stormforce 11–metre has twin Yanmar 370z inboard diesels, a joystick control system and two steering positions.

Building Rigid Inflatable Boats for over 30 years, Red Bay's Managing Director Tom McLaughlin now has a range from 5 metres right up to 16m commerical Pilot boats.

The complete range, appropriately named 'Stormforce', trade on their sea-keeping abilities, developed from years of McLaughlin's testing in the rough waters off the Antrim coast.

Also launched this month for some 'serious testing' was "Atlantic Dawn", (see vid below) the all new Stormforce 1050 fitted with the new flagship Suzuki DF350s.

Published in RIBs
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Dominic Daly auctioneer achieved good prices at the public auction of six RIBs at Kinsale Boat Yard, Co. Cork on Tuesday, 23rd May, 2017.

Daly told Afloat.ie the XS RIBs sold for €30,000 and €28000. The Redbay RIBs 6.5m sold for €14,000 13,500 and €8,700.

A Jet ski sold for €2000. 

Details of the boats are here

Published in RIBs
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Dominic Daly Auctioneer – in association with Promara Ltd – Noel O Regan will auction six RIBs and a jet ski (details below) at Kinsale Boat Yard, Co. Cork at 12 noon on Tuesday, 23rd May, 2017. 

For further details, please contact: Dominic Daly 087 2550486 [email protected] and Noel O Regan 087 3435666 [email protected]

Scroll down for specs and more photos of each RIB

VENDORS:      SFPA (Sea Fisheries Protection Authority)

RIB 1              Maker             XS RIBS           Model             7.0m

Built                2010                                        Length             7.0m

Beam               2.6m                                       Engines            2 Yamaha 100 HP 4-stroke

Console             Patrol with 4 jockey seats      Road trailer     4 wheel road trailer

Fuel tanks       2 tanks fitted under decks       Storage            Storage box aft

XS RIBS P1060669XS RIBS P1060669XS RIBS P1060669XS RIBS P1060669XS RIBS P1060669XS RIBS P1060669XS RIBS P1060669Above: photos of RIB 1 Maker: XS RIBS Model : 7.0m

 RIB 2              Maker             XS RIBS           Model             7.0m

Built                2010                                        Length             7.0m

Beam               2.6m                                       Engines            2 Yamaha 100 HP 4-stroke

Consol             Patrol with 4 jockey seats      Road trailer     4 when road trailer

Fuel tank         2 tanks fitted under decks      Storage            Storage box aft

XS RIBS P1060670XS RIBS P1060670XS RIBS P1060670XS RIBS P1060670XS RIBS P1060670XS RIBS P1060670XS RIBS P1060670XS RIBS P1060670 Above: Photos of RIB 2 Maker: XS RIBS Model: 7.0m

VENDORS:      IFI (Inland Fisheries Ireland)

RIB 3              Maker             Redbay           Model             Stormforce 6.5

Built                2000                                       Length             6.5m

Fuel tanks       2 tanks fitted above decks     Storage            Storage box aft

Console            Single 4 jockey seats           Engines           2 Suzuki 90 HP 4-stroke

                                                                      Road trailer     4 wheel road trailer

Redbay P1070813Redbay P1070813Redbay P1070813Redbay P1070813Redbay P1070813Redbay P1070813Redbay P1070813Above: photos of RIB 3 Maker: Redbay Model: Stormforce 6.5 

RIB4               Maker             Redbay            Model             Stormforce 6.5

Built                2000 (or earlier)                      Length             6.5m

Console          Single 4 jockey seats            Engines            2 Honda 90 HP 4-stroke

Road Trailer 

RedbayIMG 3830RedbayIMG 3830RedbayIMG 3830RedbayIMG 3830RedbayIMG 3830RedbayIMG 3830RedbayIMG 3830RedbayIMG 3830Above: Photos of RIB4 Maker: Redbay Model:Stormforce 6.5

RIB 5

Make RIB350 Rigid Inflatable
Built 2006
Engines Yamaha 25 hp electric & manual start
Engine detail model 25NEO
Console Single seat behind console
Fuel tanks Portable tanks
Road Trailer two wheel trailer
Equipment paddles, cover, fish finder, air pump

P1070898P1070898P1070898P1070898P1070898P1070898P1070898P1070898

RIB 6
Maker Redbay
Model 6.5
Built 2001
Road trailer trailer
Engines 2 Evinrude 90HP

IMG 5693

IMG 5650

Jet Ski

jet ski 2

jet ski 2

jet ski 2

For further details, please contact: Dominic Daly 087 2550486 [email protected] and Noel O Regan 087 3435666 [email protected] 

dominic Daly Logo Promara logo

Dominic J. Daly & Co. FRICS, MSCSI

CHARTERED SURVEYORS & VALUERS

Pembroke House Tel: 021 – 4277399

Pembroke Street Mobile: 087 – 2550486

Cork. Email: [email protected]

Published in Boat Sales
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Irish RIB builders Red Bay Boats launched a new Stormforce 12–metre fitted with twin 350 Verado outboards last week.

According to the Northern Ireland firm, the sleek boat has been built for Better Moments As, based in Norway.

This will be the second Stormforce 12 delivered to the company in the past year. The boat has been loaded and is en-route from Cushendall in County Antrim to Norway for its role in guided wildlife trips in Svalbard.

Published in RIBs
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Irish Rigid Inflatable Boat (RIB) builder Red Bay Boats is exhibiting one of its giant 16–metre Pilot Boat Stormforce RIBs at next month's Seaworks commercial exhibition in Southampton.

Intended for a variety of commercial applications including Pilot, Patrol, and passenger carrying usages this new Stormforce 1650 is a development of the County Antrim firm's Rigid Inflatable Boats. Of particular interest is the keen handling of the 'keel–less' demonstrator craft 'Caledonia' (pictured above and vid below) when manoeuvring alongside ships during recent trials.

The Cushendall firm headed by Tom McLaughlin has been busy working on the commercial side of the RIB business and is seeking Port customers for The 1650 which has a deep-V hull, with foam filled collars bonded to the hull sides.

Red Bay is also exhibiting a new 12 metre jet powered RIB, a 7.4m with a new Hyundai diesel and two more outboard driven 7.4s with Suzuki engines.

 

Published in RIBs

#RIBS – Redbay Boats is holding a demo and secondhand boat weekend on the 31st March/1st April at its home port of Cushendall, Co. Antrim. A wide range of secondhand boats will be on display as well as sea trials available on its range of Stormforce RIBs from 6.1m to 11m. The firm is having a clear-out sale with a large range of parts and boat building materials available too.

This is also a chance to have a look around the impressive Red Bay facilities and see the new Stormforce 1650 in build. There will be a BBQ on Saturday evening. More info directly from Red Bay here

Published in RIBs
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Page 1 of 2

How to sail, sailing clubs and sailing boats plus news on the wide range of sailing events on Irish waters forms the backbone of Afloat's sailing coverage.

We aim to encompass the widest range of activities undertaken on Irish lakes, rivers and coastal waters. This page describes those sailing activites in more detail and provides links and breakdowns of what you can expect from our sailing pages. We aim to bring jargon free reports separated in to popular categories to promote the sport of sailing in Ireland.

The packed 2013 sailing season sees the usual regular summer leagues and there are regular weekly race reports from Dublin Bay Sailing Club, Howth and Cork Harbour on Afloat.ie. This season and last also featured an array of top class events coming to these shores. Each year there is ICRA's Cruiser Nationals starts and every other year the Round Ireland Yacht Race starts and ends in Wicklow and all this action before July. Crosshaven's Cork Week kicks off on in early July every other year. in 2012 Ireland hosted some big international events too,  the ISAF Youth Worlds in Dun Laoghaire and in August the Tall Ships Race sailed into Dublin on its final leg. In that year the Dragon Gold Cup set sail in Kinsale in too.

2013 is also packed with Kinsale hosting the IFDS diabled world sailing championships in Kinsale and the same port is also hosting the Sovereign's Cup. The action moves to the east coast in July with the staging of the country's biggest regatta, the Volvo Dun Laoghaire regatta from July 11.

Our coverage though is not restricted to the Republic of Ireland but encompasses Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales and the Irish Sea area too. In this section you'll find information on the Irish Sailing Association and Irish sailors. There's sailing reports on regattas, racing, training, cruising, dinghies and keelboat classes, windsurfers, disabled sailing, sailing cruisers, Olympic sailing and Tall Ships sections plus youth sailing, match racing and team racing coverage too.

Sailing Club News

There is a network of over 70 sailing clubs in Ireland and we invite all clubs to submit details of their activities for inclusion in our daily website updates. There are dedicated sections given over to the big Irish clubs such as  the waterfront clubs in Dun Laoghaire; Dublin Bay Sailing Club, the Royal Saint George Yacht Club,  the Royal Irish Yacht Club and the National Yacht Club. In Munster we regularly feature the work of Kinsale Yacht Club and Royal Cork Yacht Club in Crosshaven.  Abroad Irish sailors compete in Royal Ocean Racing Club (RORC) racing in the UK and this club is covered too. Click here for Afloat's full list of sailing club information. We are keen to increase our coverage on the network of clubs from around the coast so if you would like to send us news and views of a local interest please let us have it by sending an email to [email protected]

Sailing Boats and Classes

Over 20 active dinghy and one design classes race in Irish waters and fleet sizes range from just a dozen or so right up to over 100 boats in the case of some of the biggest classes such as the Laser or Optimist dinghies for national and regional championships. Afloat has dedicated pages for each class: Dragons, Etchells, Fireball, Flying Fifteen, GP14, J24's, J80's, Laser, Sigma 33, RS Sailing, Star, Squibs, TopperMirror, Mermaids, National 18, Optimist, Puppeteers, SB3's, and Wayfarers. For more resources on Irish classes go to our dedicated sailing classes page.

The big boat scene represents up to 60% of the sail boat racing in these waters and Afloat carries updates from the Irish Cruiser Racer Association (ICRA), the body responsible for administering cruiser racing in Ireland and the popular annual ICRA National Championships. In 2010 an Irish team won the RORC Commodore's Cup putting Irish cruiser racing at an all time high. Popular cruiser fleets in Ireland are raced right around the coast but naturally the biggest fleets are in the biggest sailing centres in Cork Harbour and Dublin Bay. Cruisers race from a modest 20 feet or so right up to 50'. Racing is typically divided in to Cruisers Zero, Cruisers One, Cruisers Two, Cruisers Three and Cruisers Four. A current trend over the past few seasons has been the introduction of a White Sail division that is attracting big fleets.

Traditionally sailing in northern Europe and Ireland used to occur only in some months but now thanks to the advent of a network of marinas around the coast (and some would say milder winters) there are a number of popular winter leagues running right over the Christmas and winter periods.

Sailing Events

Punching well above its weight Irish sailing has staged some of the world's top events including the Volvo Ocean Race Galway Stopover, Tall Ships visits as well as dozens of class world and European Championships including the Laser Worlds, the Fireball Worlds in both Dun Laoghaire and Sligo.

Some of these events are no longer pure sailing regattas and have become major public maritime festivals some are the biggest of all public staged events. In the past few seasons Ireland has hosted events such as La Solitaire du Figaro and the ISAF Dublin Bay 2012 Youth Worlds.

There is a lively domestic racing scene for both inshore and offshore sailing. A national sailing calendar of summer fixtures is published annually and it includes old favorites such as Sovereign's Cup, Calves Week, Dun Laoghaire to Dingle, All Ireland Sailing Championships as well as new events with international appeal such as the Round Britain and Ireland Race and the Clipper Round the World Race, both of which have visited Ireland.

The bulk of the work on running events though is carried out by the network of sailing clubs around the coast and this is mostly a voluntary effort by people committed to the sport of sailing. For example Wicklow Sailing Club's Round Ireland yacht race run in association with the Royal Ocean Racing Club has been operating for over 30 years. Similarly the international Cork Week regatta has attracted over 500 boats in past editions and has also been running for over 30 years.  In recent years Dublin Bay has revived its own regatta called Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta and can claim to be the country's biggest event with over 550 boats entered in 2009.

On the international stage Afloat carries news of Irish and UK interest on Olympics 2012, Sydney to Hobart, Volvo Ocean Race, Cowes Week and the Fastnet Race.

We're always aiming to build on our sailing content. We're keen to build on areas such as online guides on learning to sail in Irish sailing schools, navigation and sailing holidays. If you have ideas for our pages we'd love to hear from you. Please email us at [email protected]