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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: Sallins

Waterways Ireland advises that the towpath on the south bank of the Grand Canal adjacent to Church Avenue in Sallins, Co Kildare will be closed from Tuesday 15 to Saturday 26 February.

This closure is to facilitate tree removal works for the new Grand Canal Greenway route, the cross-border body for Ireland’s inland waterways says. It follows a similar closure from Lucan to Hazelhatch that continues until this Sunday 6 February.

Published in Inland Waterways

#underwaterobstruction – Waterways Ireland is advising Masters and owners of vessels that there is an underwater obstruction in the Grand Canal at Sallins adjacent to the newly constructed extended mooring berths West of Sallin's Bridge.

Master's of vessels should navigate with caution until clear of the obstruction. 

Waterways Ireland says it apologises to its customers for this inconvenience.

Published in Inland Waterways
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#moorings – Waterways Ireland intends to open the Extended Term Serviced Moorings in Sallins, Co Kildare in October 2014. The moorings in Sallins have been created with a number of services to provide a high standard of facility. The moorings have electricity, water, lighting and access to broadband, a sewage pumpout and rubbish disposal facilities.

Initial applications for berths in the Extended Term Serviced Moorings will open on 1 September 2014 for three weeks to boaters holding a Combined Mooring & Passage Permit (CMP).

To find more about the Extended Term Serviced Moorings contact Waterways Ireland or download the application form, criteria and guidelines from www.waterwaysireland.org; by Tel 0044 (0)28 6632 3004 and asking for a Extended Term Serviced Mooring Pack or by writing to ETS Mooring Application Pack, Waterways Ireland, 2 Sligo Rd, Enniskillen, BT74 7JY.

The Application Process requires the applicant to already hold a Combined Mooring & Passage Permit, complete the application form, and submit the enclosures and fees including a security deposit with the application by the 22nd September 2014. The Extended Term Serviced Mooring rate of €152 applies to these berths currently. Applicants are advised that the charging regime will be subject to change when new Bye-Laws come into force (currently at draft stage).

Evaluation of the applications will take place after the closing date. A license will be issued only on payment of the balance of the fee and the signing of a license agreement.

Published in Inland Waterways
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#InlandWaters - Waterways Ireland has confirmed that the construction project to develop houseboat mooring facilities for the Grand Canal in Sallins, Co Kildare has now recommenced on site. 

It's now advised that as a consequence of the delay, which Waterways Ireland assures was unforeseen, the contract will now be completed in August. 

Waterways Ireland says it "will ensure that the previous contractual difficulties do not result in any reduction in the quality or standard of the completed project. 

"Waterways Ireland apologies to customers, residents and local businesses for any inconvenience caused by the unforeseen delay to the contract."

For further information please see Waterways Ireland's current Waterway Work Programmes.

Enquiries relating to the Sallins Houseboat Facility project are directed Waterways Ireland's on-site representative at 087 990 1935.

Published in Inland Waterways

#grandcanal – Waterways Ireland is upgrading the moorings and services on the Grand Canal in Sallins, Co Kildare to create Houseboat Moorings to facilitate the boating customers in the area. The contract has been awarded and the work is expected to take place during the closed navigation season and be ready for the new boat season in 2014.
The 210m Houseboat Moorings are to be installed east of Sallins Bridge. The moorings will have electricity, water, lighting and access to a sewage pumpout and rubbish disposal facilities. The existing canal bank will also be landscaped with pathways designed in accordance with Waterways Ireland 'Access for All' standards. These moorings will be open to application from permanent boat residents holding a Combined Mooring and Passage Permit (CMP).
In addition to the Houseboat Moorings, an area for 240m of Extended Mooring west of Sallins Bridge is also being prepared where boat owners already in possession of a CMP will be able to apply for a 1 year mooring license –an Extended Mooring Permit.
A short term mooring for boats continuously cruising is also being installed east of Sallins Bridge. These moorings will have bollards providing water.
As the majority of the works to create the houseboat moorings will be undertaken from the water, boats currently moored there have been required to move. This phase has been completed and the contactor is currently preparing to move on site.
The Extended Moorings will be offered as a first option to those moving to facilitate the work. Boaters wishing to move to the Extended Moorings in Sallins are advised to complete the application online on www.waterwaysireland.org as soon as possible. Moorings will be allocated on a first come first served basis.
Waterways Ireland has met with Permit holders locally and is taking their concerns on board. Waterways Ireland will continue to liaise personally with Permit Holders and with the local community through the local press to ensure all are kept up to date with progress.

Published in Inland Waterways
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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]