Menu

Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

Displaying items by tag: Exodus

In the Irish Examiner's report today the number of sailors leaving the Naval Service paints a grim picture for the future of Ireland’s maritime armed service.

More than 100 members of the service are likely to leave this year alone, amounting to 10% of the force. PDForra, which represents enlisted personnel in the service, fears the number could be much higher.

Coming on top of resignations from the Army, the exodus of highly trained and experienced men and women should be of concern, in particular, to Leo Varadkar, in his dual role of Taoiseach and minister for defence.

For more click here for a link to the story. 

Published in Navy
Tagged under

#NavalService - The Echo.ie writes of appalling pay and conditions endured by those in the Defence Forces saw retired members picketing politicians’ constituency offices across the country.

In Clondalkin Village last Saturday, former Defence Forces members picketed to remind local politicians that they “have a vote”

Anthony Gallagher, a Harelawn resident and member of the Defence Forces from 1976 to 2007, served two tours in the Lebanon.

“Serving soldiers can’t protest, so we decided to hold pickets and let all our local TDs know that we haven’t gone away,” said Anthony.

“Unlike the gardai, we have no union, although we do have a representative association.

"The pay and conditions are very bad. Even to this day, you have a lot of young soldiers taking their own lives.”

For more on the exudus of personnel from the Defence Forces click here. 

Published in Navy

About Match Racing

A match race is a race between two competitors, going head-to-head.

In yacht racing, it is differentiated from a fleet race, which almost always involves three or more competitors competing against each other, and team racing where teams consisting of 2, 3 or 4 boats compete together in a team race, with their results being combined.

A match race consists of two identical boats racing against each other. With effective boat handling and clever use of wind and currents, a trailing boat can escape the grasp of the leader and pass. The leader uses blocking techniques to hold the other boat back. This one-on-one duel is a game of strategy and tactics.

About the World Match Racing Tour

Founded in 2000, the World Match Racing Tour (WMRT) promotes the sport of match racing around the world and is the longest running global professional series in the sport of sailing. The WMRT is awarded ‘Special Event’ status by the sport’s world governing body – World Sailing – and the winner of the WMRT each year is crowned World Sailing Match Racing World Champion. Previous champions include Sir Ben Ainslie (GBR), Taylor Canfield (USA), Peter Gilmour (AUS), Magnus Holmberg (SWE), Peter Holmberg (ISV), Adam Minoprio (NZL), Torvar Mirsky (AUS), Bertrand Pace (FRA), Jesper Radich (DEN), Phil Robertson (NZL) and Ian Williams (GBR). Since 2000, the World Match Racing Tour and its events have awarded over USD23million in prize money to sailors which has helped to contribute to the career pathway of many of today’s professional sailors