Menu

Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

Displaying items by tag: US naval vessel

A US naval ship, Virginia Ann which has been conducting operations in Irish territorial seas for the past four months with its Automatic Identification System (AIS) transmitter turned off is causing concern among Irish defence officials.

The advanced offshore supply ship reports The Irish Times, which is fitted with equipment capable of subsea operations, had departed Cork Harbour in the early hours of Thursday morning.

Afloat adds the 3,518 gross tonnage vessel had berthed at Rushbrooke (near Cobh) to be resupplied and further downriver along the quay the decommissioned Coastal Patrol Vessel (CPV) twins LÉ Orla and LÉ Ciara which await disposal.

The US naval ship which features cranes amidships and stern-mounted is currently sailing west offshore of Mizen Head.

Virginia Ann which was built in 2015 is according to the newspaper, operated by the US Naval Facilities Engineering and Expeditionary Warfare Centre or Navfac-EXWC.

More on the story here on the naval visitor that is understood to be capable of advanced subsurface operations, including the deployment of deep-sea divers from the 86m vessel.

Published in Naval Visits

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