#OPTI – Ireland's Sophie Browne stayed on course for a top result at the Optimist World championship in New Zealand yesterday counting four more top 20 results in the 210–boat feet to be plced  seventh overall after five races sailed.

The young sailors race in six groups so even after five races there are still a lot of ties and uncertainties but there is no doubting the performance of Browne so far.

Her father Donal who travelled with her to New Zeland sent us this message this morning:

"Sophie is going very well and she is keeping very cool, conservative, playing it straight up the fairway, playing the percentages and trying to control some of the very serious oposition. It is early days in a long regatta and its just another day at the office! Sophie is really enjoying the kiwi experience here in Napier"

The sole Irish competitor is now on equal points with sixth overall. The Tralee Bay sailor counts a very consistent set of scores of 4,12, 17, 5 and 14, and only 29 points off first place on the nation leaderboard currently held by Holland's Bart Lambriex.

You could hear a sigh of relief when all 210 competitors got up this morning: the sun was out, and there was a bit of a breeze. During the day, the wind changed and the clouds came back in, but at least the rain held off.

The race committee decided early on to try and get four races completed today in order to catch up with yesterday's delays and abandonment of the second race.

First race started at 10.25am with only 6 knots breeze. Later in the day, the wind got up to 20 knots, but was not staying around for long. A few of the flights had to be abandoned, but overall the race committee is pleased to have called four races for each of the three fleets.

Provisional results after five races show Bart Lambriex from the Netherlands placed first, Wade Waddell from the USA is placed second and Philip Meijer also from the Netherlands is placed third.

Ryan Lo who was in second place yesterday, holds the fourth position.

Best New Zealand sailor is Leonard Takahasi-Fry, who is now in sixth position, climbing from 23rd yesterday.

It was a long but very good day for sailing. Sailors left the harbour at 9.30am to start the first race at 10.25am and returned around 5pm.

The weather for tomorrow is promising to be fine with southerlies dying out, with wind speed around 12 knots. The lighter winds are usually favourable for the lighter sailors, and this competition isn't over yet. The Optimist World Championship finishes on January 9th.

All our coverage of Sophie Browne at the Optimist World Champs here

#OPTIWORLDS–  Sophie Browne – Sailing

• Sails from Tralee Bay Sailing Club and Royal Cork Yacht Club.

• Started sailing at 5 years of age.

• Sailing on the Optimist circuit in Ireland for a number of years.

• Has sailed a full winter training programme as well as all of the regional events in Ireland, the British National Championships and the Irish National Championships for the past few years. Travels approximately 2 hours to the Royal Cork Yacht Club on a regular basis for coaching and training for different events.

• Has been working very hard at her sailing programme with her coaches over the past couple of years and has been selected for the Irish Sailing Association National Optimist Squad 2009/10 and 2010/2011.

• Winter Training & ISA Optimist Programme 2010 / 2011 - Fastnet Marine Outdoor Education Centre, Schull in West Cork.

• Has participated at the Irish National Championships seven times.

• Has participated at the British National Championships for four years, 2007, 2008, 2009 & 2010.

• Reprensented Ireland at European Championships 2010 Poland, which placed Sophie in the top third of the fleet.

• Irish Team - the European Team Racing Championships at Lake Ledro in Italy in August 2010 placed 6th overall.

• Placed 1st Junior Irish girl and 8th overall at the Irish National Championships 2009.

• Placed 1st Senior girl and 8th overall at the Irish National Championships 2010.

• ISA National Squad 2009/10 & ISA National Squad 2010/11.

• Winner Team (Denmark) 2010/2011

• ZHIK Ascender Team 2010/2011.

• In 2011 Sophie is ranked 1st Senior Optimist sailor in Ireland.

• Placed 1st at the Irish Optimist Team Trials to select Irish Team to represent Ireland at the World Championships 2011 at Napier, New Zealand.

• Placed 1st at the Connacht Championships 2011.

• Placed 1st at the Munster Championships 2011.

• Placed 5th at the Ulster Championships 2011.

• Placed 14th at the Leinster Championships 2011.

• Placed 1st Senior girl and 2nd overall at the Irish National Championships 2011 (9 top ten results in 12 races).

• Placed 1st Senior girl and 7th overall out of 450 boats at the French Open National Championships, Coupe International d'Ete Optimist 2011, Plerin, France.

• ISA Junior & Girls All Ireland Sailing Championships 2011 invitee.

• Participated German National Optimist Championships 2011, Kiel, Germany August 2011. Placed 56 overall out of 500 boats, with 5 top ten results out of 9 races.

• Represented Team Ireland at Major International Regattas with between 500- 1000 of the top sailors from all over Europe competing such as :

Regatta Ciutat de Palma 2009.

Regatta Ciutat de Palma 2010.

Regatta Ciutat de Palma 2011. 4th overall -6 top ten results in 9 races.

Lake Garda Meeting, Italy, Easter 2009.

International Regatta Club Nautico de Vigo 2009

Easter Regatta at Braassemermeer, Holland 2010.

Lake Garda Meeting, Italy, Easter 2011.

Monaco Optimist Team Racing 2010.

Monaco Optimist Team Racing 2011 – Bronze medal.

International Pre- Worlds Clinic, Lanzarote 2011.

Sophie is now planning her sailing programme for the remainder of the Season 2011, which will include a coaching and training programme and travel to a number of International events Regatta Ciutat de Palma 2011 & International Pre- Worlds Clinic, Lanzarote 2011 leading up to her participation in the World Championships 2011 at Napier, New Zealand.

#OPTIWORLDS – Tralee's Sophie Browne is in the top ten of the Optimist World Championships in New Zealand after yesterday's first race of the event. The sole Irish competitor produced a top opening result in her blue division of the massive 210–boat fleet and shares ninth on the nation leaderboard with Slovakia's Toni Vrscaj and Thailand's Sarawut Phetsiri.

The Kerry 14–year–old has already completed the pre-worlds event in Napier proving her boat speed at the worlds venue with a credible 21st place overall.

14-year-old Sophie Browne sailing for Ireland in New Zealand. Photo: Brian Carlin

After delays caused by concerns about competitor seeding and light winds, the competitors were led out of the harbour by the Maori waka Nga Tukemata O Kahungunu for the first days racing. This provided a great spectacle to onlookers and followed on from the great feedback received from competitors and supporters following last nights' official welcome and competition opening ceremony.

210 competitors from 48 countries are divided into 6 groups resulting in three fleets per race and a spectacle on the start line with seventy boats per race.  With a light breeze of 7 knots moving around during the afternoon, the first race started at 14.48 (2.48pm) with all three flights getting away for the first race.  A light breeze stayed in throughout the first races with provisional results showing three Singaporean sailors (Jillian Lee Sook Ying, Ryan Lo Jun Han, Elisa Yukie Yokoyama) being tied for first place after the initial races.

There is an intriguing race tracker of Browne's performance here

The results sheet from Napier showing Ireland's top result from Sophie Browne

Singaporean Sailor Jillian Lee Sook Ying, established a commanding lead during her first race.

The first kiwi sailor is Leonard Takahashi-Fry who is placed 23rd after the first race with other New Zealand sailors being Isaac McHardie 37th, Markus Sommerville 40th, William McKenzie 70th and Nathaniel Deverell 76th.

Two of the three second races were started but at 16.48 (4.48pm) racing was cancelled and competitors returned to shore due to a dying breeze and significant swings in wind direction.

The weather for tomorrow is expected to deliver southerly breezes starting at 12 knots and building during the day. The first races are scheduled to start at 10.25am tomorrow.

#VOLVOOCEANRACE – A pre-Christmas rig failure on board the Discover Ireland backed entry 'Team Sanya' in the Volvo Ocean Race continues to thwart the Chinese-Irish sailing team. The crew are hopeful now of fitting new rigging to the 70-foot ocean racer today at their emergency stop port of Madagascar. The yacht has yet to complete any of the legs of the race that started in November from Alicante, Spain.

Former race winner Mike Sanderson, Skipper and CEO of Team Sanya, issued an update on New Year's Eve stating that Team Sanya is now aiming to 'resume racing as soon as the new rigging is in place' and they hope to complete the first part of Leg Two of the 2011-12 Volvo Ocean Race.

The team suffered from a rigging failure on 19th December when they were leading the fleet during Leg Two and had to suspend racing and make an emergency stop in Fort Dauphin, a port in the South East of Madagascar.

Since then the team have been working flat out to make the necessary repairs as, due to the state-of-the art rigging used by the team, the whole side rigging system has had to be changed and the replacement rigging has now been created by Future Fibres. This rigging equipment left with shore team members from Valencia on 30th December and is due to arrive into Fort Dauphin today for the final preparation and curing process to begin.

The sailing team will gather in Fort Dauphin over the next few days and, along with the shore crew, they will step the re-built rig, tune and then sea-trial, with the aim of being able to resume racing on or around the 6thJanuary. The team is aiming to complete the first section of Leg Two that will take them to the safe haven port. By completing this part of Leg Two they are then entitled, under the Notice of Race rules, to claim average points for the second short stage of Leg Two, the InPort race in Abu Dhabi and the first stage of Leg Three.

Team Sanya is then forced by race rules to await for the fleet to return to the safe haven port during Leg Three and will then re-join the race into their home part of Sanya.

Mike Sanderson, commented on this latest decision:

"The rigging failure was a massive disappointment to us as a team. We were having a great leg and felt that we were showing for the first time what this team has the potential to deliver given an opportunity opening up for us. It has taken quite some time to come to terms with this second blow to our campaign but that's all part of what can happen during a Volvo Ocean Race and we are more determined than ever to get racing again.

We have spent considerable time assessing the options and weighing up what might be seen as a relatively short term gain of completing this leg against the need to ensure the boat and team are 100% ready and race fit for Leg Three and onwards. After discussion with our key sponsors, we made the decision to do everything we can to complete this part of Leg Two and maximize the points we can gain which could be of value to us later in the race. We are still very dependent on everything going right with the application of the new rigging down in Madagascar but very hopeful that we can resume racing as soon as possible"

#SYDNEY-HOBART – With the wind fading for the smaller yachts so this morning (local time) Stephen Ainsworth's Loki was announced the handicap winner of the 2011 Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race.

At a presentation on board their white four year old Reichel Pugh 63 footer, Ainsworth and his crew were presented with a Rolex Yacht-Master timepiece by Patrick Boutellier of Rolex Australia and the much coveted Tattersall's Cup, for winning IRC handicap honours, by Garry Linacre, Commodore of the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, and Graham Taplin, Commodore of the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania.

"We are elated, it is a fantastic feeling, a huge thrill to win this race," said a jubilant Ainsworth. "Having done 14 races, I know how hard it is to win this race. I have been trying for a long time. So many things have to go right for you and the wind gods were with us. Our race went extremely well. The aim for the navigators was to avoid stopping and we successfully did that, although we came close a couple of times. Look at what happened to Wild Oats XI - that could easily have happened to us."

The present Loki was launched three years ago after Ainsworth's previous boat was lost after she was abandoned in severe conditions when her rudder broke during the 2007 Rolex Middle Sea. The new boat was built for offshore racing and specifically to win the Rolex Sydney Hobart. This was Ainsworth and his crew's fourth attempt in the latest Loki.

Ainsworth and Loki are one of the most successful teams racing in Australia at present. Last year they won the Australian IRC Championship, the Audi Sydney Gold Coast Yacht Race and this year Audi Hamilton Island Race Week. Personally, this month Ainsworth was voted the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia's joint Ocean Racer of the Year.

Typically they sail offshore with 18 crew and of these only one third are professional, led by Irish Volvo Ocean Race veteran, Gordon Maguire. On board typically Maguire helms while Ainsworth trims the main sheet. The other pros on board for the Rolex Sydney Hobart included other much capped round the world race sailors Anthony Merrington, Jeff Scott and sailmaker Alby Pratt, while a regular with Ainsworth is his long term navigator Michael Bellingham.

However, Maguire points out that many of their 'amateur' crew are among the most talented sailors in Australia. "We have really good sailors from all walks of life. It is more rewarding when you line up against fully pro crews."

For the Rolex Sydney Hobart this year, Loki was fitted with a new, bigger mainsail and for the first time they had an on board weather expert to assist Bellingham in the form of British navigator Will Best.

According to Maguire, during the race they were always in contention, but down the east coast of Tasmania the 100ft maxis had stretched away. "They were getting out to 120 miles in front of us and at that distance it was hard to stay in touch on handicap. But they parked up at Tasman Island and that brought us right back into them. We took 60 miles out of them that morning. So the handicap win came when the big boats parked up. We were always very confident that we had time on the boats behind us, particularly with how the weather patterns were going to shape up from halfway down the east coast to the finish."

Ainsworth said Loki would return to the Rolex Sydney Hobart next year to defend her title.

Slow boats up the Derwent

Meanwhile for today's finishers the pace had distinctly slowed. Over 11 and a half hours, last night and into this morning, just one boat arrived as the water turned to glass on Storm Bay and the Derwent River leading up to Hobart.

Darryl Hodgkinson, skipper of the Beneteau First 45 Victoire summed it up best: "I thought it was going to be carbon copy of last year's where we sat in the Derwent. This year we actually camped in Derwent! The last miles from the Tasman Light to the finish typically takes six to seven hours, on this occasion it took 15.

Ed Psaltis, co-owner of AFR Midnight Rambler arrived in Hobart suffering from an infected arm and unhappy with their performance. "It was very disappointing, our race. We made a few wrong choices. Entering Bass Strait we were in good shape against all the opposition and doing well overall, but we found a hole [in the wind] bigger that anyone else did and we sat there for six hours going nowhere. We also had northerly, adverse current in Bass Strait so we did very well going the wrong way."

Between two scheds AFR Midnight Rambler lost 25 miles, but once the wind turned favourable and they could set the kite on their new Ker 40, they managed to make up the deficit. Then they too had a slow finish. "It was probably the slowest passage I've had from Tasman Light to the finish – and this is a pretty quick boat. But that's how it is," said Psaltis. "Next year it will be a lot better than it was this year."

Australia's solo sailing star arrives

This afternoon the marina of Constitution Dock was packed five deep with spectators waiting patiently for the arrival of 18 year-old Australian solo sailor Jessica Watson. Since 2010 when she became the youngest person ever to have completed a singlehanded voyage non-stop around the world, Watson has become a media sensation in Australia.

In this year's Rolex Sydney Hobart Watson achieved her ambition to lead the youngest crew ever to compete in the race. She and her seven crew - among them fellow youth solo round the world sailor, Britain's Mike Perham – raced in the Sydney 38 class aboard the pink hulled Ella Baché Another Challenge.

"It was really, really good, everything you would expect," said Watson upon her arrival. "We had three quite bouncy nights on the nose. We didn't see any severe conditions, but there was some pretty uncomfortable stuff for quite a while there."

Having previously sailed on her own, Watson was full of praise for her crew. "The crew were awesome. It was the best sailing we've ever seen them do. It's what we have been training for and they did exactly that. Everyone did an amazing job. All credit to them – I just held on for the ride."

Her round the world voyage also didn't involve competition, something which she seems to have relished in this Rolex Sydney Hobart. "The last leg in was amazing, some really close racing with the Sydney 38 fleet, changing positions all the time. Then to come in second was just awesome. It was as good as anyone could hope for. We had a really close battle with The Goat." She added: "The race wouldn't have been the same if we didn't have that close boat-on-boat racing." Watson was especially pleased to have beaten their coaches, sailing on Deloitte As One.

Since lunch time, boats have been flooding into Hobart, with 26 arriving between 13:23 (local time) and the latest arrival at 17:24 of Tony Warren's Kiss Goodbye to MS, the 49th finisher. 28 boats remain still racing with John Bankart's Eressea, bringing up the rear, some 137 miles from the finish.

#OPTIWORLDS – Irish Youth Sailor Sophie Browne of Tralee Bay SC and the Royal Cork YC has settled into her pre Optimist World Championships training regime at Napier Sailing Club on the beautiful Hawke's Bay on the East coast of New Zealand's North Island.

Having recovered from the long journey to the event and the jet lag, the 14 year old Kerry sailor has already shown some continuing form, following her top girl prize and 4th place overall at the Trofeo Ciutat de Palma in early December.

Sophie has finished The Pre Worlds Harken Invitational Optimist Regatta, at Napier Sailing Club, New Zealand taking 21st place overall from 214 starters representing 33 different countries from all over the World in yesterday's final rounds of the Harken Invitational Regatta at Napier, New Zealand.

The Optimist World Championships start tomorrow at the same venue. The sole Irish representative at the event, Sophie Browne, is among a very strong female line up for the start of tomorrow's Optimist World Championships which include, 4 very strong girls from Singapore who have shown good form and have performed well at the pre World's training event, a girl from the Dominican Republic, Justina Pacheco, who has also been very well regarded in the lead up to the World's and several other girls who may well dominate at this year's Worlds.

The invitational Harken Regatta which precedes the Worlds as a training event, at which the top New Zealand Optimist Sailors including Leonard Takahashi-Fry turned up to have a crack at the best Optimist Sailors from all over the World, got off to a challenging start for many of the lighter international sailors competing when the Race Officer set four races starting in 10 knots of breeze which shifted 90 degrees and built to 15 – 20 knots, with a nasty lumpy sea, before shifting back.

Sophie's experience from the Atlantic coast of County Kerry stood to her as she secured 4 top ten results out of the large fleet on the first day and at the conclusion of the Pre Worlds event finished 21st overall out of 214 boats participating.

Many teams have used the Invitational Regatta as a way to acclimatise their sailors to New Zealand sailing conditions on Hawkes Bay and the challenges of racing within a large fleet format where more than 200 boats were competing within a fairly tight area.

Francisco Ducasse from Chile was the overall leader after the first four races at the end of the first day and ended up 6th overall at the end of the two day event, while the Singapore girl Kimberly Lim was overall winner with her team mate Ryan Lo in second place and the Brazilian Rodrigo Luz in the third place on the podium. Justina Pacheco from the Dominican Republic finished 10th overall at the pre World's event

Sophie Browne was pleased with her performance ending in 21st place overall out of 214 boats in her training event in advance of the World Championships.

She will carry the Irish Flag at the opening ceremony in Napier tomorrow.

#SYDNEYHOBART – With the line honours podium decided in the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race, focus now shifts to the handicap race under IRC for the Tattersall's Cup.

The closest finish in the last 29 years of the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race took place  when Anthony Bell’s maxi Investec Loyal fended off repeated challenges from Bob Oatley’s perennial line honours victor Wild Oats XIto win by just 3 minutes and 8 seconds, after 2 days 6 hours 14 minutes and 8 seconds of racing on this classic 628 mile course.

The competition for line honours in this race was one of the closest in its 67 year history with the two Australian maxis gunning for each other from the moment the canon was fired on Sydney Harbour on Monday afternoon. Wild Oats XI led until 20:00 local time (09:00 UTC) on Tuesday when they were becalmed.

Stephen Ainsworth's crew on the successful Reichel Pugh 63 Loki is hoping that their corrected time in the race, that currently has them second under IRC, will elevate them to first place. This would give Ainsworth, who earlier this month was crowned the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia's 2011 Ocean Racer of the Year, the handicap win in the Rolex Sydney Hobart that has so far eluded him.

Assuming the crew on the current IRC leader, Roger Hickman's Farr 43 Wild Rose, continue to sail as well as they have to date in this race, then it will take a down turn in conditions for them to be toppled.

This afternoon Hickman's 1993 Rolex Sydney Hobart Race winner had just under 100 miles to go to the finish.

From on board Jennifer Wells reported: "We've been up with the leaders most of the time. At approximately 2.30pm we were 75 nautical miles from the Tasman Light in fluky winds. It's been fabulous sailing down the east coast of Tasmania, but we're hoping we'll get better breeze. We're ecstatic to be able to do so well in such an old boat' that won the race in 1993.

"It was wet and rough the first night, especially off Pambula. It was quite easy coming across Bass Strait – easier than sailing down the south coast."

Of her skipper, Roger Hickman, currently sailing his 35th Rolex Sydney Hobart, Wells said: "It's a benevolent dictatorship. The crew are very excited to sail on what was the original Wild Oats."

However an area of high pressure is moving over the race area, bringing sunshine to the spectators turning out in Hobart, but also a drop in wind strength off the east coast of Tasmania. While Wild Rose has a little in the bank in terms of her lead, we will have to wait until tomorrow to find out if Hickman can achieve his second win.

Latest arrivals

Meanwhile more boats have arrived in Hobart, the latest being Jim Cooney's former line honours winner, Brindabella, home in 12th place on the water. Ahead of the classic 1990s maxi there has been a major showdown between the Rolex Sydney Hobart's competitive fleet of 50 footers.

Home in 11th place, 16 minutes before Brindabella was Robert Date's Reichel Pugh 52, Scarlet Runner.

"We started off very well up until the time the sun went down on the first night, but we had a problem where we lost all our instruments, so we had to sail like blokes used to about 50 years ago with dead reckoning and a sextant!" said Date, adding that because of this they had lost around 15-20 miles on the competition and this they were unable to regain.

However this was not the end of their problems and at one stage Date said they were lucky not to dismast. "We lost one of the lower diagonal stays when the pin that holds it in came out. One of the crew managed to spot it and we grabbed it and changed on to the opposite tack and put that all back together. If we hadn't spotted that in time we would have lost the mast."

Aside from the boat Date admitted that he had also had a few issues of his own during the race, suffering a fall in the cockpit and on one occasion when the bunk he was in, on the weather side, gave way and he was propelled down to the leeward side of the boat.

Jason Van der Slot and John Williams' Victorian crew on the modified TP52 Calm (formerly Stuart Robinson's Stay Calm) were the first of the TP52s home, arriving in Hobart 11 minutes ahead of Chris Bull's Cookson 50 Jazz, to take eighth place on the water.

They too had rigging issues. "We had a D1 pop out after Gabo on the first morning," said Van der Slot. "We lost about six hours just making sure the rig was okay. From there we pumped the boat pretty hard and we managed to get in front of Ragamuffin and Jazz and we caught them up the river. We were eighth across the line but they might have got us on IRC. We are happy with how the boat performed – it was a good event."

Van der Slot said that they had managed to regain lost ground on the Derwent river on the approach to Hobart thanks to local knowledge – he was born and bred here.

"The 50ft competition was amazing. Every time we tacked and gybed and crossed paths, it would be Ragamuffin there. I think we finished where we thought we would with the preparation we put in. We are a bit disappointed under IRC. We put a pretty hard campaign for this together nine months ago and we have got some good key people on board for this race. We are happy with where we finished up."

#OPTI – In a further boost for Irish Optimist hopes at this year's world championships, Kerry's 14-year old Sophie Browne finished in the important top quarter of the pre-worlds event, taking 21st from 214 starters in today's final rounds of the Harken Invitational Regatta at Napier, New Zealand (See promo video below). The world championships start tomorrow at the same venue.

Browne, the sole Irish contender is among a strong female line up for the start of tomorrow's Optimist World Championships. The invitational Harken regatta precdes the worlds and it got off to a challenging start for many international sailors competing.

Many teams have used the Invitational Regatta as a way to acclimatise their sailors to New Zealand sailing conditions and the challenges of racing within a large fleet format where more than 200 boats were competing within a fairly tight area.

After a slight delayed start due the last minute sign up from a large number of sailors, the weather was perfect for a good day sailing, between 8 - 10 knots sea breeze. After race 2 the wind picked up to 15 - 18 knots, as predicted, and made some rough sailing.

214 sailors from 33 different countries headed out to sea this morning, all keen to get into it.

Provisional results show that the only male in Team Singapore won the first race. The second race was won by Chilean girl Franasco Ducasse and the third race was won by American sailor Marshall William who finished first in the last race with Chilean girl Franasco Ducasse the overall leader after four races.

The sailor holding the second position overall is another female, Justina Pacheco from the Dominican Republic.

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1. Galway Sailing School Launches 'Careers at Sea' Expo

#JOBS – Galway sailing school Bow Waves is taking steps to combat the unemployment crisis at home with its own  "Careers At Sea Expo"  next month. The event will take place on the 4th of January at 7pm at the Galway Radisson BLU Hotel.

Many areas of the marine industry have proven to be unaffected by the economic downturn says the firm's Barry Comlon who has joined the Bow Waves team as Chief Instructor having just come back from Canada where he was working within the Cruising and yacht charter business in Vancouver.

Conlon believes there is a worldwide demand for qualified marine personnel and to help people take advantage of these opportunities, the Bow Waves "Careers At Sea Expo" will showcase the range of careers available to people, and how to gain entry into the field.

The Expo will feature informative talks by several different speakers with professional experience of working at sea. The talks will cover a wide range of career opportunities including; crewing and skippering of offshore vessels, super yacht skippering and crewing, instructing, charter industry, deckhands, and the wide range of job opportunities in the cruise ship industry.

Each talk will be approximately 20 minutes in length and will outline how each speaker got started in their line of work, the speakers' professional experience, any pitfalls they encountered and how to avoid them.

Each speaker will outline what training they required for their jobs, and Bow Waves will make a presentation on the relevant training courses that they run from their centre in Galway. There will be a Q&A session with each speaker following their talk, and the Bow Waves team will be on hand to answer any questions or queries regarding the training that they provide, as well as providing career guidance.

The evening will be invaluable for anyone considering a career change or working abroad, and is open to everyone. You do not need any experience of the marine sector or boating to attend. Tickets for the evening cost €10, to reserve your space ring Barry on +353 91 560 560 or e-mail [email protected]