Displaying items by tag: RTE Radio 1

16th April 2012

American Sailor Hopes to Find Lost Irish Love

#NEWS UPDATE - More than three decades after their whirlwind romance, an American sailor is trying to reconnect with his long-lost Irish love.

As World Irish reports, Jarvis Boykin was on shore leave from the USS Mount Whitney when he he me the "gorgeous little strawberry blonde" at a nightclub in Dublin in 1976.

"We spent as much together as we could for those nine days that I was there," Boykin told the Mooney show on RTÉ Radio 1.

The pair exchanged letters for a time, but after the 1979 postal strike they lost touch, and Boykin later lost the woman's contact information.

But last week Boykin contacted Mooney from his home in North Carolina to appeal for anyone who can help in finding his lost love.

World Irish has more on the story HERE.

Published in News Update

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Seascapes Highlights Two Atlantic Voyages

This week's edition of Seascapes on RTÉ Radio 1 features accounts of two very different voyages across the Atlantic.

http://www.afloat.ie/sail/tall-ships/item/15615-us-cutter-eagle-on-its-way-to-waterford/

The show also features news of a group of sailors hoping to retread the route of St Brendan's famous voyage.

A crew of "mariners, poets and musicians" will set sail from Dingle on 16 May - St Brendan's Day - on the 45ft vessel An Seachrán, heading up the west coasts of Ireland and Scotland towards Iceland.

The latest edition of Seascapes is available to listen HERE.

http://www.rte.ie/radio1/seascapes/2011-05-13.html

This week's edition of Seascapes on RTÉ Radio 1 features accounts of two very different voyages across the Atlantic.

Presenter Marcus Connaughton hears from Pat Hanafin who is currently crossing the pond on board the US Coast Guard clipper Eagle, which as previously reported on Afloat.ie is due to call at Waterford on 27 May ahead of the Tall Ships Races.

The show also features news of a group of sailors hoping to retread the route of St Brendan's famous voyage.

A crew of "mariners, poets and musicians" will set sail from Dingle on 16 May - St Brendan's Day - on the 45ft vessel An Seachrán, heading up the west coasts of Ireland and Scotland towards Iceland.

The latest edition of Seascapes is available to listen HERE.

Published in News Update

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Seascapes to Broadcast Live From Kinsale

RTE's marine programme Seascapes will broadcast live from Kinsale Yacht Club this Friday night. The show will start at 10.30pm and will feature guests including KYC Commodore Alice Kingston and Hanna Jenner, the skipper of Cork's entry in the Clipper Round the World Race. Music will be supplied by Garland and Cape Breton, and John Eagle will also talk to the Seascapes crew about his photo essay, 'Ireland's Lighthouses', published by Collins Press.

Seascapes follows the rest of RTE to Kinsale, where several shows on Friday's schedule, including Morning Ireland, will be broadcasting from the RTE Roadcaster parked in Kinsale's dinghy park.

Seascapes WEBSITE.

Published in Seascapes

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About Conor O'Brien, Irish Circumnavigator

In 1923-25, Conor O'Brien became the first amateur skipper to circle the world south of the Great Capes. O'Brien's boat Saoirse was reputedly the first small boat (42-foot, 13 metres long) to sail around the world since Joshua Slocum completed his voyage in the 'Spray' during 1895 to 1898. It is a journey that O' Brien documented in his book Across Three Oceans. O'Brien's voyage began and ended at the Port of Foynes, County Limerick, Ireland, where he lived.

Saoirse, under O'Brien's command and with three crew, was the first yacht to circumnavigate the world by way of the three great capes: Cape Horn, Cape of Good Hope and Cape Leeuwin; and was the first boat flying the Irish tri-colour to enter many of the world's ports and harbours. He ran down his easting in the Roaring Forties and Furious Fifties between the years 1923 to 1925.

Up until O'Brien's circumnavigation, this route was the preserve of square-rigged grain ships taking part in the grain race from Australia to England via Cape Horn (also known as the clipper route).

At a Glance - Conor O'Brien's Circumnavigation

In June 1923, Limerick man Conor O’Brien set off on his yacht, the Saoirse — named after the then newly created Irish Free State — on the two-year voyage from Dun Laoghaire Harbour that was to make him the first Irish amateur to sail around the world.

June 1923 - Saoirse’s arrival in Madeira after her maiden passage out from Dublin Bay

2nd December 1924 - Saoirse crossed the longitude of Cape Horn

June 20th 1925 - O’Brien’s return to Dun Laoghaire Harbour