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Displaying items by tag: Yoga

#Surfing - The members of Westlife are well known for hailing from the 'Land of Heart's Desire' – Co Sligo. But did you know one of the group, Kian Egan, is a keen surfer?

It should make sense, when you think about it, with Mullaghmore Head attracting the world's top big wave surfers for many years now, and Strandhill producing world-class waveriders and bodyboarders.

And thanks to this travelogue in The Irish Times by Seamus McGoldrick, we can learn a lot more about the Westlife singer's passion for the waves on a surfing trip to the Canary Islands organised by childhood friend Allan Mulrooney.

However, if bumming around Fuertaventura in search of the most primo surf doesn't sound like your kind of holiday, perhaps a trip combining surfing with yoga might do the trick.

In the Irish Independent, Justine Carberry writes on her laidback getaway to a small fishing village in Morocco called Taghazout, where Irish couple Michelle and Michael Moroney run a yoga retreat adjacent to some of the best surfing the North African country has to offer.

Carberry's week-long stay also took in the attractions Morocco is perhaps best known for, such as the bustling medina markets and fragrant, vibrant cuisine.

But if you can't find the time to get that far away, the Moroneys also run yoga and surfing retreats in Ireland - with the latest taking place near the Cliffs of Moher, as The Irish Times reports.

Published in Surfing
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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

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