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Displaying items by tag: Big Weigh In

Nearly three-and-a-half tonnes of rubbish was removed from Ireland’s coastal areas and inland waterways this weekend as part of a nationwide ‘Big Weigh In’.

Organised by Flossie and the Beach Cleaners, the first-for-Ireland clean-up saw more than 400 people take part across 26 counties on Saturday (31 July).

Intrepid clean-coasts advocate Flossie Donnelly was herself part of the litter-picking initiative at Sandycove on the day, in an effort to gauge “the weight of pollution on the island of Ireland”.

In just a two-hour window between 3pm and 5pm on Saturday, volunteers across Ireland removed a whopping 3,456kg of rubbish — the weight of an average orca.

Flossie’s mother Harriet told Independent.ie that among the waste collected from waterways this weekend were carelessly discarded disposable face masks, which do not break apart in water.

Published in Coastal Notes

Tom Dolan, Solo Offshore Sailor

Even when County Meath solo sailor Tom Dolan had been down the numbers in the early stages of the four-stage 2,000 mile 2020 Figaro Race, Dolan and his boat were soon eating their way up through the fleet in any situation which demanded difficult tactical decisions.

His fifth overall at the finish – the highest-placed non-French sailor and winner of the Vivi Cup – had him right among the international elite in one of 2020's few major events.

The 33-year-old who has lived in Concarneau, Brittany since 2009 but grew up on a farm in rural County Meath came into the gruelling four-stage race aiming to get into the top half of the fleet and to underline his potential to Irish sailing administrators considering the selection process for the 2024 Olympic Mixed Double Offshore category which comes in for the Paris games.