Displaying items by tag: Dun Laoghaire Christmas Festival

12th December 2012

Festive Events Mark Sign of the Times at Dun Laoghaire Ferry Terminal

#TERMINAL CHANGES - Motorists check-in area at the Dun Laoghaire Harbour ferry terminal, is currently a free car-parking facility with donations going to Barnardos, however Stena Line's HSS fast-craft service to Holyhead is to resume next week, albeit only for the festive season, reports Jehan Ashmore.

The Dun Laoghaire Harbour Company in association with Barnardos, has set aside the terminal for free-car parking which is available to next Sunday 16th December. Cars can park Monday to Wednesday (11am - 7pm) and Thursday to Sunday (12noon -8pm). The initiative not only supports a worthy cause but is to encourage customers to shop in Dun Laoghaire in the run-up to Christmas.

As for the HSS Stena Explorer, she reopens the route next Thursday 20th December, though only operating on 12 'selected' days over Christmas and early into the New Year, for sailing dates click HERE.

Also located at the ferry terminal (plaza) will be the Ice Kingdom Slides which opens tomorrow in addition on Marine Road /The Metals is the launch of the Dun Laoghaire Christmas Festival's Chalet Market plus life-size crib featuring 'live' animals outside St. Michael's Church. Also watch out for Firework Displays (on various dates) for details visit: www.dunlaoghaire.ie/christmas-festival/

The reduction in ferry operations in recent years has seen changes with the main ferry terminal entrance as previously reported on Afloat.ie transformed last September into the Shackleton Endurance Exhibition: 'Triumph against all odds'. The exhibition with the support of the harbour's 'masterplan', tells a survival story like no other of the Irish-born explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton and the Imperial Trans-Antarctic expedition of 1914-1917.

On display are more than 150 striking black and white photographs taken by photographer Frank Hurley and an exact replica of the James Caird; the lifeboat that proved so critical to the rescue. The exhibition also sales a range of related merchandise and other nautical-like items in its gift-shop.

Published in Dublin Bay

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About the 29er Skiff Dinghy

The 29er is a one-design double-handed, single trapeze skiff for youth sailors.

There is an active class in Ireland, just one of the 38-countries from across all continents now racing the high-performance skiff.

The 29er is one of the latest dinghy classes to arrive in Ireland and has a 50/50 split between boys and girls.

The class like to describe the boat as "The most popular skiff for sailors who want to go fast!".

Derived from the Olympic class 49er class and designed by Julian Bethwaite the 29er was first produced in 1998.

Two sailors sail the 29er, one on trapeze.

The 6.25-metre high rig features a fractional asymmetrical spinnaker; a self-tacking jib decreases the workload of the crew, making manoeuvres more efficient and freeing the crew to take the mainsheet upwind and on two-sail reaches.

The 15.00 m2 spinnaker rigging set-up challenges crews to be fit and coordinated, and manoeuvres in the boat require athleticism due to its lack of inherent stability and the high speed with which the fully battened mainsail and jib power up.

The 74kg weight hull is constructed of fibreglass-reinforced polyester in a foam sandwich layout.

The fully battened mainsail and jib are made from a transparent Mylar laminate with orange or red Dacron trimming, while the spinnaker is manufactured from ripstop Nylon.

The mast is in three parts - an aluminium bottom and middle section, with a polyester-fibreglass composite tip to increase mast bend and decrease both overall weights, and the capsizing moment a heavy mast tip can generate. Foils are aluminium or fibreglass.

About the ILCA/Laser Dinghy

The ILCA, formerly known as the Laser, is the most produced boat in the world, with 220,000 units built since 1971.

It's easy to see why the single-handed dinghy has won the title of the most widely distributed boat of all time.

The Laser is a one-design dinghy, the hulls being identical but three rigs that can be used according to the size and weight of the sailor.

The class is international, with sailors from 120 countries. The boat has also been an Olympic class since 1996, being both the men's and women's singlehanded dinghy.

Three rigs are recognised by the International Laser Class Association (ILCA):

ILCA 4: sail of 4.70m2

ILCA 6: sail of 5.76 m2

ILCA 7: sail of 7.06 m2