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Displaying items by tag: Britton Brothers

#Surfing - The video above, via The Score, captures the various surfing adventures of Meath native Maxie Hill, who left Ireland's shores for the waves of Indonesia for what was planned to be a three-month trip.

But five years on, he's still spends much of his time in South East Asia, supporting his surfing habit as a chef Australia - working for Rick Stein, no less.

His short film A Letter To Home is a fitting self-shot tribute to the waves that drive his passion.

That's a passion shared by the Britton brothers of Rossnowlagh in Co Donegal, whose lives changed forever when two of the first surfboards ever used in Ireland fell into their laps in the early 1960s.

The Irish Times recounts the incredible story of these four brothers – Barry, Willie, Conor and Brian – who taught themselves how to surf from movies and magazines, and became the foundation of Ireland's surfing community as we know it today.

If not for them we wouldn't have the Irish Surfing Association as we know it, nor would we have Barry's daughter Easkey Britton, a world-class surfer and pioneer in her own right.

The Britton brothers are the subject of a recent RTÉ Radio documentary, The Beach Boys of Rossnowlagh, that's available to stream or download HERE.

Published in Surfing

Beneteau 211 sailing in Ireland

A small, fast cruiser/racer – in style very much a miniature Open 60 or early Figaro, the Beneteau First 211 offers high sailing performance for her size, plus simple accommodation for up to four people.
The boat is very dinghy-style to sail, although the keel makes her self-righting, and foam buoyancy renders her unsinkable, according to the French manufacturer.

Designed by Groupe Finot and introduced in 1998 as a replacement model for the 1992 model First 210, the Beneteau First 211 is a small high-performance yacht designed to be simple to sail and take the ground or be trailed. The words' pocket rockets' tend to be used to describe these boats!
The design was revised to become the Beneteau First 21.7 in 2005. All three models, 210, 211 and 21.7, are very similar in style and concept and share many actual components.

The hull of the Beneteau First 211 is solid GRP, with sandwich construction for the deck moulding. There is foam buoyancy at the bow and stern, guaranteeing unsinkability. The ballasted drop keel is raised by a manual jack and allows easy transport of the boat and drying out if required, supported level by the twin rudders.
The sailplan has a non-overlapping jib to keep sheet loads down and a large spinnaker to achieve high speeds downwind. With almost six foot of draught with keel down and twin rudders for control, upwind performance is also excellent.

The design is popular in Ireland's boating capital at Dun Laoghaire Harbour, where up to a dozen race as part of a one-design class in regular Dublin Bay Sailing Club racing. The boats also race for national championship honours annually. The boats are kept on Dun Laoghaire Marina and look all the more impressive as the fleet of pocket rocket racers are all moored together on one pontoon.

At A Glance – Beneteau First 211 Specifications

LOA: 6.2m (20ft 4in)

Draught: 1.8m to 0.65m (5ft 11in to 2ft 2in)

Displacement: 1,100kg (2,200lb)

LWL: 6m (19ft 7in)

ARCHITECT
• Finot Conq et Associés

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