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Displaying items by tag: Coasta Concordia

#CRUISE LINER SAFETY – Following the Costa Concordia incident off the Italian coast in January, there are to be "tighter" inspections of cruiseships docking in Irish ports according to the State's Marine Survey Office.

Checks on safety and crew handling of "abandon ship" drills and fire-fighting will be stepped up under the office of the Department of Transport. Marine surveyors will also conduct "detailed, additional" checks on whether or not crews are trained and familiar with their vessels, the office says.

Some 30 passengers were confirmed dead and two are still "missing" after the Costa Concordia ran aground and partially sank off Isola del Giglio, Tuscany, on the night of January 13th last.

The Irish Times has more on this story.

Published in Cruise Liners

The Dragon was designed by Johan Anker in 1929 as an entry for a competition run by the Royal Yacht Club of Gothenburg, to find a small keel-boat that could be used for simple weekend cruising among the islands and fjords of the Scandinavian seaboard. The original design had two berths and was ideally suited for cruising in his home waters of Norway. The boat quickly attracted owners and within ten years it had spread all over Europe.

The Dragon's long keel and elegant metre-boat lines remain unchanged, but today Dragons are constructed using the latest technology to make the boat durable and easy to maintain. GRP is the most popular material, but both new and old wooden boats regularly win major competitions while looking as beautiful as any craft afloat. Exotic materials are banned throughout the boat, and strict rules are applied to all areas of construction to avoid sacrificing value for a fractional increase in speed.

The key to the Dragon's enduring appeal lies in the careful development of its rig. Its well-balanced sail plan makes boat handling easy for lightweights, while a controlled process of development has produced one of the most flexible and controllable rigs of any racing boat.