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Displaying items by tag: Drogheda Bar dredging

#DREDGING- Since the weekend dredging operations at the entrance to Drogheda Port on the River Boyne have begun and will continue for approximately four weeks, writes Jehan Ashmore.

Drogheda Port Company have contracted Londonderry Port & Harbour Commissioners trailer suction dredger 'Lough Foyle' to carry out dredging maintenance work at the river mouth and seaward approaches to the Boyne estuary.

The dredging operations will be carried out twice daily, approximately 4 hours before high water to 2 hours after high water. For further details of operations, the port has issued a marine notice which can be viewed under the heading 'marine' on the homepage www.droghedaport.ie/index_home.html

Lough Foyle is a 848 gross tonnes vessel which has served in Dutch waters as the former Saeftinge and was built in 1979. The 75m vessel has a hopper capacity of 850m3 /1,300 tons.

She is no stranger to the east coast port, for example in 2010 she undertook work which involved removal of sand accumulating at Drogheda Bar following a spate of south-easterly gales.

Published in Drogheda Port

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.