Displaying items by tag: Portrush Harbour

29th August 2013

Wind Surf Visits Portrush Prior to Setting Seven Sails for Dun Laoghaire Harbour

#TallCruiseships – Anchored less than a nautical mile offshore of Portrush today is the impressive Wind Surf, which has five 50m/164ft high masts towering above the sea, writes Jehan Ashmore.

The Windstar Cruises vessel with a 312 guest capacity is calling to the small Antrim harbour by tender craft to see the main visitor attraction of the Giant's Causeway.

The call of the Bahamas flagged cruiseship to the north is part of a 7-day Gaelic Explorers cruise with visits to Peterhead, Invergordon, Kirkwall, Portree and Isle of Man.

Cruise highlights include Edinburgh Castle, where the cruiseship departed from nearby Leith followed by a call to Orkney to sample the customary famous whiskey distilleries, and the 5,000-year-old Ring of Brodgar, rivaling England's Stonehenge.

Wind Surf is to return to Dun Laoghaire Harbour this Saturday, having made her maiden port of call to the harbour in July.

On that occasion the call involved a 'turnaround' cruise while berthing alongside the Carlisle Pier, which provides easy observation from the East Pier.

The French built 14,745 tonnes vessel launched as Club Med 1 and she has a self-unfurling computer-operated system from the masts that controls seven triangular sails totalling 2,600sq.m/26,881sq.feet

She has a length of 162m /535ft at waterline though if measured to include the bowsprit the overall dimension increases to 187m/617 feet.

Meanwhile, today her sister Club Med 2 docked in Cork's Ringaskiddy Terminal having sailed overnight from Dublin Port (see first visit), where the capital first welcomed the vessel earlier in the season.

Another cruiseship fitted with sailing masts, Sea Cloud II had also toured Irish ports with calls to Dublin, Cork as well as Belfast.

Published in Dun Laoghaire Harbour News

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New Study for 200–Berth Marina at Portush Harbour

#PORTRUSH – A study of Portrush harbour in County Antrim is being carried out to investigate the feasibility of creating a marina facility of up to 200 berths in the Northern port. The study is sponsored by the Sail West project which aims to promote sailing tourism between the west of Scotland and Northern Ireland and Donegal. The small harbour at Portrush is usually busy with small pleasure and fishing boats in the summer season. The nearest marina to Portrush is the 74-berth Ballycastle marina, 17 kms away, that is in full use by local fisherman and yachtsmen alike.

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Published in Irish Marinas

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Cold Swimmer Rescued in Portrush Harbour

A teenager was rescued from Portrush Harbour after a very cold swim out to a moored boat to collect some fishing gear.

After swimming across the harbour to the moored boat the teenager called for help. Belfast Coastguard co-ordinated the rescue and sent the Portrush ILB Lifeboat and the Coleraine Coastguard Rescue team to the scene.

The Portrush lifeboat took the teenager from the boat to the pontoon where he received first aid from the Coastguard Rescue team before being transferred to hospital by ambulance.

Belfast Coastguard Watch Manager Alan Pritchard said:
"It may be summer but the sea is chilly and the cold can seriously affect swimmers.
"If you are going to take a dip please know you're limits and remember cold water shock can be dangerous, even if you're young and fit and think you're able."

Published in RNLI Lifeboats

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Competitions

The most significant events for the Half Ton Class has been the annual Half Ton Cup which was sailed under the IOR rules until 1993. More recently this has been replaced with the Half Ton Classics Cup. The venue of the event moved from continent to continent with over-representation on French or British ports. In later years the event is held biennially. Initially, it was proposed to hold events in Ireland, Britain and France by rotation. However, it was the Belgians who took the ball and ran with it. The Class is now managed from Belgium.