Displaying items by tag: ian bath

16th April 2019

Tributes Paid On Death Of Royal Canal Campaigner Ian Bath

The Royal Canal at Kinnegad, Co Westmeath

Shannonside FM reports that veteran inland waterways campaigner Dr Ian Bath has died aged 90.

Beginning in the 1970s, Dr Bath led the charge to revive the Royal Canal between Dublin and the River Shannon as a tourism amenity.

Through the efforts of Dr Bath and other volunteers in the Royal Canal Amenity Group, 74km of the waterway between Blanchardstown and Mullingar were reopened to navigation by 1990.

And another 20 years on, in October 2010, some months after Dr Bath’s history of the canal with Ruth Delany was published, the full length of the canal from the Shannon to the Liffey was officially reopened — an achievement for which Dr Bath was recognised with Afloat’s Sailor of the Month award for December 2010.

Shannonside FM has more on the story HERE.

Published in Inland Waterways

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Ian Bath is the Irish Independent/Afloat.ie Sailor of the Month for December

The re-opening of the Royal Canal in October was the culmination of a remarkable joint effort by voluntary community groups and Waterways Ireland, together with government agencies. Many people were involved, at national and regional level, along this intriguing link between Dublin's docklands and the Upper Shannon in County Longford. Over the decades, the efforts of such achievements came into fruition and down to an individual. This was Ian Bath, who was central to forming the Royal Canal Amenity Group (RCAG) in 1974 and the importance of the canal in 21st century Ireland. The RCAG has successfully fulfilled its central purpose greatly enhances the recreational potential and interest of little known parts of the country. We salute Ian Bath as our final Afloat.ie/Irish Independent "Sailor of the Month" for 2010.

Published in Irish Sailor of the Month 2009 - 2012

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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.