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Displaying items by tag: Red Arrows

#clipperrace – The world-famous Red Arrows will take to the skies over the North West Coast of Ireland at the end of June with their display of daredevil aerial manoeuvres, to bring a spectacular close to the 2014 LegenDerry Maritime Festival.

Brought to the North West by a partnership between Donegal County Council, Limavady Borough Council and Derry City Council, the RAF Red Arrows will perform their thrilling flying display as the stunning send-off to the Clipper 2013-14 Round the World Yacht Race on Sunday 29th June 2014.

The distinctive red jets, which are this year celebrating their 50th display season, will execute their trademark formations, close-passes and dynamic loops and rolls at the mouth of the River Foyle between Greencastle in Co. Donegal and Magilligan/Binevenagh in Co. Londonderry.

Thousands of people are expected to descend upon the North West Coast to capture a clear vantage point of the Red Arrows' stunning performance and celebrate the official Race Start of the Clipper 2013-14 Race at Greencastle, Co. Donegal.

Mayor of Donegal County Council, Councillor Ian McGarvey said: "Along with my fellow Mayors from Derry City Council and Limavady Borough Council I am delighted to confirm the staging of this spectacular Red Arrows event. I am sure this will attract visitors from across the region and beyond to the Lough Foyle area. Their exciting air display will be an excellent way to see off the Clipper Race as the fleet prepares to sets sail off the coast of Greencastle. I hope that everyone who comes to Donegal has a safe and enjoyable time."

Mayor of Limavady, Councillor Gerry Mullan said: "I am delighted to welcome back the spectacular Clipper Race event and am looking forward to seeing the boats sailing into Lough Foyle past Magilligan Point. I wish all the crews a warm welcome to the area and hope they get the chance to explore all it has to offer when they come ashore."

Mayor of Derry City Council, Councillor Martin Reilly said: "It is a major coup to have the Red Arrows perform and their display will provide a suitably spectacular final flourish to our week-long LegenDerry Maritime Festival. We are delighted to have been able to facilitate this in partnership with our friends in Limavady and Donegal, who are bringing the world-famous Red Arrows here.

"Our stunning North West coastline will provide the perfect backdrop for the official Race Start of the Clipper 2013-14 Round the World Yacht Race. We are thrilled that thousands of local people will be able to share the celebrations and the spectacle on land, on the sea and now, also in the sky."

Derry~Londonderry is the penultimate stopover for the Clipper 2013-14 Race, the world's longest ocean race. After a gruelling journey of almost 40,000 miles, 11 month circumnavigation of the globe the City will welcome the 12-strong fleet of Clipper Race yachts back to the city, including its very own Derry~Londonderry-Doire yacht, with a weeklong LegenDerry Maritime Festival from 21st - 29th June 2014.

The LegenDerry Maritime Festival will transform the River Foyle's quayside into a summer promenade, with race village, award winning continental market, seafood festival, music extravaganza and a host of sea-faring activities on and off shore for families, sailors and land-lubbers alike.

Published in Maritime Festivals

#VOLVO OCEAN RACE - Red Arrow jets will not be returning to the skies over Galway Bay when it hosts the Volvo Ocean Race finale this summer, the Galway Sentinel reports.

The Royal Air Force (RAF) has turned down a request by event organisers to bring its aerobatic display to the City of the Tribes citing 'operational reasons'.

It is understood that the RAF is reducing the number of Red Arrows performances this year due to a shortage of pilots trained to do air displays.

The Red Arrows flyover was one of the highlights of Galway's 2009 hosting of the yacht race.

However, their proposed return was opposed by anti-war campaigners the Galway Alliance Against War, who issued a statement last week declaring the the RAF and another "war outfit" were lined up as entertainment for the race week.

The Galway Sentinel has more on the story HERE.

Published in Ocean Race

Howth 17 information

The oldest one-design keelboat racing class in the world is still competing today to its original 1897 design exclusively at Howth Yacht club.

Howth 17 FAQs

The Howth 17 is a type of keelboat. It is a 3-man single-design keelboat designed to race in the waters off Howth and Dublin Bay.

The Howth Seventeen is just 22ft 6ins in hull length.

The Howth 17 class is raced and maintained by the Association members preserving the unique heritage of the boats. Association Members maintain the vibrancy of the Class by racing and cruising together as a class and also encourage new participants to the Class in order to maintain succession. This philosophy is taken account of and explained when the boats are sold.

The boat is the oldest one-design keelboat racing class in the world and it is still racing today to its original design exclusively at Howth Yacht club. It has important historical and heritage value keep alive by a vibrant class of members who race and cruise the boats.

Although 21 boats are in existence, a full fleet rarely sails buy turnouts for the annual championships are regularly in the high teens.

The plans of the Howth 17 were originally drawn by Walter Herbert Boyd in 1897 for Howth Sailing Club. The boat was launched in Ireland in 1898.

They were originally built by John Hilditch at Carrickfergus, County Down. Initially, five boats were constructed by him and sailed the 90-mile passage to Howth in the spring of 1898. The latest Number 21 was built in France in 2017.

The Howth 17s were designed to combat local conditions in Howth that many of the keel-less boats of that era such as the 'Half-Rater' would have found difficult.

The original fleet of five, Rita, Leila, Silver Moon, Aura and Hera, was increased in 1900 with the addition of Pauline, Zaida and Anita. By 1913 the class had increased to fourteen boats. The extra nine were commissioned by Dublin Bay Sailing Club for racing from Kingstown (Dún Laoghaire) - Echo, Sylvia, Mimosa, Deilginis, Rosemary, Gladys, Bobolink, Eileen and Nautilus. Gradually the boats found their way to Howth from various places, including the Solent and by the latter part of the 20th century they were all based there. The class, however, was reduced to 15 due to mishaps and storm damage for a few short years but in May 1988 Isobel and Erica were launched at Howth Yacht Club, the boats having been built in a shed at Howth Castle - the first of the class actually built in Howth.

The basic wooden Howth 17 specification was for a stem and keel of oak and elm, deadwood and frames of oak, planking of yellow pine above the waterline and red pine below, a shelf of pitch pine and a topstrake of teak, larch deck-beams and yellow pine planking and Baltic spruce spars with a keel of lead. Other than the inclusion of teak, the boats were designed to be built of materials which at that time were readily available. However today yellow pine and pitch pine are scarce, their properties of endurance and longevity much appreciated and very much in evidence on the original five boats.

 

It is always a busy 60-race season of regular midweek evening and Saturday afternoon contests plus regattas and the Howth Autumn League.

In 2017, a new Howth 17 Orla, No 21, was built for Ian Malcolm. The construction of Orla began in September 2016 at Skol ar Mor, the boat-building school run by American Mike Newmeyer and his dedicated team of instructor-craftsmen at Mesquer in southern Brittany. In 2018, Storm Emma wrought extensive destruction through the seven Howth Seventeens stored in their much-damaged shed on Howth’s East Pier at the beginning of March 2018, it was feared that several of the boats – which since 1898 have been the very heart of Howth sailing – would be written off. But in the end only one – David O’Connell’s Anita built in 1900 by James Clancy of Dun Laoghaire – was assessed as needing a complete re-build. Anita was rebuilt by Paul Robert and his team at Les Ateliers de l’Enfer in Douarnenez in Brittany in 2019 and Brought home to Howth.

The Howth 17 has a gaff rig.

The total sail area is 305 sq ft (28.3 m2).

©Afloat 2020