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Now regular visitor Superyacht ‘Air’ returned to Cork this morning. The yacht is moored off Cork Harbour anchored off the spit lighthouse in Cobh. This black hulled Dutch-built Feadship was launched in March in 2011 and called to the Irish South coast in 2012 and in 2015. The yacht is available for charter at the reported rate of €750,000 per week. Onboard luxury inlcudes a helicopter pad and 102-inch pop-up movie screen.

If the superyacht follows her usual Irish itinerary then she will move on to Kinsale where she anchors in the mouth of the harbour and tenders in and out. Last year they anchored in the lee of the old head and the onboard helicopter flew from the boat up to the golf course. See our 2015 photos of the superyacht.

Published in Superyachts
Tagged under
The Irish Coast Guard is currently involved in its fourth medical evacuation this week (and it's second in 24hrs) as it evacuates an injured crew member from a fishing vessel off the Irish coast. The Shannon-based Coast Guard helicopter this afternoon evacuated a crew member from a UK registered fishing vessel the 'Achieve' which was located 110 miles south west of the Blasket Islands. The casualty (a crew member) from this vessel was seriously injured and is being transferred to Tralee General Hospital by the Coast Guard helicopter.

The incident was co-ordinated by the Marine Rescue Co-ordination Centre of the Irish Coast Guard at Valentia which tasked the Shannon-based helicopter this morning to travel with an A&E Registrar from Cork University Hospital to treat the injured crew member en-route. Crews on these helicopter are also trained to paramedic standard. The helicopter arrived on scene at 14:37pm this afternoon and crew and medical personnel administered treatment to the casualty. The helicopter travelled onward to Tralee Regional Hospital where it arrived at approximately 16:30pm this afternoon. The Air Corps Casa aircraft provided top-cover for the helicopter during this incident.

Published in Coastguard

Irish Sailing Classes and Association – There’s no shortage of one-design classes from which to choose and each gives its enthusiasts great competition, fun and camaraderie, writes Graham Smith in this review of the classes. 

One-design racing is where it all starts. It is, after all, where all the top sailors earned their stripes, battling away for line honours without a thought for a handicapper’s calculator wiping away a hard-fought victory!

Indeed, you could count on less than one hand the number of top Irish sailors who didn’t cut their teeth in a one-design dinghy! Just think of Cudmore, Barrington, Watson, Wilkins, Hennessy and Dix to name a few and you realise that they honed their skills in everything from Enterprises to Lasers and a lot in between.

At present count, there are a little over 30 one-design classes in Ireland, split almost evenly between dinghies and keelboats, a statistic which might raise a few eyebrows. They range from the long-established Mermaids, IDRA14s and Dragons to the newer additions like Fevas, Topaz and RS Elite. They all fill a particular need and give their owners and crews considerable enjoyment.

Many have attracted their World or European Championships to Irish waters over the years and while 2009 is notable for a lack of such events here, the following year will see the Etchells Worlds at Howth and perhaps a few other international regattas too.

In addition to the review, we asked each class to complete a questionnaire giving details of their fleet numbers, whether they were on a growth pattern or holding their own, so we could highlight those ‘on the up’ and those remaining static in terms of numbers. The older traditional designs, as you might imagine, fall into the latter category, although that’s not a negative!

CLASS REVIEW  The State of the Classes – League Table (as at February 2009)

S = Static; U = Up/growing

275     Optimist   U

200+   Laser   S

189     Mermaid   S

160     Flying Fifteen   S

130     RS Feva   U

115     Shannon One Design    U

100+   Mirror   S

100+   Topper   U

99       Topaz   U

94       Laser SB3   U

87       GP14   U

85       Squib   S

70       Fireball   S

70       Ruffian   S

60       J24   S

60       Shipman   S

52       Dragon   S

50       RS400/200   S

50       420    U

43       Multihulls    U

42       Dragon    S

40       Water Wags    U

40       Wayfarer    S

34       IDRA14    U

33       Puppeteer    U

28       Etchells    S

27       E-Boat    U

26       Glen    S

25       Enterprise    S

18       Sigma 33    S

18       Howth 17    U

13       RS Elite    U