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Displaying items by tag: webcam

This live stream (below) looks northwards from the Scotsman's Bay shoreline at Sandycove out into Dublin Bay.

Left of screen is Dun Laoghaire's West Pier lighthouse, the harbour mouth and the back of the East Pier itself, showing the town bandstand, the Boyd monument and the lighthouse at the pierhead.

The east bight of the main harbour area is also visible showing yachts on moorings.

Also pictured is the Dublin Port Shipping Lane and in the background is Howth Peninsula and its Baily Lighthouse to the right of screen.

In the midground and only barely visible are Dublin Bay Sailing Club's Pier and Bay Racing Marks.

In the foreground is the Newtownsmith Promenade and its rocky shoreline at low water.

You can compare the live stream webcam pictures (above) with the local weather and sea condition tweets in real-time coming from the Irish Lights Dublin Bay Buoy (below)

Published in Dublin Bay Webcams
Tagged under

East North East winds that hit the country overnight are creating big waves on the East coast this morning. Bray Sailing Club's web cam is picking up the storm waves breaking at the mouth of the North Wicklow harbour HERE. (Check back at lunchtime, the time of high water today). More Webcam views at Dun Laoghaire HERE

Published in Weather

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