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Displaying items by tag: Cadet Training ships

#Flotilla – A French Navy flotilla all consisting of training vessels are visiting Dublin where also in port is the Finnish Navy’s flagship, writes Jehan Ashmore.

The small training ships that arrived yesterday belong to the Léopard class which were commissioned into service from 1982 and the following year. In fact almost all the class are in the capital given that five of the eight training ships are making the four-day call. 

Leadship and class namesake, Léopard is visiting along with Chacal, Guépard, Tigre and Panthère. Each vessel is just 335 displacement tonnes and have a length of 43.0m on a beam of 8.30m. In addition to the training cadets, the class are used to carry out anti-pollution duties.

As for the Finnish Navy’s flagship, FNS Hämeenmaa, this is the first caller to the capital undertaken by the Nordic nation. The minelayer of 1,300 displacement tonnes had arrived on Wednesday direct from Funchal, Madeira.

Published in Naval Visits

About J/80 Sailing

Easy to handle the J/80 is said to be less intimidating, safer and better suited for sailing offshore than other modern sport boats. 

It even has a full-length V-berth and 12-foot-long cockpit.

Thanks to its combination of stability, speed, durability, low maintenance and age-friendly deck layout, the J/80 has proved to be a great club boat around Irish yacht clubs with fleets popular in Dublin on both sides of the Bay at Howth and Dun Laoghaire. 

The key to a racing keelboat is that it holds the attention and interest of many types of sailors, young and old.  The J80 does it all, with thrilling 15-knot rides under spinnaker or relaxed sunset cruises with mainsail only. 

The Irish J/80 Class Association was formed in 2017 to represent owners, sailors, associated clubs and to help develop J/80 racing in Ireland.