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Displaying items by tag: frozen riiver

23rd December 2010

River Blackwater Freezes Over

The Munster Blackwater froze over in the middle of Fermoy town preventing anyone from launching boats. Never in living memory on this inland waterway has this occured before writes Timmy Carey.

In 1963 there was some ice on the river during heavy snowfall, but on that occassion the river froze only half way across. A local Fermoy historian Christy Roche thinks that this is the first time that the Blackwater froze right across since 1601, on that occassion it was recorded that Red Hugh O Donnell and Hugh O Neill crossed a frozen river Blackwater on their way to the Battle of Kinsale.

The photo below shows a frozen river Blackwater at Barnane walk in Fermoy, Co. Cork.

blackwater

Published in Inland Waterways

About the ILCA/Laser Dinghy

The ILCA, formerly known as the Laser, is the most produced boat in the world, with 220,000 units built since 1971.

It's easy to see why the single-handed dinghy has won the title of the most widely distributed boat of all time.

The Laser is a one-design dinghy, the hulls being identical but three rigs that can be used according to the size and weight of the sailor.

The class is international, with sailors from 120 countries. The boat has also been an Olympic class since 1996, being both the men's and women's singlehanded dinghy.

Three rigs are recognised by the International Laser Class Association (ILCA):

  • ILCA 4: sail of 4.70m2
  • ILCA 6: sail of 5.76 m2
  • ILCA 7: sail of 7.06 m2