Displaying items by tag: Google Trekker

3rd January 2019

Explore The River Shannon Virtually Via Google Maps

Athlone town centre as seen from the Shannon on Google Maps

Planning an inland waterways cruise this spring or summer? Or simply curious to explore the wonders of Ireland’s longest river from anywhere in the world?

Now you can visit the River Shannon virtually thanks to the new boaters-eye view on Google Maps.

As previously reported on Afloat.ie, ‘river view’ images from this past summer’s Google Trekker survey of the River Shannon went live on Google Maps in December.

In conjunction with Waterways Ireland, the Google Trekker Loan Programme toured from Lough Allen to Loop Head gathering data for what amounts to “the first such water-based collection of imagery on the island of Ireland”.

Waterways Ireland pitches the project as “an invaluable tool in terms of promoting the Shannon Navigation as a destination for recreation, tourism, mindfulness, education and heritage appreciation, encouraging visitors to the area”.

But it will also be of use to communities along the waterway “to highlight this heritage asset and foster as sense of place”.

The Google Trekker footage of the Shannon River is now live on Google Maps and can be viewed via the ‘Street View’ function.

Published in Inland Waterways

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About the Melges 15 Dinghy

The Melges 15 was designed by Reichel/Pugh and built by Melges.

The design prioritises stability, comfort, ease of use, and performance.

The Melges 15 is built to be sailed by everyone from friends and couples to families and kids. The design offers performance, comfort, and stability in one sleek package.

The Melges 15’s stable hull shape and ergonomic cockpit make it a suitable layout for adult racing and educational sailing. Easy conversion from a club configuration (non-spinnaker) to a one-design setup, provides more versatility to club programs and options for individual owners.

“The Melges 15 creates a clear pathway for junior sailors to get started and stay excited about sailing while also being comfortable and accessible enough for adults to learn, race, or cross-train,” according to Harry Melges III.

With the main design goals focused on stability and performance in various conditions, the boat features a narrow overall beam and a flat cross-section shape for stability, righting moment, and ease of planing. For a more forgiving feel upwind and to navigate larger sea states, the Melges 15 has just the right amount of fore and aft rocker.

Melges conducted extensive research and product testing to produce this layout factoring in cockpit depth, backbone height, and floor plan. The result, they say, is a comfortable environment for both the skipper and crew. The deeper cockpit takes the load off the sailor’s knees helping them feel locked into the boat while the high boom and gnav vang system work together to make the boat easier to manoeuvre.

The asymmetric spinnaker offers an additional performance element, while the single-pull launch and retrieval system makes handling the sail easy and fast.