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Displaying items by tag: Cooleen

Next Sunday, May 29, Commodore's Day will be celebrated at Foynes Yacht Club. This sailing day is very special in the annals of the Cooleen Point based club, because it has been celebrated for the last 49 years.

Commodore Tom Murray has a host of events planned for the day, racing will take place in the harbour area starting at 2pm. This is for all classes, Class 1, 2, White Sails and Mermaids. The junior members of the club will be sailing the Topaz dinghies.

It is hoped to have a live commentary of the racing from the clubhouse, to let the onlookers know what is happening on the water.

After racing the annual blessing of the boats will be performed by Canon O'Keeffe and Fr. Noonan, this will take place on the marina approximately at 4pm.

When the blessing of the boats is over, member's are asked to retire to the clubhouse for a Bar-b-Que and a traditional Irish music session, which will commence at 5pm.

The Foynes Irish Coffee Festival is back this year. The club is hosting a 'Fun Day', on Sunday, June 5 at 2pm. More details on this will follow next week.

The Waterways Ireland Inter-Counties Sailing Championships will be taking place on the Grand Canal Dock on Sunday, June 26.
A fleet of one-design keel boats will be provided, and a series of sprint sailing races of 15-20 minutes leading to the final.

A team from the club, which is spear-headed by Donal McCormack, includes Elaine O'Mahoney and John-Paul Buckley, Donal has a vacant place on the team, so any member who would like to participate are asked to contact the secretary, Elaine on 086 1231864. As far as Foynes Yacht Club are aware only one team representing the Shannon Estuary will be competing.

Published in Shannon Estuary
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About Quarter Tonners

The Quarter Ton Class is a sailing class of the International Offshore Rule racing the Quarter Ton Cup between 1967 and 1996 and from 2005 until today.

The class is sailed by smaller keelboats of similar size and is likely the world's most-produced keelboat class.

The Ton, Half, Quarter, etc. 'classes' were each given a 'length' and yacht designers had almost free rein to work the hull shapes and measurements to achieve the best speed for that nominal length.

The Ton Rules produced cranky and tender boats without actual downwind speed. Measurement points created weird, almost square hull shapes with longish overhangs.

They were challenging to sail optimally and lost value very quickly as any new wrinkle (e.g. 'bustles') to take advantage of the rule made older boats very quickly uncompetitive.

Although its heyday was 30 years ago, the boat class continues to make its presence felt by holding its own in terms of popularity against some fern race fleets.