#Race&Waves- Baltimore Maritime Centre will have two presentations for The Glenua and Friends lecture series in 2015 at the Poolbeg Yacht and Boat Club, Ringsend, Dublin on Thursday 8 January.

Starting at 20:00hrs, the admission for both presentations is €5 which is in aid of the RNLI.

The evening's opening presentation is: Solo Transit Race 2015, which will be given by Tom Dolan, Les Glenans sailing manager in Concarneau.

Tom will give a short presentation on his bid to race solo in a 6.5m boat for 4,000 miles from Brest to Guadeloupe, starting 15 September 2015. He has acquired a Pogo 2 but, apart from his winter training, is actively seeking sponsorship.

Dolan has been sailing professionally in Ireland, France and the Caribbean since 2007 and originally a volunteer sailing instructor with les Glénans in Ireland. More on the Tom Dolan Solo Sailor story here. 

The second presentation is titled: Extreme Waves in Ireland - Their Observation and their Generation

This presentation is from Frédéric Dias, Professor of Mathematics at UCD where he leads a team of 15 people working on wave energy converters.

In 2012, he received a prestigious Advanced Grant from the European Research Council (ERC) to work on the understanding of extreme wave events, followed in 2014 by a Proof of Concept Grant from the ERC to work on wave measurement.

Also in 2014 Professor Dias was awarded the Emilia Valori prize for applications of science by the French Academy of Sciences.

During this illustrated talk, Professor Dias will provide some evidence of extreme wave events and describe the main mechanisms for their generation.

There will be a special focus on the west coast of Ireland and on the winter of 2013/2014. The study of extreme wave events on the ocean is a rapidly expanding area of research worldwide.

Although much work in this area is based on modelling and experiments in controlled wave tanks, the starting point of all studies is of course observation in the natural world.

#DEVELOPMENT - The International Sailing Federation's (ISAF) inaugural Development Symposium at Howth Yacht Club recently "promised much in the way of passionate discussion", according to its review of the two-day event.

Presentations were given by Tony Wright, training manager of the Irish Sailing Association, who outlined the ISA's national programme that keeps the focus of the sailor "at the centre of all that they do"; and Simon Jinks who walked through his new Guide to Offshore Personal Safety for Cruising and Racing.

Meanwhile, World Youth Sailing Trust coach Hugh Styles spoke on the subject of cohesive training programmes adding value to international events and leaving a legacy for host nations and teams alike.

Participants from the federation's member nations kept an 'ideas bank' which listed development ideas for future consideration, including a proposal for a development forum for sailing coaches, and using the model of the European Qualifications Framework as a reference for coaching competencies.

New Zealand, South Africa, Iceland and Turkey were also suggested as locations for future symposiums.

For more see the full review of the Development Symposium at the ISAF website HERE.