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Displaying items by tag: Stowaways

Ferry passengers were discovered hiding in the rear footwells of a car on the ferry from (Brodick) Arran to Ardrossan in south-west Scotland.

They are understood to have been islanders trying to leave for the mainland, reports Ardrossan Herald.

Passengers were also found hidden in vehicles on other Caledonian MacBrayne (CalMac) ferries, attempting to evade the ban on non-essential island travel.

Despite the Scottish Government lifting restrictions to allow families to visit eachother, Arran residents are still barred from visiting relatives on the mainland.

A group of golfers were discovered in a van on the crossing between Largs and Cumbrae.

In both instances, their attempts were thwarted with the stowaways reported to have been found by CalMac staff after attention was brought by other people.

They were prevented from travelling.

For more from the newspaper click here. 

Afloat has identified the ferry as Caledonian Isles as featured in recent years operating the year-round route, which is also the busiest on the CalMac network (see service Covid19 status update).

The Firth of Clyde route is the nearest to Ireland which can linked by travelling across the North Channel routes of Belfast-Cairnryan (Stena Line) and Larne-Cairnryan (P&O Ferries). 

The island serving ferry was tracked to the route over the weekend while seasonal-only fleetmate Isle of Arran remains today in layover at nearby Troon. 

Published in Ferry

#ferries - Stowaways were found hiding in a container at the Port of Cork’s Ringaskiddy ferry terminal moments after it arrived off a ship from Spain.

The eight, according to the Irish Examiner, were all Albanian nationals under the age of 24, including a 16-year-old , were found hiding between pallets in a container on the back of a truck which had disembarked the ferry from Santander in northern Spain around 5pm on Monday.

It is the second time in four weeks that stowaways have been found using the same service. Four were found in a container at Santander port earlier this month before the lorry boarded the vessel.

While the crossing takes more than 26 hours, it is understood the men could have been in the container for up to four days. There were signs that they had access to food and water during the crossing. The container was soiled by excrement.

Gardaí and paramedics were alerted and the men were medically assessed. All were in relatively good physical condition but one was treated for mild dehydration. The seven adults were taken into custody by garda immigration officers. Four have since been deported, three remain in custody pending deportation, and the youth is in care pending further enquiries.

A garda spokesman said there is an immigration presence at all arrivals into the State.

The newspaper has more on the story here. 

Published in Ferry

#ferry - An airlift to hospital took place of two stowaways with hypothermia after being found hidden in a fridge of a passenger ferry.

As the BBC News reports, Kingsbridge Police said the Afghan men were on board a Cherbourg, France to Dublin, Ireland service when they were found 20 miles off the Devon coast.

They were taken to hospital in Plymouth by coastguard helicopter at 19:30 BST on Sunday. Both have since been discharged and are being held by Border Force.

A spokesperson for Irish ferries said: "The stowaways managed to evade numerous checks at the French port and had hidden themselves in a refrigerated trailer on the freight deck.

"One of our crew was alerted by one of the men trying to attract attention by banging the inside of the trailer. He thankfully managed to get the trailer open."

The ferry, called Epsilon, continued its journey and arrived in Dublin on Monday.

Published in Ferry

Howth Yacht Club information

Howth Yacht Club is the largest members sailing club in Ireland, with over 1,700 members. The club welcomes inquiries about membership - see top of this page for contact details.

Howth Yacht Club (HYC) is 125 years old. It operates from its award-winning building overlooking Howth Harbour that houses office, bar, dining, and changing facilities. Apart from the Clubhouse, HYC has a 250-berth marina, two cranes and a boat storage area. In addition. its moorings in the harbour are serviced by launch.

The Club employs up to 31 staff during the summer and is the largest employer in Howth village and has a turnover of €2.2m.

HYC normally provides an annual programme of club racing on a year-round basis as well as hosting a full calendar of International, National and Regional competitive events. It operates a fleet of two large committee boats, 9 RIBs, 5 J80 Sportboats, a J24 and a variety of sailing dinghies that are available for members and training. The Club is also growing its commercial activities afloat using its QUEST sail and power boat training operation while ashore it hosts a wide range of functions each year, including conferences, weddings, parties and the like.

Howth Yacht Club originated as Howth Sailing Club in 1895. In 1968 Howth Sailing Club combined with Howth Motor Yacht Club, which had operated from the West Pier since 1935, to form Howth Yacht Club. The new clubhouse was opened in 1987 with further extensions carried out and more planned for the future including dredging and expanded marina facilities.

HYC caters for sailors of all ages and run sailing courses throughout the year as part of being an Irish Sailing accredited training facility with its own sailing school.

The club has a fully serviced marina with berthing for 250 yachts and HYC is delighted to be able to welcome visitors to this famous and scenic area of Dublin.

New applications for membership are always welcome

Howth Yacht Club FAQs

Howth Yacht Club is one of the most storied in Ireland — celebrating its 125th anniversary in 2020 — and has an active club sailing and racing scene to rival those of the Dun Laoghaire Waterfront Clubs on the other side of Dublin Bay.

Howth Yacht Club is based at the harbour of Howth, a suburban coastal village in north Co Dublin on the northern side of the Howth Head peninsula. The village is around 13km east-north-east of Dublin city centre and has a population of some 8,200.

Howth Yacht Club was founded as Howth Sailing Club in 1895. Howth Sailing Club later combined with Howth Motor Yacht Club, which had operated from the village’s West Pier since 1935, to form Howth Yacht Club.

The club organises and runs sailing events and courses for members and visitors all throughout the year and has very active keelboat and dinghy racing fleets. In addition, Howth Yacht Club prides itself as being a world-class international sailing event venue and hosts many National, European and World Championships as part of its busy annual sailing schedule.

As of November 2020, the Commodore of the Royal St George Yacht Club is Ian Byrne, with Paddy Judge as Vice-Commodore (Clubhouse and Administration). The club has two Rear-Commodores, Neil Murphy for Sailing and Sara Lacy for Junior Sailing, Training & Development.

Howth Yacht Club says it has one of the largest sailing memberships in Ireland and the UK; an exact number could not be confirmed as of November 2020.

Howth Yacht Club’s burgee is a vertical-banded pennant of red, white and red with a red anchor at its centre. The club’s ensign has a blue-grey field with the Irish tricolour in its top left corner and red anchor towards the bottom right corner.

The club organises and runs sailing events and courses for members and visitors all throughout the year and has very active keelboat and dinghy racing fleets. In addition, Howth Yacht Club prides itself as being a world-class international sailing event venue and hosts many National, European and World Championships as part of its busy annual sailing schedule.

Yes, Howth Yacht Club has an active junior section.

Yes, Howth Yacht Club hosts sailing and powerboat training for adults, juniors and corporate sailing under the Quest Howth brand.

Among its active keelboat and dinghy fleets, Howth Yacht Club is famous for being the home of the world’s oldest one-design racing keelboat class, the Howth Seventeen Footer. This still-thriving class of boat was designed by Walter Herbert Boyd in 1897 to be sailed in the local waters off Howth. The original five ‘gaff-rigged topsail’ boats that came to the harbour in the spring of 1898 are still raced hard from April until November every year along with the other 13 historical boats of this class.

Yes, Howth Yacht Club has a fleet of five J80 keelboats for charter by members for training, racing, organised events and day sailing.

The current modern clubhouse was the product of a design competition that was run in conjunction with the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland in 1983. The winning design by architects Vincent Fitzgerald and Reg Chandler was built and completed in March 1987. Further extensions have since been made to the building, grounds and its own secure 250-berth marina.

Yes, the Howth Yacht Club clubhouse offers a full bar and lounge, snug bar and coffee bar as well as a 180-seat dining room. Currently, the bar is closed due to Covid-19 restrictions. Catering remains available on weekends, take-home and delivery menus for Saturday night tapas and Sunday lunch.

The Howth Yacht Club office is open weekdays from 9am to 5pm. Contact the club for current restaurant opening hours at [email protected] or phone 01 832 0606.

Yes — when hosting sailing events, club racing, coaching and sailing courses, entertaining guests and running evening entertainment, tuition and talks, the club caters for all sorts of corporate, family and social occasions with a wide range of meeting, event and function rooms. For enquiries contact [email protected] or phone 01 832 2141.

Howth Yacht Club has various categories of membership, each affording the opportunity to avail of all the facilities at one of Ireland’s finest sailing clubs.

No — members can join active crews taking part in club keelboat and open sailing events, not to mention Pay & Sail J80 racing, charter sailing and more.

Fees range from €190 to €885 for ordinary members.
Memberships are renewed annually.

©Afloat 2020