Menu

Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

Displaying items by tag: Weather

#Rowing: The Head of the Shannon, fixed for Carrick-on-Shannon this Saturday, December 5th, has been cancelled. The organisers say that the rising water levels on the river, combined with the forecast for the weekend, has left them with no alternative. The Muckross Head is also scheduled for Saturday, at the National Rowing Centre in Cork.

Published in Rowing

#Weather - Met Éireann has issued a Status Orange wind warning for all parts of the country as weather conditions will see southwesterly winds veering westerly will reach means speeds of 60 to 80 kmh with gusts of up to 130kmh.

The national warning is in place till 3pm this afternoon (Sunday 29 November), though there is no current limit on the marine Status Orange of west to south west gales, later west to northwest, reaching strong gale or storm force during the day.

According to the UK's Met Office, this third storm system of the winter season has been officially named Storm Clodagh by Met Éireann as part of the new naming regime.

The storm system is bringing with it heavy showers particularly in western counties, as previously reported on Afloat.ie, and has already led to the postponement of today's planned RNLI Reindeer Run at Fota House and Gardens in Cork Harbour till a later date to be confirmed.

Also cancelled today were Royal Cork's Winter Yacht Racing League and on Dublin Bay, DBSC's Turkey Shoot series suffered another cancellation. The six race series has had four cancellations so far and has been extended until December to 20th to compensate.

Published in Weather
Tagged under

#Weather - The Cliffs of Moher were closed to visitors yesterday afternoon (Friday 27 November) over "dangerously high winds", as BreakingNews.ie reports.

Gusts of up to 150kmh were predicted to sweep across the 700m coastal cliffs that are a popular attraction for tourists in the Burren region.

Staff at the visitor centre take extreme weather conditions very seriously, particularly after a number of people were swept off their feet by 120kmh winds that closed the beauty spot twice in a single week in February 2013.

Met Éireann maintains a Status Yellow warning for all Irish coasts and the Irish Sea today (Saturday 28 November) with southwesterly gales gusting up to 100kmh and as much as 50mm of rainfall in counties along the Wild Atlantic Way.

Published in Weather
Tagged under

#Weather - Following last week's weather warning ahead of Storm Abigail, which brought gusts of up to 120km/h in north-west counties, Met Éireann has issued another Status Orange alert for all coastal waters.

Southwest gales to strong gales will develop today (Tuesday 17 November) on Irish coastal waters from Belfast Lough to Roche’s Point to Erris Head and on the Irish Sea, reaching storm Force 10 for a time in parts.

Southwest mean winds will reach speeds of 65 to 80 km/h with gusts of up to 130 km/h this afternoon in Munster, Leinster, Galway and Roscommon, moving eastwards in the evening.

Met Éireann adds that there is a risk those limits could be exceeded for a short period, especially in exposed western coastal areas.

According to TheJournal.ie, Clare and Limerick councils are advising the public to avoid travel and stay indoors until the worst of the storm passes late this evening.

Published in Weather

#Weather - Met Éireann has issued a Status Orange wind warning for north-west counties as the first major storm of the winter sweeps in from the Atlantic.

Donegal, Galway, Leitrim, Mayo and Sligo – with coastal areas subject to a 25% rise in risk of extreme weather – can expect to face southerly winds with mean speeds of 55 to 80 km/h, gusting as high as 120 km/h from 9am tomorrow morning (Thursday 12 November).

Lesser Yellow Warnings are in place for Roscommon, Clare, Cork, Kerry and Limerick from 6am.

Small craft and gale warnings are already in effect as of 5am this morning (Wednesday 11 November) as southwest winds are expected to reach Force 6 by this afternoon on all Irish coasts from Fair Head to Mizen Head, with strong gales north of Slyne Head later.

The severe weather system has been dubbed Storm Rachel by the UK's Met Office though this has not been used as yet by Met Éireann despite a recent joint agreement on storm naming, according to TheJournal.ie.

Published in Weather
Tagged under

#ROWING: Skibbereen Regatta, set for Sunday (May 3rd) at the National Rowing Centre, has been cancelled because of an adverse weather forecast – for a second time. The prediction of gusting winds from the south east was bad news for a regatta with a very big entry of small boats. The Grand League event had originally been fixed for April 11th and 12th but also fell victim to the forecast of bad weather. This leaves just two Grand League rounds on the calendar, Dublin Metropolitan and Cork Regatta.

Published in Rowing

#CoastalNotes - Climate change has increased the risk of extreme weather on Ireland's West Coast by 25% according to new research.

As RTÉ News reports, the mathematical models calculated by Oxford professor Myles Allen are the first to draw a direct link between human-induced affects on climate and weather patterns in this specific region.

And Prof Allen's "clear cut" conclusion is that an extreme storm system should now be expected every 80 years, as opposed to the previous estimates of every 100 years or so.

He suggests his findings should serve as a warning to people in vulnerable coastal communities, many of which were badly affected by last year's succession of winter storms.

The mathematician called on the power of many thousands of home computers, whose users volunteered in a project akin to the SETI@home project to find life in outer space.

RTÉ News has more on the story HERE.

Published in Weather
Tagged under

#WaveRecord - The M3 weather buoy has measured the second highest wave ever recorded off the West Cork coast, according to The Skipper.

The buoy measured an individual wave of 16.9 metres at 10am last Thursday 15 January in the midst of Storm Rachel, a little over two metres shy of the 19.1m wave recorded on 27 January 2013.

The Coast of West Cork

The stormy conditions have seen consistent but unusually high seas this month so far, with the M3 buoy - which was swept away to Devon in storms two years ago – recording an average Significant Wave Height of over six metres.

Meanwhile, in the Irish Sea the M2 buoy recorded an individual wave of 8.7m at 10pm on 14 January, just 18cm below the record set on 27 December 2013.

Published in Coastal Notes

#StormRachel - The Commissioners of Irish Lights' five Twitter 'smart buoys' have recorded high winds in all coastal areas as Storm Rachel hammers Ireland from the Atlantic.

As previously reported on Afloat.ie, Met Éireann had issued a Status Red weather warning for exposed coastal areas in western counties with gusts of up to 150km/h predicted.

And the since-named Storm Rachel proved as strong as expected, with an incredible gust of 138km/h recorded by the Coningbeg buoy of the Wexford coast last night.

Elsewhere, a high of 120km/h was felt in the Aran Islands according to the Finnis buoy, which recorded consistently high winds throughout the night.

And the Ballybunion North buoy recorded 114km/h on a number of occasions overnight, with no let-up in the gusty conditions expected till this afternoon.

The CIL website has more on the MetOcean smart buoy network HERE.

Published in Weather

#Weather - Met Éireann has issued a Status Red weather warning for coastal and mountain areas in the west as winds are predicted to gust as high as 150km/h.

High onshore seas are also expected with the warning for exposed areas in Donegal, Sligo, Mayo, Galway, Clare, Limerick and Kerry that remains in place till tomorrow lunchtime.

Published in Weather
Tagged under
Page 4 of 13

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