Newbuild Arklow Grace, the fourth of Arklow Shipping's G-class cargo ship's launched in the Netherlands, took place on the same day when another vessel for the Irish shipowner also first took to the water, writes Jehan Ashmore.

At the shipyard of Ferus Smit is where Arklow Grace of 5,150dwt at the Westerbroek yard on Friday, was launched as the penultimate newbuild of 5 ships to serve Arklow Shipping Nederland B.V.

Likewise of the series so far completed, Arkow Grace will be registered in Rotterdam.

To the east of the shipyard near Groningen, just several kilometres along the Winschoterdiep Canal, is rival Royal Bodewes which Afloat reported the launch of Arklow Resolve in Hoogezand. This newbuild is the fifth of seven Eco-Trader/R-class cargo-ships, each of 6,800dwt on order to Arklow Shipping Ltd, Co. Wicklow.

As for Ferus Smit built Arklow Grace, there is a maximized hold volume of 220.000 cublic feet (cft) carried in a single hold within a 84m length overall (LOA) hull. Propulsion is generated from a 1,600 kW MaK engine driving a single-ducted propeller which is to deliver 10 knots.

The previous trio of the G class are Arklow’s Gem, Glen and Globe, the latter cargo ship launched in October, are also equipped with an electric bow-thruster of 275kW to assist berthing.

When Arklow Grace is delivered, the newbuild will join the vessels of the Dutch division fleet and increase the total to twenty vessels.

The Oyster 37 Amazing Grace now on the market through Afloat Boats for Sale comes with a P6 sailboat commercial license from the Marine Surveyors Office and Dept of Transport, Tourism and Sport.

According to the advertisement, Amazing Grace was purchased in late 2012 by its current owner, for three specific purposes: The first was to participate in offshore racing competitively, the second was to compete in club racing and the third was to have some great cruising holidays in.

She more than fulfilled expectations on all three levels. She was the overall winner of the Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Race in 2013 and class winner in 2015.

She competed in the Rolex Fastnet Race in 2015, the Round Ireland Race in 2014 but unfortunately had to retire from the Round Ireland due to a broken gooseneck connection, when lying second in Class and fourth overall and making great headway!

Since then the owners have enjoyed many cruising holidays along the South & West Coast of Ireland.

Having reinvested heavily in the boat and upgrading as required, the boat is now in even better condition than it was in 2012.

Most importantly, the boat has now gained a P6 sailboat commercial license from the Marine Surveyors Office and Dept of Transport, Tourism and Sport. This being a P6 Licence, no. 1746, for up to 8 persons.

Most recently the interior has been re-sanded and re-varnished and painted throughout to a high standard.

Read the full advert here

It's always heartening to know that there are boats like the Oyster 37 Amazing Grace in the Irish fleet. They date from that era in the mid-to-late 1970s when leading yacht designers (in this case Don Pye of Holman & Pye) were using all their talents to create attractive yachts which looked good, fitted well into the International Offshore Rule, and yet in addition to their competitive all-round performance in racing, they were comfortable at sea, while once the next port or anchorage was reached, their onboard comfort easily matched that of pure cruisers.

In all, 40 Oyster 37s were built between 1978 and 1981. And as Amazing Grace appeared in 1979, she was in the optimum cohort for having any snags sorted, while still being a fresh design which engendered the enthusiasm of novelty among her build team.

To a modern owner, a significant consideration will be the fact that she's now more than forty years old, but this should not be a matter of undue concern. On the contrary, GRP boats of the time were still being overbuilt, her hull will last for ever, and her trademark Oyster quality joinery work would be of stellar cost if you tried to reproduce it today.

Although you have full sleeping accommodation for eight, unless you were on a flat-out racing campaign, the ideal cruising ship's complement would be four to six, and she could comfortably be sailed by three.

While the cleverly-optimised Oyster 37 layout can provide real sleeping accommodation for eight, she could be cruised in great comfort with three or four on board

In terms of the latest sail-plan thinking, her masthead foretriangle may seem enormous. But with a well-cut and cleverly-padded purpose-designed roller genoa – ideally controlled by an oversize roller furler – you can keep everything forward of the mast in order.

Yet so much sail area is available in the headsail that for short hops during local cruising, you'll often find you don't need to bother setting the mainsail at all, and you'll find that comments from others about being a "one-masted schooner" will have more than a tinge of envy about them. As for the challenge that such a foretriangle imposes in terms of a long and heavy spinnaker pole, in this case, it was neatly solved with a carbon-fibre pole added to the inventory in 2014.

Any Oyster 37 is a worthwhile proposition, but Amazing Grace's record speaks for itself, as it includes overall victory in the Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Race as recently as 2013 in addition to many more local successes in the places which she has known as her home port.

Full details of this impressive boat – sensibly priced at €39,500 – are here

#d2d – The National Yacht Club in Dun Laoghaire harbour has announced its 12th staging of the biennial Dingle Skellig Hotel Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Race which will start on Friday 12th June. It follows on a week from Howth Yacht Club's Lambay race so this time round it may be viewed with more interest by several more boats from across Dublin Bay too. The Notice of Race for the 2015 D2D is downloadable below. 

For 2015, defending champion in the Dingle Race is Brian O'Sullivan of Tralee with the veteran Oyster 37 Amazing Grace, which came good in the end in 2013 with a new breeze which knocked pending leader Antix (Anthony O'Leary) off the winning perch.

The 2015 Dingle Race also acts as a useful if rather indirect feeder for the ICRA Nationals at the Sovereigns Cup in Kinsale from June 24th to 28th, there could be all sorts of sharp boats lining up to take the prize.

More in Afloat's 2015 sailing season preview by WM Nixon here.

The Notice of Race for the 2015 D2D is downloadable below as a pdf file.

#roundireland14 – Can there be any ocean race of similar length that offers intrigue, excitement, drama, joy and despair to the same extent that the Round Ireland does? 

What about the tight finish that saw only 7 minutes separating winner Tanit from Ruth in second place. How about Cavatina, much fancied before and after the start, on the water leader for 450 miles before fickle winds relegated her to a finish outside the top five. Think of the cruel luck of Amazing Grace, valiantly fighting back after a start line collision that cost her two hours of actual time and at least three more from missing the tide, only to break her boom when she had largely eliminated the deficit.

After recognising the great achievement of Richard Harris’ Clyde based Sydney 36 Tanit, much sympathy is reserved for Liam Shanahan and crew aboard the J109 Ruth.  On Thursday morning we said “With only 45 miles to go at 4am, the forecast suggests that Ruth will enjoy a fairly steady breeze of medium strength for the final fetch to the finish.”  Talk about putting the mockers on it!  4 hours later the wheels came off Ruth’s wagon and it took her 4.5 hours to cover 10 miles as the wind fell away.  She still made a valiant effort to get across the line, missing out on overall honours by just 7 minutes after 5 days of racing.

Congratulations Tanit, deserved winners of the 2014 Round Ireland Yacht Race.

For those of us living the race vicariously, the Yellowbrick tracker has contributed enormously to our enjoyment so kudos to Wicklow Sailing Club and the RORC for its supply. Roll on 2016!

#roundireland14 – Amazing Grace, the comeback kids of Round Ireland 2014, have retired following a broken boom sustained this morning off the County Donegal Coast. The 2013 Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Champions under County Kerry skipper Brian O'Sullivan had climbed back as high ninth on handicap after a six hour delay in starting the race from Wicklow last Saturday.

The Oyster 37 sponsored by Eugene F Collins Soliciors had to pull back into Wicklow for repairs after a starting line collision only seconds into the 700–mile race. After effecting a fibreglass repair to the transom of Amazing Grace the crew rejoined the race in little wind and an adverse tide, some hours later.

The Tralee Bay Sailing Club entry made impressive gains on the 35–boat fleet as the race restarted in light winds off the South and West Coasts.

Reports from onboard say all crew are safe and well and the boat is heading for harbour in Donegal. 

Click this link for all Afloat's RoundIreland2014 coverage