Tall Ships 2009
In 2009, Belfast is hosting the Tall Ships Atlantic
Challenge which docks in the city from 13-16 August.
They are looking for crew members to take part
in this magnificent event. The flyer for crew recruitment is
below.
Flyer
For further information and online
applications for Tall Ships Belfast 2009 to date please visit:
www.belfastcity.gov.uk/tallships
or email
tall.ships@belfastcity.gov.uk
RYA REVISE
GUIDANCE ON THE USE OF BUOYANCY AIDS AND LIFEJACKETS
In order to make
it easier for beginners and less experienced water users to make a
decision about when to wear a lifejacket or buoyancy aid the RYA has
revised its guidance to make things clearer.
For many boaters
making the decision about wearing personal buoyancy is based upon
factors such as weather conditions and the experience of the crew,
however if you’re a beginner or still relatively inexperienced, making
these judgements is often not that easy. Therefore in order to help
clarify when a lifejacket or personal buoyancy aid needs to be worn, the
RYA recommends that you ‘wear a lifejacket or buoyancy aid unless
you are sure you don’t need to’.
RYA Training
Manager James Stevens says: “We are fully aware that a lifejacket could
save someone’s life, but we don’t expect people to wear lifejackets when
they feel it’s not necessary. Such occasions could be when safely
moored, below decks or sailing in fine weather when the risk of entering
the water is low. Also if the skipper has decided that lifejackets are
unnecessary. However if you are at all unsure the best advice is to
wear one.”
The wearing of a
life-jacket has become much more the norm than the exception these
days. Nearly all dinghy sailors wear a buoyancy aid, all professional
power boaters wear a lifejacket and most amateurs, along with users of
personal watercraft wear specially designed buoyancy aids.
“The RYA’s new
policy reflects good practice for professional and amateur boat users”,
concluded James.
RYA NI Youth Laser Sailor raises funds for Belfast
Lough Sailability
International sailor Tiffany Brien
is setting sail for Scotland in aid of Belfast Lough Sailability. 17 year
old Tiffany is preparing to sail solo from Belfast Lough to Portpatrick in
Scotland.
At the press launch today at The
Lord Mayor’s Residence in the Port of Belfast Tiffany outlined her aims to
raise enough money to give Belfast Lough Sailability their first Skud
Dinghy. This particular dinghy is not only perfect for aiding disabled
sailors, but is of Paralympics standard and will help to increase Northern
Ireland’s chances of having a competitor in the Paralympics Games in 2012.
Tiffany will single handedly sail
across the Irish Sea, approximately 30 miles, in her Laser Radial, the
Women’s Single handed Olympic boat. Tiffany recently finished 1st
girl in the Irish Youth Championships, is currently RYA NI Youth Champion
and RYA NI Young Sailor of the Year and last summer finished 13th
in the Youth World Championships in Canada.
Even with Tiffany’s world class
experience this fundraiser will be a demanding expedition, as Tiffany
explains, “A really worth while cause deserves the best of challenges. I am
really looking forward to it, especially as I will be setting off from home,
here in Northern Ireland. To have an opportunity to raise funds for
Sailability and the future NI Paralympics team is priceless to me,
especially when my personal goal is to compete in the 2012 Olympics.’’
Tiffany sets sail in June and will
have the support of the Belfast Lough Sailability team to motivate her, Bill
Foster the chairman of Belfast Lough Sailability comments “We were
overwhelmed when Tiffany approached us with her idea. Her dedication is more
than admirable and her fundraising will be invaluable to our charity and the
disabled people who benefit from Sailability.”
Lord Mayor Jim Rogers comments
“This is an extremely admirable endeavour. In these days when we hear so
many negative things about our young people, it is a real pleasure to meet
someone so dedicated to improving their skills – and also to helping improve
the lives of others. Tiffany has set herself a tremendous challenge, but I
have every confidence that she will rise to it, and that Sailability will
benefit as a result of her sterling efforts.”
Port of Belfast is the main
sponsor of Tiffany’s fundraising campaign. BTWCairns, Airtricity, Stena
Line, Belfast Telegraph and Ulster Bank are associate sponsors.
For information on Belfast Lough
Sailability
www.belfastloughsailability.org.uk
Performance news from Richard
Honeyford
The last 2 months have seen our sailors competing at a high level
against their peers in Ireland and the UK, as well as at European and
World level:
UK Laser
Qualifier, Stokes Bay, 1st &2nd March
Chris Penney, CSC,
Oliver Loughead BYC, and Tiffany Brien, RNIYC/BYC, finished 7th
(4th Youth), 10th, and 4th Lady
respectively, with Oliver winning the Junior division. This was the
beginning of a number of events for the sailors who proved they are on
par with Youth sailors in the UK.
Irish Laser
Munster Championships, Baltimore, 22nd&23rd March
The Laser Munster
Championships saw 7 of the first 11 Radial places going to NI sailors
from both the current and former Squad members. Ross Vaughan finished 2nd
in the Radials, closely followed by Oliver Loughead in 3rd,
Tiffany Brien taking 5th and 1st lady, and Conor
Simms, BYC, in 11th,.
James Espey, BYC,
and Ryan Seaton, CSC, finished 1st and 2nd
respectively in the Standards, while Ali Ghareeb finished 6th
in the 4.7s.
ISA Youth
Nationals, Schull, 25th-28th March
Many Youth Squad
sailors went on to the ISA Youth Nationals ( Schull, 25th-28th
March). Oliver Loughead won the event in the Laser Radial and Tiffany
Brien further proved her ability with a 4th overall and 1st
Female. Conor Simms, BYC, added to the top 10 finishers with a 6th
overall.
Some NI juniors also
made it to the ISA Youth Nationals, with Michael Molloy finishing 2nd
overall in the Topper fleet, while Jack Brien, RNIYC finished 6th
in the competitive Optimist fleet. Matthew Kinkaid, CLYC, was also
pitting himself against competition in the 4.7s, finishing 6th
overall.
Laser Radial Youth
Championships, New Zealand, 24th-29th March.
Not all our sailors
were able to compete at domestic events, with Chris Penney travelling to
New Zealand and achieving an extremely high grade result of 13th
place at the Laser Radial World Youth Championships.
Andora Europa Cup,
Italy, 27th-30th March
Ross Vaughan and Ryan
Seaton went from the Munsters to Andora, ITA, where Ryan finished 5th
overall out of 86 Standard Rigs which include current and past
Olympians; Ross won the U17 division of the Radial fleet, finishing 7th
overall against over 150 competitors.
Lugano Europa Cup,
Switzerland, 3rd-8th April
Ross Vaughan, Tiffany
Brien and Oliver Loughead met once more at Lugano, SUI, 3-5th
April for a Europa Cup there. Ross finished 6th (1st
U17), Tiffany 8th and Oliver 15th overall.
RYA Youth National
Championships, Pwllheli, 31st March- 4th April
James Waugh, CSC, and
Robert Murray, LEYC, have just finished competing at the RYA Youth
Nationals in Pwllheli, North Wales. James finished 27th
overall while Robert made a credible 5th place in the silver
fleet at his first major Laser regatta. Only one other Home Country
(Scotland and Wales) squad member finished in front of James.
All in all, Northern
Ireland Performance is proving to be in a very healthy position. The
current system is bearing a number of high grade results at
International level and credit should be made to all the sailors,
parents, coaches and clubs who have played a part in keeping our sailors
at the front edge of performance sailing.
Three NI Sailors
receive Sport NI Lottery funding
Sport Northern Ireland announces
financial support for nine of Northern Ireland's talented athletes in
six sports (sailing, boxing, hockey, cycling, swimming and rowing).
Chris Penney, Ryan Seaton, and Tiffany Brien will receive support
to commit to comprehensive training and preparation programmes leading
up to international competition. Full report and photograph can be found
here.
2007’s Inspirational Young
Sailors Pick up RYA Regional Awards
Tiffany Brien RNIYC
(pictured above with Sir Robin Knox-Johnston)
joined eleven of
2007’s most inspiring young sailors in receiving their prestigious
Regional RYA Young Sailor of the Year Awards at the Collins Stewart
London Boat Show. Presented by sailing legend Sir Robin
Knox-Johnston, the awards recognise the outstanding achievements of
youth sailors across the country.
The 12 winners
enjoyed an action packed VIP day at the show, thanks to the RYA and
Raymarine, which included pitching their skills against each other
on the Marine Leisure Association’s Deck Games Stand, followed by a
lunch and tour onboard HMS Exeter.
The day culminated
with the announcement of this years National Raymarine Young Sailor
of the Year for which two of the RYA’s Regional winners had been
selected. Tom Gillard, the first RYA Team GBR sailor to win the 420
European Championships in Medemblik; and Laurence Greenough, who has
overcome adversity to enter the RYA South West Topper Zone Squad.
The highly sought
after trophy was awarded to RYA South West Regional Winner, 12 year
old, Laurence Greenough.
Laurence joins the
likes of Dame Ellen MacArthur and Ben Ainslie who have both
previously won the award. Sir Robin Knox-Johnston said “Ellen and
Ben are real examples of what young sailors can achieve. These young
sailors demonstrate exceptional ability and dedication to our sport,
I’m sure we’ll see more from them in the future.”
Belfast Lough Sailability launch their
new boats thanks to generous sponsorship from RYA NI and
Comic Relief.
Saturday December 15th volunteers and
Sailability sailors took to the water to test out the new equipment.
Conditions were good and they were able to venture out beyond the harbour.
Enthusiasm was high and after two hours of sailing it was hard for the rescue
crew to convince the sailors it was time to go in. They all found the
boats comfortable and easy to sail. There will be opportunities for racing
as well as just messing about in all conditions.
BLS is based in Carrickfergus and is run
by volunteers and sailors with disabilities. They would like to attract more
sailors both young and old to come down and join their group. The boats can be
sailed easily by one or two people.
You can read more about the group at
http://www.belfastloughsailability.org.uk/
Contact them by email
info@belfastloughsailability.org.uk or ring
Secretary Rosy Meadow on 028 90878469.
Congratulations to Maeve Bell who received an RYA Lifetime
Commitment Award from HRH Princess Royal on Thursday 22nd November
at Church House, London (above)
RYA Chairman
Stanton Adair said "The award is in recognition of her many years of
service to the sport. Maeve has given unstintingly of her time in
promoting the RYA, sailing and boating, she has placed particular
emphasis on ensuring that the sport is inclusive and on trying to
involve the wider community."
HRH the Princess Royal, President
of the RYA, presented the annual RYA Community and RYA Awards at the
2007 RYA AGM, Thursday 22nd November at Church House,
London.
A total of 60 awards were
presented to winners hailing from across the UK from as far a field
as the Isle of Man to Plymouth.
The RYA Awards
and Community Awards acknowledge the importance of volunteers within
the sailing and boating communities. They recognise the outstanding
contributions, time, effort and experience individuals have made to
making it possible for others to enjoy boating and sailing, from
establishing clubs, committee participation, to boat maintenance and
training.
Jackie Bennetts,
Volunteer Development Officer, RYA said: “This years’ Awards have
attracted a very high calibre of nominees with award winners putting
in an average of 30 years service as volunteers for their clubs –
one volunteer has given an incredible 50 years of volunteer
services.
“Occasions like
this allow us to fully recognise and celebrate the continuous hard
work these people put in to our sport, many of which often go
unnoticed – they really are the
unsung heroes.”
All the winners
enjoyed a celebratory lunch in the presence of HRH the Princess
Royal, and were presented with a commemorative medallion and
certificate.
Rod Carr Chief
Executive of the RYA said: “The
work and voluntary time that RYA Community Award and RYA Award
winners put into our sport is simply astounding. Every one of the 60
award winners has exceeded the reasonable expectations of their
fellow volunteers, club members and the boating community in
general. Without their sheer hard work, commitment, and expertise
our sport would be immeasurably poorer.
These people are an inspiration
to us all and it is my pleasure to recognise and celebrate their
work through these awards.”
RYA NI AGM a great success!
40 people were present at this year's AGM held
at Carrickfergus Sailing on Tuesday Oct 9th. Carrickfergus SC Vice
Commodore Joe McEvoy welcomed everyone, RYA NI Chairman Stanton Adair
got the meeting through the formal business in good time to allow for a
full programme of presentations and talks. Presentations were made to Tiffany Brien Young Sailor of the Year, Fraser
Wright Young Powerboater of the Year, and to Bill Foster Chairman
of Belfast Lough Sailability who received a cheque of £5000 towards the
purchase of an Access Dinghy to compliment their Sailability fleet.
RYA NI Performance Manager Richard Honeyford
presented the Long Term Sailor Development leaflet 'Sailing A Lifetime
Sport for All'. Long Term Sailor Development is a structured framework
that allows sailing to chart the best practice in introducing,
developing and retaining young people. Copies of these can be obtained
by contacting the office.
There was also 'The Green Blue' display with
information and items that are environmentally friendly that could be
used by sailors to help limit damage to the environment when out
cruising or powerboating. Maeve Bell gave a short talk and demo. There
will be more information on The Green Blue here on our website and other
issues of an environmental nature shortly.
The evening wound up with Elaine and David Taylor's very entertaining
slide show on their recent adventures crossing the Atlantic, racing in
the Caribbean, and their America's Cup visit.
Photos from the AGM evening can be seen in our
Gallery at
http://lisa-waugh.fotopic.net
Methodist
College Belfast Sailors win School's Cup
RYA NI Junior Squad Trials begin this
weekend!
Squad Trials begin this
weekend Sept 29th & 30th at East Antrim Boat Club, Larne. Young Topper sailors
will take to the water with two days of coaching and racing to
secure places on the RYA NI Junior Squad. Youth Squad trials
are being held Oct 6th & 7th at Cushendall
Sailing and Boating Club.
The 2007 Squad season culminated
with the RYA NI Youth Championships held in early Sept at Royal
North of Ireland Yacht Club and was sponsored by Mc Cready
Sailboats. This event is a key part of the selection process and
allows RYA NI Squad Coaches an opportunity to pre assess talent
prior to the Trials.
The NI Youth Championships
saw 75 sailors competing in the Junior Classes Mirror, Optimist
and Topper with Youth sailors racing in Laser Radial & 4.7
Classes. The Laser Radial Class was dominated by 16 year old
Tiffany Brien from the host club who won the overall event
taking home Youth Cup and the new McCready Sailboats Lady’s
Cup. Tiffany had a busy season which included ISAF Youth Worlds
in Canada where she finished 13th, and has just competed in the
Olympic Class Regatta Skandia Sail for Gold held at the 2012
Olympic venue in Weymouth. Junior Cup winner was Andrew Henry
from Ballyholme Yacht Club and the School's
Cup was won by Methodist College Belfast
(photo above Chairman Stanton Adair presents the
School's Cup to MCB sailors Tiffany Brien, Sophie Murphy,
Christopher Eames, Mark McCurdy, Robbie & Laura Gilmore.
2007 Squad Member Chris Penney
from Carrickfergus Sailing Club is Irish National Junior
Champion, and finished 18th at the UK Laser Radial
Nationals.
