AK Ilen in Westport harbour. Photo Alex Blackwell Conor OBrien designed the AK Ilen after being the first to circumnavigate the globe in 1923-25 aboard another boat he designed, Saoirse, by way of the three great capes: Cape Horn, Cape of Good Hope and Cape Leeuwin. Saoirse was the first Read more…
Alan Markey, Commodore, Irish Cruising Club presenting the donation to Rose Michael, ICC Member and RNLI Fundraising Crew on the steps of the Maryborough Hotel, Cork. Irish Cruising Club members enjoying the annual Gala Dinner at the ICC pre-season weekend generously donated to the RNLI in honour of the RNLI’s Read more…
The Government has now agreed to a Stage 2 report which will see the exemption of boat moorings and berthings from this plan, unless they are permanently moored and used for accommodation. The fear was that the proposals for a discretionary local council tax, which would be the responsibility of Read more…
by WM Nixon Cormac McHenry of Dun Laoghaire, who died on December 22nd at the age of 87, was a highly regarded sailing enthusiast with a particular interest in short-handed long-distance cruising, a quietly determined enthusiast who had many other interests including Leinster rugby, all of which he pursued with the Read more…
by Joe Phelan Following 40 years working in the Irish Health Service, Joe Phelan retired. With his family grown it was time for adventure. Colleagues and friends wished him well, enthusing about all the golf he would enjoy. Joe had a different plan, he was going to sail to Antarctica… Read more…
David Beattie reports from the Saoirse Centenary rally Ilen departing Dun Laoghaire 20 June, 2023 During the afternoon of 20 June, 1923, following ‘a good lunch’ in the Royal Irish Yacht Club, Conor OBrien slipped the mooring of his yacht Saoirse (pronounced ‘Seershah’ and meaning ‘freedom’) and left Dun Laoghaire, Read more…
By Alex Blackwell You know you are stupid, at least I think I am, when something ‘hits you in the eye, like a big pizza pie’. It is like when you are sailing along at the rate of knots on a broad reach, in the certainty that you know this Read more…
By Conor O Brien Available Now The Pioneering Circumnavigation of the World in a Small Yacht, South of the Great Capes, 1923-1925 6th EditionPaperback: 343 pagesISBN-13: 979-8366211659Dimensions: 12.7 x 2.18 x 20.32 cm It will be of interest to those of us who are fascinated by the history of cruising Read more…
by Alan Markey Designed in 1897 and first built and launched in 1898, the Howth Seventeen-Footer is the oldest one-design keelboat racing class in the world and is still racing today to its original design! Over the years, a total of twenty-one boats were built, of which nineteen still actively Read more…