Solo Sailing and Circumavigation News
Conor O’Brien Honoured With Ilen Dun Laoghaire Celebration For Saoirse Circumnavigation Centenary
18th June 2023 Ilen
The Commemoration of the Centenary of the pioneering global circumnavigation south of the Great Capes by Conor O’Brien of Foynes, sailing the 42ft ketch Saoirse between June 20th 1923 and June 20th 1925, was put underway yesterday (Saturday) from Dun…
Ilen Departure from Dun Laoghaire Harbour Marks Start of Conor O'Brien’s Saoirse Centenary Celebrations
18th June 2023 Historic Boats
The Royal Irish Yacht Club was the focus on Saturday afternoon for the beginning of celebrations of the centenary of Conor O'Brien's departure in Saoirse from Dun Laoghaire Harbour on his pioneering global circumnavigation. An Irish Cruising Club/Royal Cruising Club gathering was hosted…
Conor O'Brien’s Saoirse Departure Centenary Underlines Dun Laoghaire’s Central Role
17th June 2023 W M Nixon
A hundred years ago next Tuesday, June 20th, Conor O'Brien (1880-1952) of Foynes took his departure with some fanfare aboard his 42ft Saoirse from the harbour her skipper preferred to call Dunleary, though most of its citizens saw it as…
Re-Born 'Saoirse' Stars With 'Ilen' And Many Others In Baltimore Woodenboat Festival
2nd June 2023 Historic Boats
With just three weeks to go to the Centenary of the departure from Ireland on June 20th 1923 of Conor O’Brien’s world-girdling 42ft Baltimore-built ketch Saoirse, the public debut of the re-born Saoirse (Fred Kinmonth) at last weekend’s Baltimore Wooden…
Leonie King's Memories of Her Late Father Solo Sailor Commander Bill King
31st May 2023 Wavelength Podcast
“There’s a Japanese man coming, it’s probably revenge..would you just go away, I’m old; I don’t mind dying “ “I came back three hours later and they were on their third bottle of white wine..” That’s one of many memories…
Baltimore Wooden Boat Festival Says Conor O'Brien Could Be the Focus for Developing Maritime Education
24th May 2023 Tom MacSweeney
Wooden boats will dominate Baltimore Harbour this weekend when the West Cork village welcomes back the annual gathering of traditional vessels. Like many other events the Baltimore Wooden Boat Festival, which had been held annually for seventeen years from 2002,…
Galway Bay Sailing Club Plan Exhibition Marking Golden Jubilee of Commander Bill King’s Solo Sail Around the World
23rd May 2023 Solo Sailing
An exhibition this autumn marking the golden jubilee Commander Bill King’s solo sail around the world is one of a number of events planned by Galway Bay Sailing Club (GBSC) commodore Johnny Shorten to pay tribute to an “unsung hero”. It…
Last Nautical Miles In Commander Bill King's Galway Blazer II Log Recalled
22nd May 2023 Solo Sailing
“Light, backing -fluctuating” was how the late Commander Bill King described winds in the final frustrating days of his successful solo sail around the world half a century ago. The log entry for his schooner Galway Blazer II, recorded in…
Countdown Continues in Commander Bill King's Epic Circumnavigation 50 Years Ago
21st May 2023 Solo Sailing
Ìmagine being just 50 nautical miles away from completing a third attempt in the best part of five years to sail around the world solo, and hoping for some wind. That was the situation that the late Commander Bill King…
On this day half a century ago, solo sailor Commander Bill King was still becalmed on board Galway Blazer II in the final stages of his global circumnavigation. This was his third – and first successful - attempt to sail…
Galway Blazer II Logs Released in Advance of Global Circumnavigation Golden Jubilee
19th May 2023 Galway Harbour
“Fog cleared….BECALMED” wrote the late Commander Bill King in his log this day 50 years ago, during his epic global circumnavigation in his yacht Galway Blazer II. His logs have been made public for the first time in advance of…
“Atlantic alert for yachtsman”, read the headline in the Daily Express 50 years ago. The missing yachtsman was the late Commander Bill King of Galway, then 62 years old and on his latest attempt to sail around the world solo…
Bill King's Galway Blazer Circumnavigation Will Have 50th Anniversary Celebrated On May 23rd
12th May 2023 Galway Harbour
Following this week's Mariners Memorial gathering on Monday at Galway Bay Sailing Club, which featured - among other significant west coast maritime memorabilia - some key items relating to the area's own global-circumnavigating Bill King of Galway Blazer II fame,…
No Record but Tom Dolan Completes Round Ireland Challenge at Dun Laoghaire Harbour
7th May 2023 Tom Dolan
(Day Four 1600hrs) - Tom Dolan sailed back to Dun Laoghaire this evening, having completed the Round Ireland speed record course but without breaking any records, as Afloat reported earlier here He arrived back at the Dun Laoghaire finish line of…
(Day four, 0800) Light winds - mostly from ahead - and adverse Spring tides in the most tide-riven part of the unforgiving North Channel, have seen Tom Dolan's clockwise Round Ireland solo/duo challenge evaporate through the night. By midnight, he…
Donegal's Bloody Foreland Is Appropriately Named For Tom Dolan In Dumbing-Down Of Round Ireland Record
6th May 2023 Tom Dolan
Day 3 (1030hrs) – Ireland's northwest corner, the unspectacular but memorably-named Bloody Foreland in Donegal, lived up to its name all too well for Round Ireland record challenger Tom Dolan in his Figaro 3 Smurfit Kappa-Kingspan at midnight. For although…
