Why did the Costa Concordia sink?

 The town of Cobh has been a port of call for ocean liners for over 150 years - now about 60 liners visit Cork Harbour each year- we all love the liners!  Everybody in the maritime community was shocked last Friday night with the news of the grounding of the massive Italian cruise liner the Costa Concordia. I spent the weekend trawling the web to try to find out what really happened - this blog is the tragic story of the last voyage of the Costa Concordia on  Friday the 13th of January 2012.

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My stamp album and the Caribbean - the best sailing waters in the world!

I began my dinghy racing aboard a twelve foot fiberglass una rig boat "Emmy" with my Dad's first cousin, the late Joan Denvir - where my main job was to whistle for the wind! Joan was one of my heros as a child - she braved a world dominated by men - owning her own yacht, sailing across the Atlantic and becoming the first female Commodore of any sailing or yacht club in Ireland when she was Commodore of Cove Sailing Club.

Joan spent a lot of time in the Caribbean and always sent me postcards from Antigua. The pictures on the postcards showed blue waters, green islands, happy people, beautiful yachts and golden beaches - AND.........always SUNSHINE! The stamps repeated this theme and were pride of place in my stamp album........................

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“My first sail” - by Cathy Mullan

 In the autumn of 2007 Cathy came to SailCork and did her first course - a weekend yachting course. Cathy continues her interest by doing a Day Skipper Navigation Course during the winter and completing a number of courses afloat before "flying the nest" and becoming an accomplished crew member sailing on a very regular basis in Cork Harbour, Kinsale and Dublin. This blog is Cathy's own story..........do you have a story about your first sail? If so contact us!

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