Monday, July 23, 2012

Sunday Walk : Clare Glens

Last sunday I went for a short stroll in Tipperary in the lovely river walk: Clare Glens.
It's only 30 minutes drive outside Limerick city, and perfect for family with a short and longer loop.

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The bridge

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Walking along the flowing river

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Clare Glens
Map



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Bridge...




There is many walks around Limerick, have a look at this leaflet :
http://www.southerntrail.net/maps/Limerick%20Maps%20Leaflet7.pdf.

And Bock covered some of those place some time ago. http://bocktherobber.com/2012/06/out-and-about-county-limerick/

Sunday, July 22, 2012

Nouvelle Vague in Dolans

Last saturday I had the extreme pleasure to be in Dolans, for another great gig. This time it was "Nouvelle Vague" a french concept band, the coolest to the extreme....
I am still subdued on this sunday morning...

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Nouvelle Vague on Stage - Instagram



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Airy ... and dancing... with themsleves

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Singing

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French Woman ... lethal and dangerous ;)

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French woman ... quirky and talented




Bemused audience and Fascinated crowd

Songs played ( from what i remember , sure  I am forgetting some ):

  • Love Will Tear Us Apart (Joy Division) 
  • Ophelie est zoophile ( Jad Wio cover )
  • Putain Putain (Arno)
  • Mala Vida ( Mano Negra cover )
  • Too Drunk to Fuck (Dead Kennedys) 
  • Making Plans for Nigel (XTC) 
  • Teenage Kicks (The Undertones)
  • Ever Fallen in Love (Buzzcocks)
  • Dancing with Myself (Billy Idol)
  • Master and Servant - (Depeche Mode)
  • Blister in the Sun - (Violent Femmes)
  • God save The Queen - (The Sex Pistols)



A taste of their music :




Sunday, July 15, 2012

Scubathon 2012

Nevermind Bastille Day, this weekend my diving club ( Aughinish ) along with the local diving club in Kilkee were organizing a scubathon:

Poster Scubathon
By Scubathon this meant 24 hours diving, with diving in the water all the time, rotating by one hour slots.
The event coincided with the maritime festival in Kilkee, so the town was busy.

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Maritime festival in Kilkee


I started off by trying to help setup the camp early in the morning, then I was off to do the first 2 hours of cox duty over Newfie, bringing divers to the site, watching over them and recovering them at the end.

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The last boat to get in the water

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Covering diver over newfie

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Covering boat in newfie, george's head in the back

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Flags

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Sunset in kilkee ... :D

Later during the day, it was my turn to dive, 62 minutes of easy diving in 10 meters of water, with a nice blonde mermaid. We saw a couple of flat fishes, some pollock, and tiny fish hiding in the sand.
I was actually quite annoyed by my main regulator which was leaking, and i was not sure i could make the full hour, by loosing air permanently... but it ended up ok, finishing with 50bar  on the dot.

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my mermaid ... buddy

After a night sleep, in kilkee under the tent, I went back to Limerick, leaving the others close the event.
And it was time to close the weekend with a nice chowder, some tunes and some stout in the Curragower:

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The End ...




Monday, July 09, 2012

Finishing with a Bang

The weekend finished with a bang, first with my smashed phone - but incredibly still working :
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HTC after 3 storey high fall....

Then after some park wandering, art considerations, dog watching, tea drinking - with chocolate pastries :) , and a vibrant american  Choke Comedy improv in Dolans , the final bang was the fireworks by the river:



Saturday, July 07, 2012

Back in Galway from the sea

So this saturday I went back to Galway for the final in-port race of the Volvo Ocean Race 2011-2012...
As they say the final showdown:



We used our diving club ( Aughinish ) boat to get to Galway bay. Launching the boat from Doolin, all the way up to Salthill - the race was taking place just in front of it.

We arrived around 11AM after a smooth drive - despite being against the wind and the swell, thanks to a dexterous cox -  before the sailing boat left the Galway docks.
While they were going out, we were able to get pretty close and have a good view of those ocean beasts.

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Spanish Boat 

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The French Boat ... winner of the overall race :D

There was many boats trying to follow the race, including the local hooker:

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Galway Hooker

Then the marshall pushed us behind the yellow buoy, so the race could start... and off they went for an hour of intense action.

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The race 

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Camper and Groupama battling out to catch Puma

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Camper and F.Cammas boat

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Groupama chasing Camper


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Puma... and yes we are behing the buoy :)

Puma won the race,
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The winner of the in port race Puma

And after another pass near the boat, we decided to turn back to the Clare side of the bay.
We did try to get into Monks in Ballyvaughan, but a sand bank prevented our plan - and I won't say anything else about that.

It was a fast drive back to Doolin, where the Dolphin was waiting for us, with the wind pushing in our back.

In summary a very happy day at sea ! I will be following the next race ( probably won't come to Ireland this time :( )




- UPDATE -

  •  The full inport race: 



  • And Bock account of the race ( from a different boat ):

Tuesday, July 03, 2012

Road trip to Galway for the Volvo Ocean Race

Following the successful stop over in Galway in 2009 ( see my 2009 posts here and there ) , the 2011-2012 edition of the Volvo Ocean race (formerly the Whitbread Round the World Race) was scheduled to finish in Galway, with a last leg starting from Lorient, France.
A magnific leg 9, i have to say, stretching along the coastline of Ireland, taking the inside of the Fastnet and the outside of the Aran-Island.
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Leg 9 (and final) of the Volvo Ocean Race
I had decided to go over to see the boats  arriving in the docks, so Monday i had an eye on the online GPS tracker, and estimated arrival time of the 550nm leg.
Initially scheduled to arrive tuesday morning, the boat did an excellent progress, and the estimated time went down from 3AM, 2AM to midnight.

So around 9pm I left limerick for an impromptu road trip, and I manage to "press ganged" a sailor for this adventure. We arrived a bit after 10PM in all lited Galway

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Wheel

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Wheel



The boat arrived in the complete darkness, crossing the line a bit before 1AM, then move slowly into the docks ( which could not be opened till 2AM due to the tides ).
Off course a myriad of lighted boat went to welcome them... ahead...

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Camper entering the docks


Within 30 minutes of docking - well probably a lot more - the leg winner (Camper ) was hushed on to the main stage, in front of drunken Irish and dancing raving teenagers ;) 

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Leg Winner : Camper


After that it was time to celebrate the overall race winner Groupama, who only arrived second , 7 minutes after the leg winner.


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Overall Winner : french Groupama



We also had a look at those magnificent boats:
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Volvo 70

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Volvo 70 Mast


We waited the arrival of the last 2 boats, and soon it was 5AM ... time for a bit of sleep before driving back to Limerick/Shannon.


And to finish the highlights of Franck Cammas crew victory:




The boats are still in Galway till Saturday 7th of June , where they will race one last time in a in-port regatta.

Monday, July 02, 2012

My SeaSessions 2012

I went to my first SeaSessions in Bundoran last weekend.
It is a very vibrant, cool music festival, down by the beach, exposed to the Atlantic fury.


Weekend Pass



Brilliant line-up:

KAISER CHIEFS, THE MINUTES, REV RUN (RUN DMC) & DJ RUCKUS, THE CORONAS, SIMON & OSCAR (OCEAN COLOUR SCENE), HOT 8 BRASS BAND, BITCHES WITH WOLVES, DELORENTOS, THE ORIGINAL RUDEBOYS, JAPE, WE CUT CORNERS, TOBY KAAR, TIERANNIESAUR, DUNE COLLECTIVE, CRY MONSTER CRY

I headed up ( 3 and half hours drive ) Friday afternoon, after ensuring I had a proper tent in order. 
Once there, after parking into some unofficial field ( this would cause some epic muddy departure later ), I set up my tent, near the Tramore boys and girls.



cosy camper




After a couple of drinks, we headed off to the gig tents, and started to enjoying the first bands ( notably the minutes ).
Finished off Friday night with the Kaiser Chiefs, brilliant, even if i missed 4-5 songs - including "I predict a riot"... or may be it was a perfect timing - due to event independent of my own will .. and a lovely red haired called Heather - if it was ever to be her name - only to ( most likely ) never see her again.

On Saturday, we awake in the mud, and were back on the drinks, I focus my attention on the North tent, and we had a great gig with TierAnnieSaur ( check their album on band camp ).

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TierAnnieSaur...
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Tierannisaur...

Fashion sense, how not to wear sunglasses:

No fashion sense




Hot 8 Brass Band on the main stage... warming us up to the sound of Marvin Gaye song
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Sexual healing ....

The coronas on main stage:
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The coronas...



Lessons learned over the weekend:
#1: All bits are important in a tent... especially the tiny piece which goes on top, and prevent rain to get down through the vent.
#2: Take Monday off, you'll need it to rest after, despite the sleeping till 12am everyday.
#3: Never ever ask a girl's name after making out with her. Loud music is not a valid excuse, nor bad hearing.
#4: Even if you take your ticket alone, you always end up, meeting friends.
#5: A Nissan micra is not a car made for offroad driving... even if mine is quite good in the mud.
#6: Many girls always try to look pretty and stylish, even in the mud and in the rain... which is an impressive feature at times ( Remind me of Clisare video on camping )


Anyway I loved the SeaSessions, and will definitely think of coming back next year ( probably with a Monday off, so i can enjoy the Sunday bands ).

Irish Roads

 Irish roads .... on the west west still the west stop and pray