“Round 4 of the Irish National Windsurfing Championships are taking place in Bantry Bay, on the weekend of the 14-15^th August 2010.  The event is being run from the “Bantry Beaches”, or the Bantry Airfield, and will see competitors travel from all over Ireland and the UK to race in the Bay.  Event Organiser Pearse Geaney, who runs bigsurf.ie, commented on the event...

“Having learnt how to windsurf in Bantry Bay in 1991, it’s a dream come true for me to be able to bring such an exciting event to the shores of Bantry.  When a SW wind is blowing, the conditions available within Bantry Bay are world class...not just good enough for intermediates, but also for the world’s best windsurfers.  With this event, we hope to showcase not only Irish windsurfing, but also the potential that Bantry Bay has to offer.

Competitors are broken up into 2 fleets...the Gold Fleet which has the professionals and all-round excellent windsurfers, and the Silver Fleet for the intermediates, which gives them an excellent platform to progress and to sail with Ireland’s Best windsurfers.  The event format is for windsurfers to race around marker buoys set out into the harbour.  If it’s windy, speeds will be in excess of 30 knots, with sailors jostling for position around the race course and positions in each race changing at every turn.  It will make for a brilliant spectacle!

The event would not be possible without the help of Mrs. Brigitte Wagner-Halswick, and given her generosity we are now in a position to raise funds for the local Bantry Hospice.  Be sure and come out to the Bantry Airfield, rub shoulders with Ireland’s Best Windsurfers and soak it all up!”

The public parking at the Bantry airfield is not affected by the event, so spectators will have full visibility of all the racing as it proceeds.”

Bantry town councill are delighted to have such an event taking place in the area and wish the organisers all the best success

Please note restrictions will be in place and competitors and spectators are requested to abide by these.

The Irish crew from Bantry returned home last Tuesday from the Atlantic Challenge in Canada with an overall second place finishing position.
After eight days of competition in Midland on lake Huron, one of the Great Lakes, the team were pipped at the post by the British crew.

After a great start winning the first few events the team looked like they were unbeatable but a last position in the first leg of the slalom event changed the outlook.
With a negeative points system in operation, (Winner gets 1 point, secont gets 2 etc.), this damaged the Irish teams lead placing them in second place overall.
However the team showed their metal in the second leg of the same event by coming first and the battle for overall first place began.

Over the following days the team placed well in all events but disaster struck when a mast step shattered just before the start of the Oars and sails race, one of the
teams better diciplines. The crew informed the events committee of their porblem and requested some time to do running repairs and participate in the race.
Their request was ignored, without reason, and the race was started with Ireland out of the picture.
The crew  using their initiative and experience managed to fix the mast using a mallet, rope and piece of timber and crossed the start line under sail 10 minutes
after the other crews had started.

In 13th(and last) position a huge performance was needed to regain the lost ground, and again the Bantry crew pulled out all the stops and produced a fantastic display of
courage and determination picking off each of the other competiors one by one. The 10 minute delay at the start fueled this determination and the managed a very respectable 5th position
just eight minutes behind the winners. They raced the course 2 minutes faster than any one else.

On the last day of each Atlantic Challenge the Rowing race is final event. This is where the big guns normally battle it out and on this occassion they did not dissapoint.
The Irish crew demolished the rest of the fleet finishing the contest with a first place. However this was not enough to close the gap to win the contest outright and Britain took the overall honours, with Ireland second and Northern Ireland third.

Overall the team performed well and chef d'equipe Matt Murphy complimented the crew on their hard work and team spirit.
Team Captain Michéal Young said he was very proud of his crew and their acheivements and is looking forward to the event in Bantry in 2012

Masters of Tradition Festival – the heart of traditional music in the heart of West Cork

From 10 to 15 August, the legends of Irish music return to Bantry, Co Cork for the Masters of Tradition Festival. For six special days, a select line-up of Ireland’s greatest musicians including Martin Hayes, Dennis Cahill, Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh, Steve Cooney, Peadar Ó Riada, Áine Meenaghan, Sean Tyrrell, Frankie Gavin, Yvonne and Liz Kane, Edel Fox, Kieran Hanrahan, Damien Mullane and John Flanagan  converge on Bantry for this unique Festival, which celebrates the very roots of traditional music.

Looking set to build on the resounding success of the last seven years, the 2010 Masters of Tradition Festival throws open its doors to some of the very best musicians in the land. This unique Festival gives performers the freedom to choose what they play in the glorious surroundings of Bantry House and St Brendan's Church. The idea for the festival evolved from Artistic Director Martin Hayes’ call to create a "quiet and intimate space" where the heart of traditional music could be exposed. The concept has evolved over the years to produce this event that encompasses a simpler, less cluttered performance format and involving some of the very best Irish musicians sharing their take on traditional music.

As ever the Festival is headlined by Martin Hayes, the fiddler from East Clare, whose distinctive touch and extravagant virtuosity has brought the tradition to new levels. His famous trance-evoking sets with Dennis Cahill have mesmerised audiences all over the world. So the six days of music-making in Bantry will be opened and closed by the resident master.

Martin Hayes says, " I have attended almost all of the performances each year of this festival  and every time I leave Bantry, I do so with a renewed faith in the strength of this music. Within this subtle setting..our music reveals sophistication and artfulness and its inherent virtuosity of thought."

The Festival opens on Tuesday night at 7.30pm in the Maritime Hotel, Bantry with a Masters Benefit concert featuring Martin Hayes [fiddle], Dennis Cahill [guitar], Damien Mullane [accordion] and singer Christy Moore.

The musical action moves to St Brendan's Church on Wednesday 11 August at 7.30pm for the first of the Ceolchoirms of the festival. Singer Áine Meenaghan, flying in from the States, joins Martin Hayes and Dennis Cahill before the popular fiddle-playing Kane sisters take to the stage.

The following evening, St Brendan's Church comes alive when fiddler Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh performs with concertina player Edel Fox, accordion player Eoghan O Suilleabhain and fiddler Pat O'Connor.

On Friday evening, there is a double bill of concerts in Bantry House's intimate library. At 7.30pm, popular guitarist Steve Cooney performs with Liz Kane on fiddle and is then followed by Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh [fiddle] and accordion player Brendan Begley. The Níos Deanaí at 10.30pm features flute player Eamonn Cotter along with his sister Geraldine on tin whistle and piano, and Kieran Hanrahan on banjo.

Bantry House remains the venue for the final two evenings of the festival. At 7.30pm on Saturday 14 August, singers John Flanagan and Séan Tyrrell are joined by Martin Hayes, Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh and Peadar Ó Riada on concertina. Later that evening, popular fiddle player Frankie Gavin, Martin Hayes, Steve Cooney and singer Séan Tyrrell perform in the candlelit Níos Deanaí at 10.30pm.

This special festival ends in style on Sunday night at 7.30pm when Martin Hayes and Dennis Cahill are joind by singer Máire Ní Chéileachair, Áine Meenaghan, Steve Cooney, Séan Tyrrell and Edel Fox .

Tickets are available from West Cork Music on 027 52788 or online at www.westcorkmusic.ie.

The Masters of Tradition Festival is generously supported by the Arts Council of Ireland, Failte Ireland, RTÉ lyric fm and Cork County Council.

West Cork Development Partnership are now working on a website - a digital resource to help the unemployed in West Cork. It brings together information that is already out there but may be difficult to find. Check out http://www.westcorkjobsupport.com/ This will be added to regularly and we hope that you out there wi...ll contibute by letting us know of sites that you have found useful.

Bantry Man Andrew Hurley has recently been selected to represent Ireland in Rowing.

Son of John and Doreen Hurley (Vickerys hardware store) Andrew has been aiming for

a green singlet for a number of years. After winning the novice sculls at the national

championships two years ago Andrew has had a had to overcome injury to get back to

making the Irish team. As a sport rowing is a very tough even at national level, and to

be selected for the national senior squad is fantastic achievement.

Andrew will be rowing in the lightweight double sculls with Killian O'Shea from Limerick at

the home internationals on the 24th of July at the national rowing centre, Inisscarra.

National Rowing Centre