Another epic voyage for Dixie Chick

Now that I am fairly comfortable with the trip from Shannon Harbour to Banagher and back again, I decided to try a slightly more adventurous trip to Shannon Bridge last weekend. The trip up was pretty smooth although it took me slightly longer than anticipated (1 hour and 33 minutes).

My SatNav said that we averages 7.1 km per hour which is probably fairly accurate (although it aslo said that my max speed was 22 km/hour which is probably a measurement glitch).


View Trip from Shannon Harbour to Shannon Bridge in a larger map

After stopping to refuel the crew, we decided to head back again at about 6pm. I was slightly worried that we might be leaving it a little late and the rain was coming down quite seriously. However, I was pleasantly surprised to see that we made better time on the return journey (56 minutes) mainly due to going with the flow of the river - although also partly helped by the fact that we decided to leave her outside the lock gate and so saved the time that would have been required to traverse the lock.

My average speed on the return leg was 11.4 km/hour which is an impressive speed for a boat like Dixie Chick.


View Return journey from Shannon Bridge to Shannon Harbour in a larger map

I don't think that St Brendan the navigator would be impressed by my boating skills, but I am quite proud of my progress so far and gradually gaining in confidence.

Nature within the City Limits

Swans protecting their Signets along the Royal Canal
Originally uploaded by Brian O'Donovan

I sometimes cycle along the tow path of the Royal Canal on my way into town. It does not qualify as a short cut into town because it is a slightly longer journey, but it certainly is a much more pleasant environment to cycle through. It is amazing how rural and full of nature this environment is considering that it is only a few metres away from busy roads chocked with traffic.

Today as I was cycling along, I came across this pair of swans protecting their signets. They did not mind me getting close enough to take this picture because they were much more worried about a heron that was circling around.

I don't think they were concerned about the tailback of traffic on the N3.!!

A new sport - Bike Polo

Bike polo
Originally uploaded by Brian O'Donovan

While I was travelling through the Phoenix Park last weekend I saw a sign announcing the international bike polo competition. I went along to have a look and it looks like an interesting sport - basically horse polo played on a bike.

The crowd was not exactly huge for an international tournament. The supporters were outnumbered by the players. But I suppose every sport must start out small.

Dixie Chick goes on her first trip of 2009

Dixie Chick at rest in her "Winter Residence" at Shannon Harbour
Originally uploaded by Brian O'Donovan

The weather in Ireland was lovely this weekend so I decided to bring Dixie Chick on her first trip of the year.

I did not take her out of the water this winter and so I was pleasantly surprised to see that she was not too badly shaken by the experience. The engine started after about 3 attempts and then we took her for a short trip down to Banagher and back.

I tried out the Sports Tracker application on my Nokia phone. It seemed to work a treat and I was able to produce the little map below showing where exactly we went.


View Dixie Chick's Maiden Voyage of 2009 in a larger map

There is a slight mis-match between the Google Map and the coordinated from my GPS which make it seem that we travelled across dry land for a while, but overall I think you can get the idea. I must use this feature more often.

Phoenix Park Race last week

Coming over the finish line
Originally uploaded by Brian O'Donovan

I just got confirmation of my finishing time in the Phoenix Park 10km race. This year I finished in 54 minutes and 21 seconds which is an improvement on my time from last year of 57 minutes and 3 seconds.

Overall my race position was #3,144 which is not bad considering that there were over 11,000 competitors in total. What makes it sound even better was that I was in position #142 for my age group (although I don't know exactly how wide they make the age group or how many people in my age group competed).

Is Skype finally opening up

Skype is a hugely popular VOIP service. In fact according to some reports, they now have passed out AT&T as the largest carried of international voice calls.

The main reason that Skype is popular is because it is really easy to use. However, until recently the Skype platform was very closed. There is a Skype API, but this only allows you to manipulate the Skype client running on your machine and does not allow you to do anything really interesting like connect Skype to/from another network.

This might be about to change because Skype have recently announced a Beta program of their SIP support. This would open a lot of interesting possibilities ...

Right now it is a closed Beta with limits on who can participate, so I will have to wait some time to try it out.

Great sport results continue

It continues to be a good year for sports results from my point of vire.

Last weekend, Ireland won the Rugby Grand Slam and after the third series of matches Galway United remained top of the Premier Division of the League of Ireland

Unexpected highlight of trip to Aran Islands

During a recent trip to the Aran Islands, I was delighted to get the unexpected bonus of being able to observe a simulated Helicopter rescue. I must say that, even in good weather, it was very exciting to watch coast guard guy get dropped from the Helicopter while the ferry still continued travelling at top speed. In the way back up the (empty) stretcher was bounced quite violently against the helicopter so maybe it is just as well there was no seriously ill patient on board.

Great Soccer results

I could hardly believe the news today, Galway United are top of the league of Ireland table. After just barely avoiding relegation last season, they are now top of the table after wins against St Patrick Athletic and Dundalk. I used to support this team when I was in school. Back then they were called Galway Rovers and the rarely won any matches.

The icing in the cake is that the team I train beat Maynooth by a large score.

Snow Couple

Snow Couple
Originally uploaded by Brian O'Donovan

We are currently enjoying some snow in Dublin. I say enjoying because it is so rare to cause great excitement. It is bringing out the child in all of us as we build snow men and have snowball fights.

I noticed that one of my neighbors had clearly decided that it was not fair to leave a snow man out in the cold by himself. So they kindly build a companion for their snowman.