ACSE, based in Waterford, is part of an international organisation involving people from many nations.Our programs practice,encourage and share the traditional skills of sailing, rowing ,seamanship and boat building. As part of an INTERREG project between WIT and Pembrokeshire College in Wales a Bantry Bay gig has been built in Dunmore East.
At the moment we are recruiting for crewmembers from a broad spectrum of groups within the Waterford area. There has been great interest in the project shown from Rowing and sailing clubs and many youth groups.
Our gig ‘An Seabhac Mara’ has been on the water since June 2005 and with her crew has attended many events both in Ireland and abroad. ACSE also has the support from Atlantic challenge Ireland in Bantry Co Cork and Atlantic challenge Northern Ireland based in Antrim. There are two other gigs in the UK and over 30 gigs in France.
One of the highlights of 2005 was the participation of the gig in the Tall ships festival in Waterford. There were five other visiting gigs at the event with plenty of chanches to meet new people and share the experience of such a festival. These gigs have participated in many festivals in the past including Brest and Douarnenez and add colour and excitement to these events
For 2006 ACSE was traveling all over Ireland, to Wales for SeaFair in June and to Italy in July to compete in the prestigious Atlantic Challenge contest of Seamanship. There were sixteen other crews competing at this event, the largest AC event so far.
2007 saw a busy year with ‘An Seabhac Mara’ attending the Baltimore Wooden Boat Festival, the Ocean 2 City and many other events.