In 2005, Michael Gibbons was in a helicopter crash. He survived but his two best friends died. It was two years before he walked again but he tells Ailin Quinlan it thaught him to ’dance in the rain’.

The Emerald Isle Classic is expected to rank alongside the Ryder Cup and the Special Olympics in terms of the numbers of tourists it attracts.

Around €30m is expected to be spent in Dublin over the next four days with the arrival of the Tall Ships Races.

With acting, I’m pretty much still on a learning curve. I’m very ambitious and hard working and I see it all as a very exciting challenge, but it’s sink or swim a lot of the time.

WATERFORD’S hosting of the Tall Ships Races 2011 has been overwhelmingly praised for its success, which saw up to 500,000 spectators in the city over the four-day festival ending on Sunday.

TOLL charges will not be suspended during Waterford’s hosting of the Tall Ships Races in three weeks’ time.

QUEUES are expected this Saturday in Waterford’s city centre for the release of more tickets for free concerts taking place during the Tall Ships festival.

A NEW live music trail which will serve up free concerts during the forthcoming Tall Ships Race was launched last night in Waterford.

CIVIC and business leaders in the south-east have called for “fair pricing” during Waterford’s hosting of the Tall Ships this summer.

BUDDING artists and young creative writers are being given the chance to become a lasting part of this year’s Tall Ships Festival in Waterford.

ORGANISERS of this summer’s Tall Ships Races in Waterford have confirmed veteran pop artist Bryan Ferry as the headline act for the opening night.

THE host city for this year’s Tall Ships Races has issued a global invitation to the event by sending out 150,000 postcards to be posted around the world.

TWELVE class A vessels have registered for next year’s international Tall Ships Races, which are expected to bring hundreds of thousands of visitors to the south-east.

The Asgard II will not be raised from the seabed off France because the operation will not be cost-effective, the Defence Minister confirmed today.

A MASSIVE redevelopment and rebranding of Waterford’s Viking Triangle and an iconic pedestrian bridge connecting the Clock Tower with the city’s north quays are the centre-pieces of Waterford’s pitch to the Government under the Gateway Innovation Fund.

A PROMINENT Waterford businessman who won admiration for his involvement in the city’s hosting of the Tall Ships’ Race in 2005 is to take a wider role in the promotion of sail training.

THREE Argentine women are to travel almost 11,000 kilometres (as the crow flies) to be in Waterford for the start of the Tall Ships Races and will set sail on the massive Russian tall ship, Mir, from Ireland to Cherbourg-Octeville in France on July 9.