The 90-year-old Scottish classic yacht Cruinneag III added to Dún Laoghaire Harbour’s growing roll-call of notable traditional sailing visitors when she was photographed under sail on Dublin Bay on Sunday (9 August).
The handsome auxiliary ketch was pictured departing Dún Laoghaire, with the Baily Lighthouse providing an appropriately maritime backdrop.
Cruinneag III was launched at Tarbert, Scotland, on 2 June 1936. She was designed by William Campbell and was the third and largest of a series commissioned by Glasgow silk and textile importer Robert Morton.
Built for extended cruising rather than the fashionable racing of the period, Cruinneag III was constructed with unusually substantial teak hull planking on solid oak frames, with mahogany furniture and panelling below decks. Her owners say much of the yacht remains remarkably original and describe her as one of a small number of surviving classics that has "never been restored".
The yacht has subsequently voyaged on both sides of the Atlantic, with cruising and classic-yacht activity ranging from Scotland and Scandinavia to the Mediterranean, United States and Caribbean.
Dún Laoghaire's Classic Summer
Cruinneag III's appearance continues what has become an unusually rich summer of classic and traditional sailing visitors to Dún Laoghaire and Dublin Bay.
In June, three celebrated Fife yachts — Mariquita, Moonbeam IV and Moonbeam III — called at Dún Laoghaire following the 2026 Richard Mille Fife Regatta on the Clyde and while bound for France. The harbour was selected in part for its ability to accommodate the large classics.
The restored Shetland Zulu Maggie Helen has also been a visitor to Dublin and Killiney Bays, while in July the 1948-built French heritage sailing vessel Fleur de Lampaul called to Dublin Bay before continuing into the Irish Sea.
Together with Sunday's visit by Cruinneag III, the arrivals are giving Dún Laoghaire an increasingly international flavour as a stopping point for classic and traditional yachts cruising between northern Europe, Britain, Ireland and the Atlantic coast.
