Historic Boats

Let's hear it for the Classics - the 55 metre schooner Elena – the re-creation of a 1910 classic – makes a cracker of a start with only a couple of "little" 15 Metres ahead of her at the weekend, close in off the harbour in the 22nd annual staging of Voiles de Saint-Tropez

French Classics Succeed in Keeping a Muted Flag Flying at annual Voiles de Saint-Tropez

13th October 2020 Historic Boats

You might well think that trying to stage the annual sailing classics megafest of the Voiles de Saint-Tropez without the usual razzmatazz is about as likely to succeed as an attempt to stage Wagnerian Grand Opera in a low key…

Ready for launching - with the mast stepped right in the eyes of the ship, the link between the Bray Droleen and American cat-rigged sloops became clearer

The Bray Droleen is the Cat's Whiskers on Her Maiden Sail

4th October 2020 Historic Boats

Every summer since 1997, the historic and picturesque English Jurassic Coast town of Lyme Regis (think Jeremy Irons & Meryl Streep in the 1981 multiple Oscar-nominated movie The French Lieutenant's Woman) has enjoyed the quaint ceremony of the Launching of…

Sheep-shape & Bristol fashion, or a time for woolly thinking……? For 64 years from 1926 until around 1990, deck scenes like this were a regular part of the Ilen's long working life

West Cork Mini-Workboat Was a Key Link in Ilen's South Atlantic Shepherd Role

25th September 2020 Ilen

When we contemplate the 56ft 1926-vintage Limerick ketch Ilen today in her superbly-restored form, making her stylish way along rugged coastlines and across oceans on voyages of cultural and trading significance between places as evocative as Nuuk in West Greenland…

The River Class racing at Strangford Lough

River Class One Designs: A Century Old & Still Racing on Strangford Lough

11th September 2020 Belfast Lough

Scottish yacht designer Alfred Mylne designed the River Class in 1920 at the behest of eight members of the Royal Ulster Yacht Club (RUYC) in Bangor on Belfast Lough. Next year the design is celebrating its 100th anniversary. In all…

Irish Sailing Welcomes Galway Hookers Into The Fold

10th September 2020 Historic Boats

Irish Sailing has welcomed its newest affiliate in the shape of the Galway Hooker Sailing Club. The club was formed in 2017 when a group of friends came together to revive and retain the Galway Hooker tradition in Galway. The…

Ilen departs Foynes, on passage for Kilronan in the Aran Islands. Conor O'Brien – Ilen's designer in 1926 – ensured that all his major voyages essentially started from Foynes, his home port where he lived on Foynes Island

Limerick Ketch Ilen's "Cargo Cruise" Delivers the Goods on Ireland's Atlantic Coast

8th September 2020 Shannon Estuary

The restored 1926-built Conor O'Brien-designed 56ft ketch Ilen of Limerick found the Atlantic in a challenging mood last week as she undertook a combined educational, cultural, and commercial cargo voyage. Yet despite the vagaries of the Irish weather and the…

RCYC Admiral Colin Morehead on board the Cork Harbour One Design, Jap

Cork Harbour One Design Jap Will Race in Cobh to Blackrock Yacht Race This Saturday

7th September 2020 Historic Boats

Royal Cork Yacht Club Admiral Colin Morehead was aboard Royal Cork's Jap for some pre-race preparations before next Saturday's big race from Cobh to Blackrock. 'She's So light, so responsive, an absolute joy to sail' was the verdict from the…

A new International 12 foot dinghy this year in Ireland by Rui Ferreira of Ballydehob

International 12 Dinghies To Celebrate New Arrival at Revived Royal St.George Yacht Club Championships

2nd September 2020 RStGYC

As the International 12-foot class prepares to celebrate the tenth anniversary of its revived championships next week in Dun Laoghaire Harbour, the historic dinghy class is also welcoming a new arrival. A new clinker-built 12 has recently been completed by…

HMS Caroline, Alexandra Dock and Thompson Dock Pump House.

Belfast's HMS Caroline: Fears WW2 Ship Could Be Removed from City & Towed to Portsmouth

1st September 2020 Historic Boats

A major Belfast Harbour attraction HMS Caroline could be towed back to Portsmouth "for its own protection" within the next year, it has emerged. Dr Tim Schadla-Hall, the chairman of the HMS Caroline Preservation Society, writes Belfast Telegraph, has warned…

Back at her real home after 93 years – the 56ft 1926-built restored Limerick Trading ketch Ilen takes up her berth in Foynes for the first time in 94 years yesterday (Friday) evening. On the Foynes YC pontoon are (left to right) Ilen Project Manager Gary Mac Mahon, and Conor O’Brien family relatives Rob, Alison and Stephen O'Brien. Conor O’Brien’s modest house of Barneen on Foynes Island, in which he designed both Saoirse and Ilen and spent his last days in 1952, is just visible above Ilen’s bowsprit.

Ilen Crosses Shannon Estuary from Kilrush Through Tarbert’s “Waterspout Way” on Historic Return to Foynes

29th August 2020 Shannon Estuary

The 56ft Trading Ketch Ilen has had a busy couple of days of cultural and educational activities in Kilrush during her current two-week cargo cruise, with performances including shows and workshops with noted Limerick Boy and contemporary dancer Tobi Omoteso.…