When the three newly-restored Dublin Bay 21s fulfilled the dream of Fionan de Barra and Hal Sisk by racing last Tuesday, they did so off a coastline much-changed since they last sailed on the bay in 1986. Admittedly the unmistakable and rather elegant Poolbeg smokestacks had been in existence since the 1970s, but even so the buzz around the bay - despite the pandemic restraints - now has a different feel to the mood of the 1980s. Yet it’s a comparison to our lead photo from the 1950s with this second photo from last Tuesday evening which talks most eloquently of a completely different world.

The Irish economy was almost paralysed in the 1950s, with a nadir being reached in 1956 when some of the best boats in Dun Laoghaire were sold off to dollar-waving Americans. As for those who were getting by with the help of old money or an established and virtually indispensable profession, after a day’s sailing there were few if any televisions to go home to for an evening’s entertainment, and with one or two honourable exceptions, opportunities for exciting dining-out were very limited. Yet for the favoured few, life could be very agreeable indeed in an uncrowded and unhurried country, in which you only needed to apply for a driving licence in order to get one without a test of any kind, it was generally accepted that most car drivers - particularly nervous ones - actually drove much better with some pints of stout on board, and it was of course the case that smoking quality cigarettes was good for preventing lung infections.

Restored Dublin Bay 21s Naneen, Estelle and Garavogue in Dublin Bay, Tuesday August 24th 2021

The Dublin Bay 21 Footer Naneen was the winner of the penultimate DBSC Tuesday keelboat race of the 2021 season.

Second of the recently restored three boat fleet was Estelle with Garavogue third.

66 boats enjoyed a light breeze on a sunny Dublin Bay this evening. 

Results summary below in all classes below

DBSC Results for 24/08/2021

Cruiser 3 Tuesday Echo: 1. Krypton, 2. Papytoo, 3. Starlet

Flying 15: 1. Rhubarb, 2. Perfect Ten

Sportsboat VPRS: 1. Jeorge V, 2. Joyride, 3. Jay Z

Sportsboat: 1. Jeorge V, 2. Joyride, 3. Jay Z

Ruffian: 1. Alias, 2. Carmen, 3. Bandit

Shipman: 1. Poppy, 2. Bluefin

B211 One Design: 1. Billy Whizz, 2. Beeswing, 3. Isolde

B211 Echo: 1. Beeswing, 2. Billy Whizz, 3. Isolde

PY Class: 1. Noel Butler, 2. Roy Van Maanen, 3. Brendan Foley

IDRA 14: 1. Dart, 2. Doody

Fireball: 1. Louise McKenna, 2. Frank Miller, 3. Paul ter H

Laser Standard: 1. Gary O'Hare, 2. Damian Maloney, 3. Theo Lyttle

Laser Radial: 1. Conor Clancy, 2. John Sisk, 3. Alison Pigot

Combined Cruisers Echo: 1. Jalapeno, 2. Ruth, 3. Hot Cookie

DBSC 21 Footer: 1. Naneen, 2. Estelle, 3. Garavogue

Dublin Bay 21 footers by Brendan Briscoe

Former National Yacht Club Commodore Ronan Beirne, who welcomed three restored Dublin Bay 21s back to Dun Laoghaire Harbour last Friday, accepted an invitation to join a DB21 crew for the first DBSC race in 35 years last Tuesday evening.

I was delighted to join my fellow crew on Tuesday evening, all of whom I have known for many years but I never had the pleasure of sailing with before – the magic of the 21's restoration bringing Dublin Bay sailors together.

Skipper and helmsman Fionán de Barra. Sailing master Jim Foley with 21's in his blood as the son of the late Albert Foley who owned the Twenty-one Estelle. Michael Rothschild, a former 21 sailor, long term crew on the Dublin Bay 24 Fenestra and now part of a 31.7 crew. Dean McAlree, a former crew on Harmony the Dublin Bay 24 and now on a 31.7 and myself a Flying Fifteen crew.

The other DB21 on the evening, Estelle had a similar gathering of various Dublin Bay sailors. And so we boarded the launch and out to Garavogue on her moorings on the East pier where Jim was already on board and had her racing flag aloft, the first sign of how different these yachts are as most modern yachts don't carry a racing flag as there is so much instrument kit on top of the mast.

On approaching the Garavogue, I recalled the only time I had ever been on board Garavogue was probably over fifty years ago when her late owner George Williams brought her alongside the quay in Bulloch Harbour on a high tide and invited us, locals, onboard for a viewing. The 21 seemed massive as we were sailing out of Bulloch in a National 12 at the time. So here I am, over fifty years later climbing on board to go racing. On boarding, there are no guard rails to hang onto.

Dublin Bay 21 Estelle Number 3 Photo: Michael Chester

The first task was a discussion on how best to sail off the mooring – no engine, so once the plan decided on up with the main. I was hauling the throat and Dean the peak with Jim coordinating our haul.

It reminded me of the drill onboard Asgard with Captain Eric Healy in command "up throat – not so fast o the peak" then belaying off the halyard tails on the pins on the mast – no clutches on this ship. Then up with the jib, and we are ready to sail off the mooring, which Fionán did as if he does so every week and without the gap of some thirty-five years. Onboard the sails are synthetic fibre butter in colour and have a fabric feel to them.

Dublin Bay 21 Garavogue Number 4 Photo: Michael Chester

The standing rigging and runners are Dyneema, and there are no winches. The runners are lines onto the cleat, with no Highfield levers or rolling drums. There are no electronic instruments to distract from the sails and the working of the yacht. Once sailing, the 21 assumes a lovely powerful motion, and when we got out to the starting area, fellow Dublin Bay sailors gave us a wave in the various cruiser-racer classes. There was circa 9 knots from the S.W. with a considerable wind shadow near the Dublin Bay Sailing Club Box and the last of the flood tide. The Box - I can't remember when I last raced from the Box we have got so used to the flag boats in recent years. Tacking, we had runners, jib sheets and main sheet to attend to, and we soon got into a routine. Michael commented on how roomy the cockpit is in the renovated boat as compared to the former boats.

Dublin Bay 21 Naneen Number 6 Photo: Michael Chester

Fionán commented on how easy she was to handle on the helm, and with the new sail plan, the helmsman can see, whereas, with the former Bermudan sloop rig, the big genoa obscured vision. As we were so busy hauling sheets in the cockpit with Dean at the mast and Jim on the counter, advised on slacking off or hardening. The only "modern" piece of kit on board was a handheld VHF to hear the Race Officers instructions. Jim Dolan, Race Officer, welcomed the arrival of the 21s for their first race.

After starting the various classes, the 21's were given a shorter course of Pier (as the other fleets 1st mark) then Merrion, Turning mark and finish, and so we were off. As we were a little early, Naneen got away and to the first mark Pier and just ahead. At Pier mark, we gybed around and off to Merrion. Our courses diverged as Naneen headed out into the Bay as we went straight for Merrion Mark and arrived there ahead of Naneen, and here we rounded up for the return to Turning mark and to the finish. On finishing, we were in company with some white GRP boats who put on their motors to head for the marina. We were sailing into the Harbour in the traditional way and discussed how best to approach our mooring in the East bight and thought perhaps a preliminary practice run might be in order. Not necessary as Fionán sailed Garavogue right up to the mooring buoy as we dropped the mainsail and came to a stop at the mooring buoy - perfection.

We had completed the first race in some thirty-five years in a 34' 9" (10.6 metres, including bowsprit) long keel gaff-rigged yacht without winches, wire rigging (except forestay), engine and electronic navigation or wind instruments. Perhaps these are not necessary for a happy crew to thoroughly enjoy the experience of traditional sailing in these magnificent renovated Dublin Bay Twenty One's – the oldest cruiser-racer class in the world.

Photographer Michael Chester documented the arrival home of the first three restored Dublin Bay 21’s Number 3 Estelle, 4 Garavogue and 6 Naneen that sailed from Arklow yesterday (Friday 30th) July arriving at Dun Laoghaire at 17.00 where they were met by the Dublin Bay Sailing Club flag-ship Mac Lir to a gun salute.

The arrival was viewed from The East Pier Dun Laoghaire Harbour and the returned DB21s lead a small flotilla of classics into Dun Laoghaire harbour for an official reception at the National Yacht Club. 

The class was at the heart of the harbour sailing for 83 years and sailed under the original gaff rig, which was used from 1903 until 1964. The class then sailed under Bemuda rig until 1986, and will resume Dublin Bay activities in 2021 with reversion to a modified gaff rig.

Afloat's WM Nixon takes up the story of their arrival home into Dun Laoghaire Harbour in his Saturday blog here.

Dublin Bay 21 Arrival into Dublin Bay Photo Gallery By Michael Chester

Despite a brief gale and much rain in the night, Ireland’s east coast has been a bit lifeless as regards wind this morning as the three restored Dublin Bay 21s make their way from Arklow to their appointment with destiny at Dun Laoghaire late this afternoon.

The mother-ship Molly Ban has had them in tow in line ahead, and like our photo shows, their progress is being regularly monitored from beachside houses all along this holiday coast.

The word now is that the programme late this afternoon may even include a race for the three boats - with old DB 21 hands in the delivery lineup, winning that would indeed be an historic feather in someone’s cap.

The restored DB21s Estelle, Naneen and Garavogue in Arklow early this morning. Photo: David Espey

The Dublin Bay 21 Footers are the oldest class of racing yachts of their kind in the world - the World’s Oldest Cruiser Racer Class. Designed in 1902 by the leading yacht designer, Alfred Mylne of Glasgow, for Dublin Bay Sailing Club, seven were built between 1903 and 1908 and all seven still survive.

Originally gaff-rigged with large topsails, the boats were converted to a Bermudan rig in 1964 and continued to race in Dublin Bay until 1986, by which time major structural restoration work was required. The owners agreed to have the boats restored to their original gaff rig by Tyrrells of Arklow. Five boats were transported to Arklow by road while Garavogue and Geraldine made their way under sail. Following the death of Jack Tyrrell in 1988 and the subsequent closure of the famous Shipyard, the fleet was laid up in a farmyard near Arklow until the present project began in 2017 with the formation of the Dublin Bay 21 Footer Class Association and the transfer of ownership of all boats to the Association.

The Association is committed to the revival of the class and now for the first time since 1986, the Class will participate in the DBSC racing programme of 2021. The boats will sail under the modified gaff rig designed by Alfred Mylne in 1918. For a generation born in the digital age, beguiled by novelty and speed, the Dublin Bay Twentyones are a reminder of how beautiful a true sailing boat can be. The boats will provide an opportunity for present day sailors to experience the sailing characteristics of a truly authentic classic yacht. The boats will carry a crew of 5 or 6.

Master boatbuilder Stephen Morris and his team in Kilrush in County Clare have produced an outstanding example of authentic wooden boat restoration. Using Alfred Mylne’s original drawings, supplemented by construction details provided by Naval Architect, Paul Spooner, the traditional skills of the shipwright have been combined with the latest technical knowledge in timber conservation and construction methods. The use of laminated beams and frames and epoxy resins has resulted in stiff, water tight, low maintenance, monocoque hulls, without nails or screws, which allows the application of durable two-pack polyurethane finishes. The original lead keels. iron tillers and fittings have been reused together, with some of the original greenheart and pitch pine timbers.

Hal Sisk gives a a pre-departure briefing on the quayside at Arklow on Friday morning, July 30 at 0800 hours

The Dublin Bay Twenty One Naneen underway and heading back to Dun Laoghaire Harbour

The first three restored 21’s Number 3 Estelle, 4 Garavogue and 6 Naneen will sail from Arklow tomorrow (Friday 30th) July to arrive at Dun Laoghaire at 17.00 where they will be met by the Dublin Bay Sailing Club flag-ship Mac Lir to a gun salute. The arrival may be viewed from The East Pier Dun Laoghaire Harbour, and if conditions suit, the returned DB21s will lead a flotilla of classics on a circuit of Scotsman's Bay before entering Dun Laoghaire harbour for an official reception at the National Yacht Club. 

Naneen restored - she was the first of the Dublin Bay 21s to be brought back to life as part of the new project.

The start of the Sailing Olympics tomorrow (Sunday) at Enoshima, fifty kilometres from central Tokyo, may seem to be the beginning of a boat event about as different as humanly possible from the staging next Friday (July 30th) of an informal classics regatta at Dun Laoghaire to welcome home the first three restored Dublin Bay 21s.

The DB21s last raced in Dun Laoghaire in August 1986, and their re-birth - thanks to Fionan de Barra and Hal Sisk, using the brilliant skills of Steve Morris of Kilrush Boatyard – is beyond miraculous. It's something that will be joyously celebrated as they sail into Scotsmans Bay next Friday afternoon, welcomed by a remarkable assembly of classic Water Wags, Howth 17s, and Glens, with the possibility of other boats also involved.

The restored Naneen sailing off Kilrush. She was built in 1905 by James Clancy of Dun Laoghaire for Cosby Burrowes (1856-1925) of Crossdoney, Co Cavan, who was a serial Dublin Bay One Design owner. He had at least one Water Wag, he also owned one of the original Mermaids of 1891, in 1892 he had a One Rater (also built by Clancy), and in 1899 he commissioned the Dublin Bay 25 Nance, the only DB25 built in the boatyard of the designer William Fife III. Like Naneen, Nance still sails, but now in Dutch ownership under the name of Iona.

Departure lounge? Not quite, but for years things didn't look too hopeful for Naneen in this Wicklow farmyard.

Steve Morris and Fionan de Barra in Naneen's restored interior. Despite the sparse comfort and limited headroom, several of the boats were used for cruising in the early years of the class. Photo John Kelly/Clare Champion

Some will be classic or traditional and some not. But either way, they'll demonstrate that, in order to fully savour the Irish sailing experience, you have to be broad-minded in your interests and enthusiasms - you have to see there's a bigger picture involved with inter-connections every which way.

For sure, there won't be anyone present who isn't be accessing the latest Olympic sailing news from Japan now and again. But with the classics, you can take the long view. After all, the Water Wags as a class had already been in being for nine years when the modern Olympics were introduced in in 1896. The Howth 17s had started racing just two years later. And the Dublin Bay 21s were racing five years after that.

The Water Wags shaping up for a start on Wednesday evening this week. In the foreground is one of the latest additions to the class, No 50 (Mandy Chambers), which was constructed in the Albeola Boat-Building School in San Sebastian in Spain. Photo by Ann Kirwan (Commodore, DBSC)

With such a vigorous history, all Ireland's local sailing inevitably made an input into our Olympic sailing teams. Of course, the sailors involved had re-configured their skills with training in the relevant Olympic boat. But our first Olympic squad in 1948 was made up of the two-man Swallow sailed by Alf Delany (Dublin Bay Water Wags and Shannon One Designs) and Hugh Allen (IDRA 14), while the Firefly used for the singlehanded contest was sailed by Jimmy Mooney. He'd had a short time to train up with Fireflies in Dun Laoghaire, but before that he'd acquired a formidable reputation racing the classic clinker-built International 12s when the Mooney family lived and sailed in Howth, where his father Billy had been a noted helm in the Howth 17s.

This reliance on skilled potential Olympians emerging from local classes such as the Dublin Bay 21s is a fact of life, because the only two long-term Olympic boats which have achieved significant numbers at Irish clubs are the now Olympically-discontinued International Dragon keelboat, and - since 1996 – the Laser, hugely popular and still seeming as fresh as a daisy after more than fifty years on the scene, a remarkable score underlined by that the fact that the boat's characterful designer, the great Bruce Kirby, died much-mourned this week at the fine age of 92.

A recent photo of the late Bruce Kirby. His inspired design for the Laser created a unique boat which met Olympic requirements while acquiring universal popularity   

World-wide, it is the Laser's universality of appeal which gives its Olympic role a special cachet, something intensified in Ireland as our only recent Olympic sailing medal – the Silver in the 2016 Rio Games – was taken by Annalise Murphy in the Women's Laser Radials, and she's defending in Japan.

She's from a family immersed in many aspects of Irish sailing – her mother Cathy Mac Aleavey campaigned the Womens 470 in the Seoul Games in 1988. Yet in current Dun Laoghaire sailing, Cathy and husband Con Murphy, an International Race Officer, are currently best known as stalwarts of the Water Wag Class.

Thus as she's sailing alone, it is Annalise who will most acutely feel the high level of isolation in Japan, with her usually highly-supportive family forced to stay pandemic-separated on the other side of the world. But as this photo taken in the car on the way to the airport to send Annalise on her way to Japan a while back reveals, they're all determined to put a cheerful face on it.

Poignant moment. Cathy MacAleavey, Con Murphy and Annalise Murphy on their way to Dublin Airport and Annalise's departure alone for the Olympics

Our other hopes closest to home are Sean Waddilove of Skerries and Rob Dickson of Howth in the International 49er skiff. Sometimes known as the Fingal Flyers, they're a reminder that Fingal has had one of Ireland's fastest-growing populations for quite some time now, and with its long coastline and several sailing centres, eventually completely new talent was going to emerge, and that was what happened when Sean Waddilove came out of a Learn to Sail initiative at Skerries Sailing Club.

Rob Dickson by contrast is a cradle sailor from the Howth peninsula, and a grandson of the late great Roy Dickson, thus he and Sean call their Boat of the Moment "Cracklin' Rosie". Rob is well rooted in Sutton and Howth dinghy racing, with the occasional Lough Ree flavouring, so he and Sean – when set into the total Irish Olympic Sailing Squad for Enoshima with Annalise Murphy – provide a truly representative lineup of classic and modern Irish sailing.

Rob Dickson, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Sean Waddilove in Howth Yacht Club after Rob and Sean had won the 49er U23 Worlds in September 2018.

Olympic sailing has now become so highly specialised that, regardless of the diversity of boat backgrounds from which potential Irish Olympians might emerge, when it's one of the two-people boats involved it can be extremely difficult, in a small population like ours, to find a matching talent with the requisite enthusiasm and complete dedication.

This was the problem faced by Saskia Tidey of Dun Laoghaire after she and Andrea Brewster came 14th for Ireland in the 49erfx in 2016. Tidey was keen to go on towards Tokyo, but there was no-one available to match her total ambition in the small pool of Irish performance sailing. So she teamed up with Charlotte Dobson of Scotland and they'll be sailing for GB in Enoshima, and much and all as we'd prefer it if she was sailing for Ireland, it would be a very mean-spirited soul who didn't wish her well.

By the time the first three restored DB 21s are making their way into Dun Laoghaire next Friday evening, the Olympic picture will be clearer despite the intensifying heat haze in Japan, where the good news for sailors is that while the main venues in Tokyo are experiencing temperatures of 35 with a humidity count of 95, down the coast at Enoshima it's all a bit fresher, but nevertheless everyone now knows why the 1964 Summer games – which introduced the Olympics to Japan – were staged in October.

Walking the course……classics enthusiasts Guy Kilroy (left) and Hal Sisk testing the waters of Scotsman's Bay on Thursday of this week on board the former's 24ft 1896-built Boyd gaff sloop Marguerite, restored by Larry Archer. Photo: Ian Malcolm

Meanwhile, in Dublin Bay the re-born DB 21s are arriving in on Friday not to suit some global TV schedule, but because the time was right, the tide to bring them up from Arklow suited, and the good work can go on. For one of the trailers which was used to bring the finished boats from Kilrush returned to County Clare with the very tired hull of the DB21 Geraldine – for years associated with the Johnston family – in order for Restoration 4 to begin.

Although the more energetic clubs managed successful if very compressed programmes in the brief permitted sailing season of 2020, the pandemic shut-down was so all-encompassing for life in general that it’s taking quite some time to get a proper feeling that the programme for 2021 really has the potential to develop as the season makes on.

The fact that today we’re in the mild melancholy which comes on for the day or two after the Summer Solstice contributes to the mood, with some sailors peering muzzily out at the horizon like Rip van Winkle after his twenty years of sleep.

Garavogue in her heyday under her original rig in Dun Laoghaire Harbour sixty years ago. 

But their challenge of adjustment is as nothing compared to those whose ideal vision of a sailing boat is the Dublin Bay 21. This 1902 Alfred Mylne-designed class last raced out of Dun Laoghaire in August 1986. So when the first three newly-restored boats re-appear at the National Yacht Club on Friday July 30th, we’ll be thinking in terms of the Sleeping Beauty and her century of zizz, rather than Rip van Winkle and his afternoon nap of twenty years.

Naneen pre-restoration in Kilrush with (left to right) Fionan de Barra, Steve Morris, design consultant Paul Spooner, and Hal Sisk

Admittedly it’s “only” 35 years since they last raced, but it sometimes does seem like a hundred, and many people had resigned themselves to the permanent disappearance of the class. It is only thanks to Fionan de Barra keeping the faith with the major solution-finding input of Hal Sisk - allied to the remarkable skills of boatbuilder Steve Morris of Kilrush – that we can now admire Naneen and Garavogue already sailing in the Shannon Estuary, while their sister-ship Estelle – originally built by Hollwey of Ringsend in 1903 for Herbert Wright, who in 1929 became founding Commodore of the Irish Cruising Club – will soon also be afloat.

For their final decades, the Twenty-Ones were almost completely focused on the National Yacht Club, so at the moment – for who can say if any proposed date is a fixture these days - the date of Friday July 30th 2021 has been set for the Twenty-one Foot Class’s sleeping beauties Naneen, Garavogue and Estelle to be re-awakened at the National Yacht Club. It will only a need a kiss from the most appropriate neighbourhood prince, but there’s no word yet as to whether auditions are planned for that special role……

Naneen - Dun Laghaire-built in 1905 - demonstrates her timeless elegance on her maiden sail in restored form

The continuing restoration of the Dublin Bay 21 class of 1902, in the longterm project guided by Hal Sisk and Fionan de Barra of Dun Laoghaire, has seen the work of Master Shipwright Stephen Morris of Kilrush and his team (which includes several trainees) being celebrated in the latest annual round of Wood Awards Ireland.

Designed to encourage the increased and more imaginative use of wood in construction projects of all kinds, this special awards assessment process may seem to function in a low-key and specialist style. But in reality, it's a decidedly high-powered adjudication, as the panel is chaired by the State Architect Ciaran O'Connor, who is also the current President of the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland.

A daunting prospect – Naneen (built Dun Laoghaire/Kingstown in 1905) arrives pre-restoration in Kilrush 

Steve Morris: the results he has achieved with his team in restoring the Dublin Bay 21s has now received national recognition with the latest Wood Ireland Awards. Photo: W M Nixon

The other panel members include internationally-recognised Irish experts in several fields, a necessary lineup as the variety of structures of many types and sizes has involved a profound insight into the problems being faced, with the solutions expected to reflect the true nature and enormous potential of wood in all its forms.

In all, the Wood Awards Ireland adjudication is divided into seven categories, and while each provides a Winner, in most cases there are so many quality entrants that there are two additional prize levels – one Highly Commended, and sometimes several Commended.

The re-birth of Naneen is under way…….

…….with the hull built up with diagonal skins so thin that a temporary fabric layer was used to ease the removal of the staples.

The DB21's classic hull shape is now much in evidence, with the first strip of the second diagonal layer in place

The Dublin Bay 21 Project has received the High Commended Award in the Restoration-Conservation Category, where the winner was the extremely detailed and historically very correct restoration of the roof of the Great Keep in the 12th Century Norman Castle at Carrickfergus on the shores of Belfast Lough. By contrast, the Dublin Bay 21s' project has used modern wood engineering techniques, and the judges remark:

"Central to the project has been the combination of the traditional skill of the shipwright and the application of the latest technical knowledge in timber conservation and innovative wooden boat construction.

The result clearly illustrates the effectiveness of wood as a structure and as a lightweight skin, capable of withstanding the toughest of marine environments.

The innovative uses of laminated beams and frames and epoxy resin have combined to create a stiff, watertight, low maintenance monocoque hull, without nails or screws, which allows the use of durable two-pack polyurethane finishes. The species used include iroko, yellow cedar, Douglas fir, African mahogany and Sitka spruce, as well as salvaged pitch pine and greenheart".

A masterpiece – the finished interior of Naneen. Photo: W M NixonThe work continues – the restored Garavogue's final topside finish is in very unforgiving black, yet it shows no blemishes. 

Garavogue on her first launching day in Portrush, 1903. Original owner W.Richardson is believed to be second-left, while it's thought that builder James Kelly is at the rudder. Photo courtesy Robin Ruddock

The initial phase of the DB21 project will see four of the original boats restored, and while the first one, Naneen (built James Clancy of Kingstown 1905) was sailing by December 2019, the second – Garavogue (built James Kelly of Portrush 1903) - was unable to be sailed until August 2020, owing to the pandemic-truncated season, but as with Naneen, she sailed like a dream.

For people usually focused on wood as a boat-building material, this linking of the Dublin Bay 21 project to the Wood Awards Ireland programme has given a refreshing insight into other often remarkable applications of timber. Thus the overall winner is something quite mind-blowing, as it's the enormous new €233 million Center Parcs Ireland complex hidden away in the forest near Ballymahon beside Lough Ree in County Longford.

Wood has been used throughout in the construction, with some extraordinary and stylish feats of timber engineering being achieved. And for those of us who like a bit of connectivity and coincidence in all our stories, it's entertaining to note that the main contractors in this major project are John Sisk & Son (Holdings) Ltd,

It's also worth noting that Hal Sisk's first truly international standard classic yacht restoration was the re-birth in 2005 of the 36ft cutter Peggy Bawn, superbly restored by Michael Kennedy and a talented group in Dunmore East to the original designs by G L Watson, which had first seen the light of day in 1894 on Belfast Lough in John Hilditch's boatyard, which was just across the harbour facing the mighty walls of – you've guessed it – Carrickfergus Castle.

Hal Sisk aboard the newly-restored Peggy Bawn in Dublin Bay in 2005, when you might still see the Jeannie Johnston out sailing. Photo: W M Nixon

Carrickfergus Harbour in the 1920s, with the sheds of John Hilditch's boatyard (centre) still in the northwest corner, though he had died in 1913. The recent restoration project on the roof of the Great Keep in the 12th Century Norman Castle (right) took the main award in the Restoration/Renovation Category in the latest Wood Awards Ireland.

All the latest news on the Dublin Bay 21 project in this handy link here

In times of stress like this, there is nowhere more soothing than a well-organised but not unduly fussy timber workshop where each day's harmonious effort shows a tangible result. And of all such workshops, there's nowhere so healthily absorbing – both mentally and physically - than a place where they build wooden boats. For not only is something of beauty being created in time-honoured style in a material for which we feel an instinctive affinity, but at the end of it all you have a work of practical art in which it is possible to sail away, and for a little while at least, escape the tedious everyday concerns of shore life.

That said, it is a fact that in Ireland the best of our classic classes continue to thrive, and have new boats built, not only because the owners are enthusiastic appreciators of ancient style, but because the boats provide excellent one-design racing. The importance of good and demonstrably fair sport should never be under-estimated, and thus at various stages of the building, the normal mood of calm creation is interrupted by the scheduled visit of the class measurer.

Happily, things are now at such a steady throughput of production that the Visit Of The Measurer is a social occasion of ceremony and well-formatted routine rather than a nightmare, as the secret is to have the measurer involved from a very early stage, which is easily achieved in a country the size of Ireland. 

Just inhale gently but steadily – the sweet interior of a new-built classic wooden hull at its best with Shindilla in Athlone. Photo: Cathy Mac Aleavey

Thus there are several timber boatbuilding or restoration projects underway at the moment, and while there are some we'll be looking at in due course, today it is intriguing to draw comparisons between jobs under way in Athlone, Howth and Kilrush.

Along the Shannon above Athlone, we recently lost one of Ireland's greatest-ever boatbuilders with the death at the age of 94 of Jimmy Furey of Mount Plunkett near Leecarrow in Roscommon. Busy to the end, in his later days he worked with several boatbuilding development projects with former Olympic sailor and round Ireland record-holder Cathy Mac Aleavey, together with another of those seemingly born-to-it boatbuilders who emerge in the Athlone region, Dougal McMahon.

Working with Jimmy, a project had been coming along to build a replacement for the well-worn Dublin Bay Water Wag Shindilla, a 1932 veteran originally built for Ninian Falkiner who was later a noted offshore cruiser and Commodore of the Royal Irish YC, while Shindilla stayed within the extended family as his daughter married into the Collen family, and it is the Collens who have ensured that Shindilla lives anew. The work has been completed in a shed provided by Dougal's father in Athlone, who may have been an engineering bridge-builder by profession, but he's no slouch at the wooden boatbuilding himself.

The 1963 Tyrrell-built Harklow is Dougal McMahon's current restoration project

With Shindilla completed, Dougal, is spending the rest of the winter on a restoration job in a bigger shed in Portumna on the classic Shannon cruiser Harklow, originally built by Jack Tyrrell of Arklow for sailing legend Douglas Heard (he won the first Helmsman's Championship in 1946) and now owned by Half Ton Racing ace Johnny Swann.

HOWTH 17 BUILDING

Johnny grew up in Howth, and just round the corner from his family home, recently-retired airline captain Gerry Comerford is building what looks like being the strongest Howth 17 ever constructed, the completely new Anna, which is named for his mother. With laminated backbone and frames, and king-size stainless steel floors make up by a steel-working genius in Clontarf, you might well be concerned that Anna will come out over-weight, but this doesn't seem to be a bother among Howth 17 folk.

The latest Howth 17 Anna is currently under construction by owner Gerry Comerford at his home in Howth

For they well remember that many years ago when all the local cruisers had to be weighed to comply with Channel Handicap Measurement requirements, the Howth 17s got hold of the load cell for a day or two to weigh their own boats at launching time. They found that despite the mostly very old boats being only 22ft 6ns LOA (they go back to 1898), there was a half-ton range in their measured weights. Yet, to everyone's surprise, it was the class's most renowned light airs flyer which was the heaviest boat of all…

Singing from the same hymn sheet – Howth 17 measurer Rupert Jeffares with new owner-builder Gerry Comerford and Anna. Photo: Ian Malcolm

Regardless of weight, Anna will certainly have the correct dimensions, as class measurer Ruper Jeffares – for many years the Executive Secretary of Howth Yacht Club – lives close, just down the hill, and dropping by Gerry's house to see how Anna is coming along is always of interest, for in their long existence, only two other Howth 17s have ever actually been built in Howth, and that was way back in 1988.

At an early stage, it was abundantly evident that Anna was going to be built extra-strong. Photo: Ian Malcolm 

Thus although the building of Anna has been going on for four years, now that Gerry has retired from the day job he'd better get a move on. For as soon as the lockdown eases, current Howth 17 National Champion Shane O'Doherty (he won it in August with the 1900-vintage Pauline) will resume his popular guided Hill of Howth Hiking Tours, and "Traditional Boat-building with Gerry and Anna" could easily become a must-see stopover on the way over the hill, but a formidable distraction from Work in Progress….

DUBLIN BAY 21s BORN AGAIN IN KILRUSH

Meanwhile, across country in Kilrush on the Shannon Estuary, Steve Morris and his team - having launched the newly-built electrified Galway Bay gleoiteog Naomh Fanchea last week – have now returned to full focus on the latest pair of re-born Dublin Bay 21s, Maureen and Estelle, for the DB21 project by Hal Sisk and Fionan de Barra.

With boatbuilders of the enormous experience of Steve himself, together with Dan Mill and James Madigan (who is of Kilrush, but was much involved with the Ilen project in Limerick) the actual building has an educational element, and apprentice Kate Griffiths was working and learning today (Tuesday) with Dan on Maureen, battening off the new hull prior to laminating the light timbers (two per bay) between the main frames, while nearby James was fairing out Estelle's new deck, which is of laminated Douglas fir beams and carlins.

The 1903 Dublin Bay 21 Maureen continues to re-emerge in Kilrush with apprentice boatbuilder Kate Griffiths (behind boat) and master shipwright Dan Mill. Photo: Steve Morris

For sure, there are modern epoxies and other chemicals involved in this form of boatbuilding, just as there is with Anna across in Howth and also – though to a very much lesser extent - with Shindilla in Athlone. But nevertheless, in all cases, the abiding impression of the dominant material in use is wood, glorious wood. 

James Madigan at work n the new deck on the DB21 Estelle. Photo: Steve Morris