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Displaying items by tag: Féile an Spidéil

Currachs and Galway hookers will take to the water off An Spidéil, Co Galway, on Sunday, June 11th for Féile an Spidéil.

Kerry, Clare and Donegal teams have travelled to the event in past years to join crews from across Connemara and Galway city.

Racing will take place across six categories from 12 noon, weather permitting.

The first race is the senior men’s, and this will be followed by the senior women’s contest, with three oarspeople in each craft from a number of clubs.

Under-18s will have their opportunity to compete, and mixed crew will then compete against each other.

The final racing involves naomhógs in the Craobh na hÉireann event.

The contest between Galway hookers, involving the “ báid mhóra” and “leath bháid” classes, will take place from 3 pm.

The event is weather dependent – last year, two separate dates for Féile an Spidéil had to be postponed and then cancelled, due to adverse forecasts.

Published in Galway Hookers

The Dragon was designed by Johan Anker in 1929 as an entry for a competition run by the Royal Yacht Club of Gothenburg, to find a small keel-boat that could be used for simple weekend cruising among the islands and fjords of the Scandinavian seaboard. The original design had two berths and was ideally suited for cruising in his home waters of Norway. The boat quickly attracted owners and within ten years it had spread all over Europe.

The Dragon's long keel and elegant metre-boat lines remain unchanged, but today Dragons are constructed using the latest technology to make the boat durable and easy to maintain. GRP is the most popular material, but both new and old wooden boats regularly win major competitions while looking as beautiful as any craft afloat. Exotic materials are banned throughout the boat, and strict rules are applied to all areas of construction to avoid sacrificing value for a fractional increase in speed.

The key to the Dragon's enduring appeal lies in the careful development of its rig. Its well-balanced sail plan makes boat handling easy for lightweights, while a controlled process of development has produced one of the most flexible and controllable rigs of any racing boat.