A €2.3 million marina on Lough Derg that was the subject of a planning battle earlier this year is now open for business, Afloat.ie has learned.

Derg Marina across from Killaloe is the first Ronautica-built marina in Ireland and was developed by Gary McNamara, son of Dolores McNamara who scooped €115 million in the EuroMillions lottery in 2005.

According to The Irish Times, the site — which had been a “little-used” marina — was purchased four years ago for €1.7 million, well ahead of the €550,000 guide price.

Previously the 250-berth marina, with half a kilometre of water frontage, had sold for €8 million in 2006 — but fell into disrepair in the intervening years.

Progress on the redeveloped site had been held up over a planning objection by local resident Clare Quinn, as The Irish Sun reported this past April.

But An Bord Pleanála refused Ms Quinn leave to appeal as she had not shown the approved scheme would differ materially from what was set out in the application for planning permission.

The new Derg Marina has been welcomed by the local Marine Village Residents’ Association, and Afloat.ie understands interest in the new facility among boaters across the Shannon region is high.

“It looks very smart and a big step up for the inland scene,” one boater told Afloat.ie.

#Rescue - A lone sailor whose yacht ran aground on Scariff Bay over the weekend had difficulties again just hours after his rescue.

As previously reported on Afloat.ie, Lough Derg  RNLI launched its lifeboat on Saturday evening (14 April) to assist the 30ft yacht after it had left its mooring at Mountshannon Harbour.

The Killaloe unit of the Irish Coast Guard was also on scene, helping to remove the yacht from a sandy bank and returning it to Mountshannon.

But the evening did not end there, as BreakingNews.ie reports, as the same yacht required coastguard assistance just a few hours later.

It emerged that the sailor was attempting to tie up his vessel at an anchor point in deeper water when it grounded in the shallows once more, and the coastguard was alerted by a concerned onlooker around 11.30pm.

The yacht was once again towed to Mountshannon Harbour and the coastguard unit returned to base at 1.30am.

#Missing - A Dublin-based man was set to be charged with the murder of his wife, who went missing from a Mediterranean cruise earlier this month.

Daniel Belling, a German citizen and IT professional, was detained this week before boarding a flight from Rome to Dublin, as The Irish Times reports.

The arrest came after the crew of the cruise liner MSC Magnifica discovered that Belling’s wife Li Yinglei did not disembark the vessel with him and their two children at Civitavecchia after a 10-day cruise.

Belling was reportedly being held at Rome’s Regina Coeli prison ahead of formal charges today (Friday 24 February).

In other news, a post-mortem was set to take place today on the body of a man taken from a canal on the River Shannon at Killaloe yesterday.

BreakingNews.ie reports that the man in his 60s was recovered by the local Irish Coast Guard unit after he was seen by a passer-by in the water at Killaloe Bridge.

#Coastguard - Two people on board a 30ft cruiser were rescued by the Irish Coast Guard's Killaloe unit yesterday evening (Monday 23 May), as the Irish Examiner reports.

The coastguard team towed the boat into deeper water after it ran aground on Lough Derg before 6pm - and an ROV was used to confirm there was no damage to the underside of the vessel.

You might imagine that an event with over forty knots of wind recorded on the racecourse and with only nine Fireballs entered would be a disaster writes Frank Miller. In fact you would be wrong.

The Irish Fireball Open event hosted by Killaloe SC at the UL Activity Centre on Lough Derg was memorable for all the right reasons. From the moment we arrived in the beautiful village of Killaloe a sense of holiday and fun pervaded. Boats were rigged at the activity centre in near calm while a young swan paraded nearby and mallards flew overhead. The venue for activity then switched to Goosers pub where really excellent food was had, washed down by a few pints. Stragglers left by the back door at about 1am, several heading for John Bolger's home where he hosted wayward Fireballers. John, of whom more later, surely went above and beyond the call of duty by evicting wife and child for the weekend to provide more room for waifs and strays.

Saturday saw the dawn of a beautiful but blustery day. From our perch in John's surrendered bedroom we watched as everything in sight flattened in gusts. Undaunted the fleet gathered it's sandwiches and drinks and headed for the venue. The official forecast for the lake gave a force 4-6 with gale gusts but PRO Geoff O'Donoghue cautioned that with the wind direction there would be some funnelling and gusts could be higher. The fleet took to the water, launching between squalls. The squalls were now coming through with monotonous regularity, about ten minutes apart, almost like clockwork. A dragging boat anchor and ground tackle made setting the course difficult and the start was delayed for over an hour as crews screamed around the lake trying to get used to quite odd conditions. If you set up for the squalls you were a bit underpowered in the lulls but there were no settings available for the extremes of the windiest squalls.

Finally the race course was set and a start sequence initiated. About two minutes before the start gun however almost the entire fleet was flattened by a gust. The postponed flag was raised while crews recovered their dignity. A few minutes later and the fleet finally got away cleanly from the line. We reached the windward mark as a bunch, water being given without complaint in the extreme conditions, safety now being as significant a factor as the RRS. Looking over their shoulder at another black squall approaching at least one boat kept sailing on for shore. Those of us who rode the 30 knot plus squall downwind had the ride of our lives, mainly under two sails though at least one boat carried a kite. Regardless of the sail-plan there was absolutely no prospect of gybing, tacking or changing course in any way during this squall. Happily there was plenty of lake and everyone rode the squall downwind well past the gybe mark, towards the village. Only when the pressure dropped for a minute did anyone attempt a tack. Almost everyone capsized. Those who recovered quickly continued to race, others more winded headed for shore.
When the spray finally settled three boats had remained upright long enough to complete the course. Noel Butler and Stephen Oram won the race, having clawed back the lead from Gavin Doyle and Dave Sweeney who were second. Third place went to John Bolger and his crew Serguei Belochapkine, a fantastic result for the local team who normally sail in the silver fleet. With conditions showing signs of increasing rather than abating the PRO called it a day. Thus the one-day Open event came to an end with that one race determining the result. While Noel Butler and Stephen Oram carried away the main prize hero of the day was surely event organiser John Bolger with Serguei winning not just third place overall but the silver fleet and also the classic trophy.
That evening the fleet gathered at the Cherry Tree restaurant, availed of it's great early bird menu, and then repaired to Flanagan's for a glass. When a local band arrived to set up there were groans but we were wrong. The band proved brilliant, especially it's female lead singer, and led by dance queen Marie Barry the fleet took to the floor until well past midnight.

The following day conditions had not changed enough to go ahead with the mixed fleet Killaloe SC Spring Challenge so we packed up exhausted but definitely happy with as good a weekend as you could possibly have with so little sailing. Thanks are due to all at Killaloe SC for their terrific welcome, to race officer Geoff O'Donoghue and his team, augmented by visiting Fireballer Dave Coleman, to KSC's Jim Ryan, Suzie Coote and all the other club volunteers who stretched the resources of their small club to make this event happen against all the odds.

Fógra – the next Irish Fireball event is our Ulster Championships at Killowen (north side of Carlingford Lough) 15th & 16th June. It has always proved a brilliant venue with a great welcome, free camping and use of loos and showers on site so a very affordable weekend with great racing.

Please get the credit card out also and enter the Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta July 11-14th. While it doesn't count towards the Fireball Travellers Series it is a great event with four days of solid racing. Be there or be square.

#LOUGH DERG - RTÉ News reports that the body of a man in his 40s was recovered from Lough Derg on Friday night.

As previously reported on Afloat.ie, the Lough Derg RNLI lifeboat was launched to investigate an upturned speedboat in Youghal Bay near Garrykennedy on Thursday evening.

The 20ft vessel was said to have extensive damage to the outdrive and propellers, consistent with damage sustained while running.

The Killaloe unit of the Irish Coast Guard immediately launched a search and rescue operation in the area for any mossing persons, assisted by the Shannon coastguard helicopter.

There was no reports on shore of anyone overdue, and as of Friday attempts were ongoing to find out who might own the boat and who was on board at the time of the incident.

Divers with the Killaloe Search and Rescue Unit found the body some 30m from the boat and recovered it around 8pm on Friday. A post-mortem was scheduled to be carried out yesterday at Mid-Western Regional Hospital in Limerick.

#FIREBALL– Nineteen Fireballs made the trip to Killaloe for the season opening Munster Championships of the 2012 Irish Fireball regatta season. As one of the few locations outside the greater Dublin area to have a resident Fireball fleet, the venue has been a permanent fixture on the Fireball circuit for quite some time. In addition to their easy access to the racing area, the host Fireballers always make their visitors very welcome and the attraction of the area with its scenery and the immediacy of Killaloe and its eating and drinking locations normally means there is a good turn-out.

This year, in an effort to promote the older Fireballs, the Munsters were chosen to host a Classic Fireball Regatta. In the rules for the event, a Classic was deemed to be a boat with a sail number lower than 14600. Four of these appeared with Neil Colin & Margaret Casey foregoing their Winder to add to the numbers.

On Saturday, four races were sailed in dull misty conditions with winds around the 8 – 10kts range. It had started slightly breezier but dropped off as the day wore on. This introduced some significant shifts.

Noel Butler & Stephen Oram dominated Day 1 winning the first three races while behind them the other podium places were being shared out between Barry McCartin & Finbar Bradley, Neil Spain & Hugh Butler, Louis Smyth & Joe O'Reilly and Niall McGrotty & Neil Kramer. McCartin/Bradley took the fourth win of the day, followed home by Spain/Butler with Andy Boyle & Barry Hurley pushing Butler/Oram into an uncharacteristic 4th.

Thus after a four race programme, the overnight situation was as follows;

1st Noel Butler & Stephen Oram 3pts

2nd Barry McCartin & Finbarr Bradley 6pts

3rd Neil Spain & Hugh Butler 8pts

In the Classic Challenge, Neil Colin & Margaret Casey were comfortably ahead of Jim Ryan & David Tanner, while Cariosa Power and Marie Barry were in control of the Silver fleet.

On Day 2, the wind had eased off again with marginal trapezing being the order of the day. McCartin/Bradley continued where they had left off the evening before by taking Race 5, followed by Colin/Casey and Spain/Butler. Regatta leaders Butler/Oram slumped to a seventh, most unusual territory for them in an Irish context! However, in Race 6, order was restored when Butler/Oram won comfortably from McCartin/Bradley, Spain/Butler, McGrotty/Kramer & Laverty/Butler. This left a finishing order of;

1st Noel Butler Stephen Oram 15061 Dun Laoghaire Motor Yacht Club 8pts

2nd Barry McCartin Finbar Bradley 14820 University College Dublin SC 9pts

3rd Neil Spain Hugh Butler 150** Howth Yacht Club 14pts

4th Niall McGrotty Neil Kramer 14938 Skerries Sailing Club 23pts

5th Louis Smyth Joe O'Reilly 15007 Coal Harbour 26pts

Classic Neil Colin Margaret Casey 14330 Dun Laoghaire Motor Yacht Club 40pts

Silver Cariosa Power Marie Barry 14854 Dun Laoghaire Motor Yacht Club 51pts

Class Chairman Neil Colin, in his report to this correspondent advised that the event was a great success and was run very well. In particular, he noted that Race Officer, Geoff O'Donoghue, from neighbouring club, Lough Derg Yacht Club, ran an exceptional regatta with races started promptly and all under the regime of the "Blue Peter".

Three boats from Killaloe contested the regatta while the event also saw Michael Murphy from Waterford contest the event with his UL-based crew Alex Voye make their seasonal debut.

Discover Killaloe and Ballina takes place on Sunday 29th April from 1-6pm as locals and visitors alike are encouraged to come along and enjoy an afternoon of free activities with fun for all the family.

As previously reported on Afloat.ie the events include free 'Come and Try It' sessions for kayaking, sailing, powerboating, angling and arts; historic town walking tours, boats trips, tours of the Cathedral, community garden and self-catering accommodation. The market will be selling their produce Between the Waters and artisans their crafts in the Cathedral. Many hospitality and retail outlets will also have special promotions running. The Discover Killaloe & Ballina brochure is available throughout the town and online at discover.ireland.ie/lakelands. Events are being co-ordinated locally via a steering group formed from representatives of local businesses and chaired by local business owner Doug Hyde.

Organised by Waterways Ireland, Fáilte Ireland, Shannon Development, North Tipp and Clare County Councils, the open day will provide an opportunity to raise awareness of the tourism assets of the Killaloe & Ballina region.

The Discover Killaloe & Ballina initiative is part of a broader campaign to develop and promote Ireland's Lakelands and Inland Waterways which aims to significantly boost visitor numbers to the Lakeland regions over the next three years.

Minister Alan Kelly TD at the launch of the Discover stated 'I'm delighted to launch this 'Discover Ballina/Killaloe' event and to see it come to fruition. The Ballina-Killaloe area is a hidden secret and I'm delighted Fáilte Ireland working with Waterways Ireland have chosen to recognise its great tourism potential and I only see that growing into the future. I want to recognise the efforts of all the local tourism and hospitality operators as well as the broader community of Ballina/Killaloe for their support for this and other initiatives that will go a long way to promoting the area and supporting local job creation'.

According to Éanna Rowe, Director of Marketing and Communications at Waterways Ireland– "Discover Killaloe & Ballina will highlight to locals and tourists the incredible diversity and quality of attractions, activities and entertainments in this area. It will enhance the capacity of everyone to promote Killaloe & Ballina nationally and internationally and is expected to have an impact on tourist numbers and the local economy."

Fiona Monaghan, Fáilte Ireland, said – "This is a great opportunity for the communities of Killaloe & Ballina to showcase the variety of tourism & hospitality experiences in their community, which we hope will encourage everyone to act as ambassadors for Killaloe/Ballina and Lough Derg for both domestic & international visitors. They may even consider inviting friends to join them for the weekend to sample the delights of Killaloe & Ballina and its environs. This celebration is a great example of community spirit and collaboration and I would like to commend the communities for their support & commitment. Ireland's Lakelands and Inland Waterways can provide unique experiences for everyone. The natural environment provides excellent opportunities to participate in a huge range of sightseeing, cultural and outdoor activities."

This year a Discover Killaloe & Ballina Colouring Competition is running in the lead up to the event inviting all local school children to discover their very own Killaloe & Ballina. The closing date for entries is 19th April. All entries will be on display in St Anne community College in Killaloe on 29th April from 1-5 pm.

Doug Hyde Chairman of Discover Killaloe & Ballina welcomed the event Also speaking at the event, said "this is a great initiative for Killaloe & Ballina and Counties Clare and North Tipperary as it gives a wonderful opportunity for people to realize the wealth of activity that is on offer for visitors and residents. We have a great product in and around Killaloe & Ballina and we need to show others what a brilliant place it is to stay in."

Shannon Boat Builder Jimmy Furey will be a special guest at the Dromineer Literary Festival at the end of the month. The appearance conicides with a screening of David Shaw-Smith's landmark documentary series
'Hands' featuring the Shannon-one-Design Boatbuilder.

The eighth annual Dromineer Literary Festival will take place from Thursday September 29 to Sunday October 2 at Lough Derg Yacht Club in Dromineer village.

At 8pm, Thursday night September 29, Dermot Healy, Kerry Hardie and Catherine Phil McCarthy will give a poetry reading at 8pm, Lough Derg Yacht Club, and on Saturday night, October 1, The Poetry Divas will perform at The Whiskey Still pub in the village.

The Meet the Authors event attracts huge audiences each year, and we are delighted that Jennifer Johnston and John MacKenna will be reading and in discussion on Saturday night, October 1, at 8pm at Lough Derg Yacht Club. We encourage our audience to read these authors to increase their enjoyment of the event.

A performance presented by the renowned Nenagh Players to close the weekend is of CS Lewis' A Grief Observed. This one man show, adapted and performed by Ronan Dodd, will take place from 8pm, Sunday night, October 2. A Grief Observed was written by Lewis after the death of his wife, Joy Gresham, from cancer in 1960.

The Sunday afternoon event afloat aboard the passenger vessel The Spirit of Killaloe, is entitled The Living Lake. Scientists Rick Boelens and Dan Minchin will give a talk on the hidden depths of Lough Derg; its biodiversity and environmental heritage. Places are strictly limited, to ensure a place, please contact Eleanor at emhooker@ eircom.net

This year, for the first time, the festival will feature film. A Short Movie written and directed by George Hooker, and produced by Sorcha MacKenna, students at DIT, will be premiered at 3pm on Saturday afternoon October 1 at Lough Derg Yacht Club. Filmed on location in Dromineer in June 2010, the short movie stars Nenagh Players actors, the late Stephen Toohey (with the kind blessings of his family), Niamh Hogan and Olly Griffin. All welcome. Admission is free.

Also on Saturday October 1, David Shaw-Smith will give a talk on his landmark documentary series 'Hands' Boatbuilder with Shannon-one-Design Boatbuilder Jimmy Furey attending as our special guest. Other films in the Hands series will be screened at Neddy's Cottage in the village, thoughout the weekend.

Committee is pleased to announce the 2011 festival programme.  Highlights include authors Jennifer Johnston, Dermot Healy, John MacKenna, and Vincent McDonnell, Poets Kerrie Hardie, Catherine Phil McCarthy and The Poetry Divas, a Short Movie by young filmmakers from Dublin Institute of Technology and more.

POETRY READINGS
Thursday 29 September, 8pm Lough Derg Yacht Club (Adm - €5)
– Dromineer Festival Poetry with Dermot Healy, Kerrie Hardie and Catherine Phil McCarthy
Saturday 1 October, The Whiskey Still, Dromineer Village
– 10.30pm The Poetry Divas will perform their poetry in The Whiskey Still pub

OFFICIAL OPENING
Friday 30 September, 7.30pm, Lough Derg Yacht Club
– Offical Opening with Dr. Ed Walsh.
– Competition Results & Readings

MEET THE AUTHORS
Saturday 1 October, 8-10pm, Lough Derg Yacht Club
– Meet the Authors with Jennifer Johnston and John MacKenna (Adm €12/€10)
–
FILM -SCREENINGS
Saturday 1 October, Lough Derg Yacht Club
– 3-4pm Short Film Premiere by Media Arts Students, DIT, Dublin.  Written & Directed by George Hooker. Directed by Sorcha MacKenna (Free Adm)
– 4-5.30pm Hands Boatbuilder.  Talk by David Shaw-Smith, followed by screening of his landmark documentary.  Special guest Jimmy Furey. (Adm - €5)

AFLOAT ON LOUGH DERG
Sunday 2 October, Sunday Afternoon Afloat
– The Living Lake, a talk by scientists Rick Boelens & Dan Minchin aboard The Spirit of Killaloe (Adm €12/€10)

DRAMA - Festival Finale
Sunday 2 October, 8pm, Lough Derg Yacht Club,
– The Nenagh Players present Ronan Dodd 'A Grief Observed'

Killaloe Coast Guard Unit was tasked  to a 60' barge that was sinking at its mooring on Lough Derg on the inland waterways this afternoon. The Killaloe Coast Guard Unit dispatched two vehicles with crew and salvage pubs by road and the rescue boat "Dalton" was sent to place anti-pollution booms.

According to the Coastguard after many hours it was obvious that even with four pumps and a slurry tank the barge had sat on the bottom listing to starboard. A second slurry tank and the fire and rescue service from Nenagh also assisted.