Sailing enthusiasts around Lough Erne in County Fermanagh have a proud record of restoring old boats as well as building new craft in traditional designs.

Some years ago, the late Fred Ternan set up a small organisation called Lough Erne Heritage, whose aims were to promote and preserve the story of boat use on Lough Erne. One of the first dinghies that Fred restored was a Snipe dinghy called Ranger, which he found with another called Teal in the old boat shed at Crom Castle on Upper Lough Erne in County Fermanagh. Johnny Madden of Clones owned both in Co Monaghan, whose family were instrumental in Snipe sailing on Lough Erne in the 1950s and 1960s.

Another one of the original Snipes, Valkyria, had been stored in Enniskillen, the county town of Fermanagh; evidence that boats from Belfast Lough ended up in Lough Erne, as she had been owned by an E Cowan of Holywood and Ranger was from Carrickfergus. Snipes were present on Belfast Lough, Strangford Lough, and bizarrely on tiny Lough Eskragh near Dungannon.

Snipe dinghies at Crom Photo: courtesy Johnny Madden

Johnny Lucas-Clements had owned Valkyria, and now his daughter, Sarah Royle is offering it at no cost for restoration. It has been undercover, and the sails are stored indoors. She has told me that at the relaunch of Ranger in 2021, “Fred said he would also like to restore my father’s Snipe but sadly passed away before he could do that.

Ballyholme Yacht Club Regatta 1949 with Snipe Valkyria listed as an entry on the regatta programme

Currently, the Snipe is still in a shed doing nothing, and ideally, I would like to find a new owner who would be prepared to restore it and sail it again.” She continued, “I just want Valkyria to go to a good home and for someone to enjoy sailing it. I have spoken to Johnny Madden, and he has told me the Snipe was built by George Jointer in the 1930s and in 1954, the Maddens, Lucas Clements and some others acquired them and sailed them on Lough Erne”.

Anyone interested can contact Sarah by email at blakeleyfarm@gmail,com

For a very long time, the Snipe class Dinghy Ranger languished in the Boathouse at Crom Castle on Upper Lough Erne, but after lengthy restoration by Fred and George Ternan, Ranger has been afloat twice recently and last weekend (18th September) at the Lough Erne Heritage Festival, she created a stir on display in the grounds of Enniskillen Castle.

The festival celebrated various heritage skills, local talents, and heritage projects, including Willow Weaving, Rush craft and Rope making, Thatching and Blacksmithing, and there were Rowing tours on the Erne and Historical tours of the Castle.

Fred Ternan was there to show off Ranger and discuss all things maritime heritage, and he gave a dedicated talk on the Snipe's restoration.

From left to right: Joy and Colin Honeyford from Bangor with Brian Osborne and Fred Ternan Photo: Andrew Paton

There were about 1000 people who visited the festival, and many took photos of Ranger and its display sparked much conversation and tales of sailing on Lough Erne in the past. Brian Osborne from Lough Erne Heritage (It aims to encourage local heritage research about Lough Erne, its traditional boats and the people who built and used them), says that "The future for classic sailing certainly appears to be bright. We had our fair share of interested parties of all ages. Our restored Snipe provided a fitting backdrop for dozens of people eager for a memorable photograph. If the level of interest shown is anything to go by, then classic dinghy sailing on Lough Erne has a positive future".

Ranger displaying its original club, LEYC (Lough Erne Yacht Club) the original club based at Crom

Among those visiting were Joy and Colin Honeyford from Bangor, who has a boat on Lough Erne. They had a beautiful day for a visit; " Of special interest to us was our chat with Fred Ternan, who explained in great detail how he and his brother George carefully restored a 1941 Snipe dinghy which was on display at their stand. They've done a superb job! And it was also great to see that so many traditional skills such as basket weaving, lace making, saddlery and many others are still practised".

In late August, the Snipe dinghy Ranger, restored by Fred and George Ternan after sixty years lying abandoned on the Crom Estate, County Fermanagh, had her second outing on Upper Lough Erne at Crom.

Ranger was one of two Snipes found by Fred in the boathouse at Crom Castle and was restored over the last year. The other was Teal, and it is known that a third, Valkyria, is stored near Enniskillen.

Heading off in very calm conditions from the Visitor Centre slipway at Crom were Rob and Alice Armstrong from Bangor, later to be joined by Sarah Royle from County Cavan. Sarah confessed she hadn't sailed since she was ten; " Valkyria was owned by my father, Johnny Lucas -Clements, and when I was a young child, I used to sail with him at Crom on Sunday afternoons. That was back in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and we always sailed from the boathouse. I enjoyed sailing at Crom back then. I was very grateful to be asked by Johnny Madden to attend the relaunch of Ranger in early August and then by Fred to sail in Ranger last Sunday. It brought back many happy memories for me."

Ranger approaching Trial Bay on Upper Lough Erne

Both Ranger and Valkyria came from Belfast Lough, where they regularly sailed for years. They formed part of a fleet of Snipes acquired by Major Madden of Clones, who was instrumental in establishing the class in Lough Erne. He introduced Teal about 1953, and his son Johnny Madden has much detail about the Snipe class at his fingertips.

The whole story of Snipe sailing in Northern Ireland can be found here