The St Ayles skiff Ealu, new-built by Seol Sionna in Kilrush, has been entered for this year's edition of the vast and deservedly legendary Semaine du Golfe for traditional and classic boats at the Morbihan in Southern Brittany from May 15th to 21st 2023. And in so doing, the Sailors of the Shannon have revealed that when the Dublin Bay Water Wags attended in strength in France at the previous event in 2019, they didn't go unnoticed despite the huge size of the fleet. On the contrary, the unmistakable clinker-built hulls of five Water Wags in all their varnished glory feature prominently in the event banner at the head of the Morbihan event's promotional material
Morbihan promotion via Dun Laoghaire. Beyond the blue hull, there are five immaculate Dublin Bay Water Wags as seen at La Semaine du Golfe in Southern Brittany in 2019
STEVE MORRIS OF KILRUSH BOATYARD fills us in on the background and gives additional welcome news of the Shannon cutter Sally O'Keeffe:
"Éalú is entered into this year's Breton festival on the Morbihan, at present 10 Seol Sionna members will be travelling with her in mid-May, but that number may grow.
Yesterday, Saturday, February 25th February, we also started training for this year's Ocean to City race/rally at Cork in June with a lively row around Kilkee Bay, and weather permitting, we will be bringing Ealu to various spots on the Clare coast to continue our preparation for that event.
Our 25ft traditional cutter Sally O'Keeffe's mast is on the trestles for varnishing, and the other spars were beautifully varnished late last year by Max and Erwan from Skol ar Mor in Brittany while they were on three weeks of work experience with me in Kilrush - we hope to link up with them at the Golf de Morbihan event in May.
Although "only" 25ft in overall hull length, the Myles Stapleton-designed Shannon cutter Sally O'Keeffe - community-built at Querrin near Kilrush - is versatile and roomy
Tentative plans were being discussed to attend this year's WIORA Championship in the Aran Islands from 5th to 8th July with Sally O Keeffe, as last year's event based out of Kilrush was thoroughly enjoyed by all the Sallys. Our usual crew training course based around Sally O Keeffe will of course, also go ahead this year.
Meanwhile, the skiff is wonderful at sea. Kilkee was lively on Saturday, but with six on board, we managed to easily row out to the mouth of the bay, yet there was barely a cupful of spray in the bilges when we got her back on the handy trailer after a two-hour session, a real endorsement of her Nordic design heritage and the concept refinements of Ian Oughtred and Alec Jordan".
Steve's mention of Skol ar Mor is a reminder that this Breton boat-building school, having created the new Howth 17 Footer Orla in 2018, has many other links with Ireland. And that in turn, reminds us that when the Howth 17s attended the Semaine du Golfe in 2015, they frequently found themselves in close proximity with the Eric Tabarly 43ft gaff cutter Pen Duick, a Fife design built at Carrigaloe on Cork Harbour in 1898.
Pen Duick in the Morbihan with Howth 17s - the combined age of the boats in the photo must be nearly 500 years
