Fourteen Water Wags completed a nine-race end-of-season regatta on Lough Boderg, continuing a Shannon sailing tradition stretching back to 1903.
Guy Kilroy's Swift emerged as the overall winner after a weekend that ranged from Saturday's light airs in the lake's more sheltered waters to a 10-18 knot south-westerly on Sunday.
Organised by Guy and Jackie Kilroy, with Con Murphy as Race Officer and Water Wag Class Captain Tim Pearson on mark-laying duties, the regatta brought the Dún Laoghaire class back to the former venue of the North Shannon Yacht Club's annual regattas.
Swift success: Overall winner Guy Kilroy's Swift (38) powers downwind on Lough Boderg, with William Prentice's second-placed Tortoise (42) astern during Sunday's stronger breeze. Photo: Con Murphy
Five Saturday Races in Light Airs
Shannon shuffle: The Water Wag fleet works through the sheltered inner waters of Lough Boderg during Saturday's five-race light-air programme, which included a lunch stop at Carnadoe Bridge. Photo: Con Murphy
Saturday began with two light-air races on the western inner waters of Lough Boderg before the 14-boat fleet stopped for lunch at the pier at Carnadoe Bridge.
Three more races followed during the afternoon before sailors gathered for the class dinner at the Brandywell in Dromod.
The programme made use of Lough Boderg's distinctive geography, with courses including a race to Carnadoe Bridge, a circuit of the small island in Annagh and a race around an island in Lough Boderg before returning through the cut.
Sunday brought fresher conditions, with a 10-18 knot south-westerly providing four races on the open waters of the lake and completing the nine-race series.
Pier pressure: The Water Wag fleet lines the pier at Carnadoe Bridge for Saturday's lunch stop during the North Shannon Regatta on Lough Boderg. Photo: Con Murphy
Kilroy's Swift Takes Overall Win
With two discards applied, Guy Kilroy's Swift (38) won the regatta on 13 points, four points clear of William Prentice's Tortoise (42) on 17.
Vincent Delany's Nekhbet (53) took third on 24 points, tied with Frank O'Beirne's Jenny Wren (55) but ahead on countback.
Swift recorded four race victories over the weekend, while Nekhbet won twice. Jenny Wren and Swallow (40) were also among the individual race winners.
Full results from the Lough Boderg regatta are available below.
Shannon tradition: The Water Wag fleet threads through Lough Boderg's sheltered waters, continuing a Shannon regatta tradition that stretches back to 1903. Photo: Con Murphy
Shannon Tradition Dates to 1903
Water Wag racing on the Shannon dates to 1903, when eight boats were sent by rail from Kingstown, now Dún Laoghaire, to Drumsna railway station before sailing down the Shannon to Lough Boderg for the annual North Shannon Yacht Club regatta.
The remarkable link between the Dublin Bay class and Lough Boderg has endured for more than a century. When the Water Wags raced at Lough Boderg in 2016, Afloat recalled the original 1903 expedition and the class's long association with the North Shannon waterways.
The Shannon expeditions also form part of the wider history of Ireland's oldest one-design class. Afloat's account of the Delany family's century of Water Wag sailing records another North Shannon Yacht Club expedition in 1925.
The 2026 Lough Boderg weekend brought another season to a close for the class, which has averaged around 25 boats racing each week in Dún Laoghaire.
