Tag Archives: sailing

A Killaloe Sailing Club member is on the crest of a wave preparing for the second time to become the first Irish person to complete an around-the-world race known as the “Voyage for Madmen”. Pat Lawless now has a driving desire more than ever to try and win the 2026 Golden Globe Race, after he had to retire from the 2022 race when his self-steering failed 1,200 nautical miles west of Cape Town. With a heavy heart, after repairs he sailed Green Rebel back home to Ireland. Without a self-steering system, he was unable to achieve his dream. He could have made repairs and continued the voyage under Chichester Class as a one-stop circumnavigation, but decided to retire. “I felt terrible shame because of all the support I received. You learn from shame because you don’t want to feel it again. I was heartbroken, I was trying to fix it. When I got into Cape Town everyone was so nice …

A MEMBER of Cullaun Sailing Club in Kilkishen Margaret Hynes is riding the crest of a wave after she teamed up with her son, Sean to take a podium place at the Wayfarer World Championships in the Netherlands. The Ennis woman, who now lives in County Limerick and has decades of experience on the water, celebrated a third-place finish (Silver Fleet) with 17-year-old son as crew at the championships in Holland. A Wayfarer is a sailing dinghy approximately 16ft in length and known for its durability and versatility. In June of this year, Margaret was helm and Kilkishen’s Mike Hayes the crew as their vessel, Seadhna, won the National Wayfarer Championships in Cavan, thus securing their participation at the world event on the Heegermeer in Frisesland, a prime Dutch sailing destination. “Sean, who attends Ard Soil Rís, was one of the youngest crews there and I suppose another unusual thing was that I was one of only four women helms out …

WILLIAMSTOWN Harbour in Whitegate has been sold for a figure believed to be just shy of €1 million and the new owners have plans to develop the location, to return it to its former glory. Lough Derg boating firm, Shannon Sailing Marina, whose general manager is Kilkishen man, Denis Dillon, has acquired Williamstown Harbour, which had been in receivership. Shannon Sailing Marina is a company set up 28 years ago in Dromineer, County Tipperary, directly across from Williamstown on Lough Derg. It is expected that the expansion to County Clare will see jobs created locally at the new site, as well as spin-off jobs during a planned construction phase. The sailing company’s base at Dromineer consists of a fully serviced workshop where the company carries out complete overhauls on boats. It includes a chandlery shop, where it sells boating equipment, and it also operates an ISA training school, where they teach people how to drive motor cruisers, drive power boats, …

CULLAUN Sailing Club, based in Kilkishen, hosted its first ever inter club junior regatta on Sunday last. Participating in the event were sailors from Cullaun Sailing Club, Killaloe Sailing Club and Foynes Yacht Club. Across the three clubs there were over 40 junior sailors represented on the water for the day ranging from 10 to 18 years of age. Commenting on the regatta Jim O’Sullivan of the Cullaun Sailing Club said, “this is the first time an event like this has been organised and judging by the skills and quality of the sailors it looks like it won’t be the last”. This was a mixed fleet of boats with a Portsmouth Handicap being used to calculate the overall winner. There were Lasers, Feva’s, Visions, Omegas and RS200 boats all competing for line honours at the event. Layla Benfredi of Cullaun Sailing Club came in first overall in her Laser and was closely followed by Sean Hynes and Mike O’Dea also …