Killaloe club is Sailing in calm waters
By Thomas Conway
History has fondly coined Ireland as the “Isle of Saints and Scholars,” but such was the scale of maritime activity through the ages, sailors will probably feel hard done by with that description.
Ireland’s coastline is home to a proliferation of sailing clubs – from Sligo to Spiddal, right around our southern seaboard to Baltimore, and then up the eastern shore to Dun Laoghaire, Malahide, and whatever lies beyond.
On the country’s interior however, it’s a different story. There are just a handful of clubs situated on our inland waterways, most of which can be found somewhere along the course of the River Shannon. Journey down Ireland’s longest river and you’ll encounter just four such clubs – one in Mullingar on the shores of Lough Owel, another near Athlone on the waters of Lough Ree, and two on the long, angular shoreline of Lough Derg. The more southerly of those, Killaloe Sailing Club, was formerly established in 1973, and until recently, could accurately have been described as the area’s greatest unintentional secret. Many locals were oblivious to its existence, but thanks to the enthusiasm and community-oriented mindset of some visionaries within the club, that is all rapidly changing.
Both experienced sailors and long-term committee members, Jim Ryan and Charlie McDonnell have been instrumental in the club’s development, helping to drive a journey of change which has one core principle: to make sailing accessible, encourage local participation, and create a family-friendly hub of activity – as Charlie outlines.
“I think what we’re mainly interested in is establishing the club locally because, obviously, we have a growing population in the Ballina/Killaloe area, but a lot of people don’t know about the club. It’s a family-friendly club, that’s basically our ethos. We have all ages – I mean look, we’re fellas in our seventies, and we have sailors here as young as eight years old,” he said.
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