Keelboat Championships at Lough Derg Yacht Club

Lough Derg Yacht Club rolled their sleeves up for the largest and most enjoyable keelboat event ever held on inland waters in Ireland recently.

60 keelboats, in four classes, travelled to Dromineer from as far afield as Cowes on the Isle of Wight, Anglesey in North Wales, and every corner of Ireland to compete in this important annual event which is growing in prestige.

In the elegant three-person Dragon Class, Shaun Kingston, his brother Tony, and Donal Small from Kinsale were overall winners after seven races.

In the swift two-person Flying Fifteen Class, Shane McCarthy & Hugh McNally from the National Yacht Club in Dublin were series winners having won two of the seven races.

In the dynamic three-person SB20 Class, Rory Walshe and his two crew from Lough Ree Yacht Club won five of the seven races and were declared overall winners.

The two-person National Squib Class is the class, which is active on both sides of Lough Derg, with fleets at Iniscealtra Sailing Club at Mountshannon and at Lough Derg Yacht Club was won by Gordon Patterson & Ross Nolan from Belfast Lough were winners.

In the Hunter sub-division local sailors Fergal Keating and Dave Maher took the prize.

They also won the Travellers trophy awarded to sailors who competed throughout the country in 2024.

The whole event was organised with skill and intuition by Commodore Declan Mulcahy, Trustees Jack Bayly, Liam Moloney and Geoff O’Donoghue and committee members Patricia George, Adair Leech and her husband John and a large team of helpers.

In the clubhouse food was provided for the one hundred and twenty-seven competitors before racing in the morning, lunch packs during racing and dinner in the evening.

All the sailors headed home in the knowledge that they had been given a real Tipperary welcome.