PS Waverley, the World’s last seagoing paddle steamer will for the first time, it has been announced set sail for a cruise from Warrenpoint Harbour, Co. Down on Tuesday, 30th May.

Waverley will offer local people the unique opportunity to step aboard in Warrenpoint (as seen above, last year) for an evening sunset cruise, as the 700 passenger capacity veteran vessel steams down Carlingford Lough.

Since the announcement last week (Afloat adds, the cruise from Warrenpoint is fully booked) on the excursion that will also take in the coastline passing Kilkeel Bay to Russell’s Point.

Waverley’s General Manager, Paul Semple, commented, “I am delighted to announce that Waverley will be sailing from Warrenpoint for her first ever passenger sailing from the Port. I hope this surprise announcement will be welcomed by many as they will now get the opportunity to step aboard this famous ship. Waverley offers a truly unique experience with her powerful triple expansion steam engine and massive paddles, giving people the chance to sail on board for the first time on Carlingford Lough.

“Over the past few weeks, we have been in dialogue with the management team at Warrenpoint Harbour following Waverley’s fuel stop last October. When the suggestion was made that we could offer a cruise this time, the Harbour team were fully supportive. We look forward to bringing Waverley to the town and giving the public the chance to experience a trip aboard a paddle steamer.”

Waverley’s main summer season is spent operating a variety of traditional day trips from Glasgow and around the Clyde Coast and also England and Wales. The steamer has given occasional cruises from Belfast and further north from Red Bay, Co. Antrim in the past, but Warrenpoint has not been on the cruising schedule, until now. (Afloat adds, the paddle steamer for the first time called to the Republic at Dublin, Dun Laoghaire, etc with cruises in 1984 and a return to the Irish capital in 2001, see story).

David Holmes, CEO Warrenpoint Harbour said, “We are thrilled to be teaming up with the Waverley to offer this unique sunset cruise from Warrenpoint. As a commercial port, it is very seldom the opportunity presents itself to allow us to board passengers here, so this is very exciting for us. The cruise ship schedule last summer was very popular with the local community turning out to watch the ships coming in and out. We hope that Waverley will offer a tourism boost for the town coming on the back of the Blues on the Bay Festival, with an opportunity to eat in the town beforehand or stay over and enjoy the local hospitality afterwards.”

Waverley entered service in 1947 and was the last paddle steamer built for service on the Clyde, Afloat adds for operator London and North Eastern Railway. In the following year due to Nationalisation of Railways, the vessel became part of the Caledonian Steam Packet Company (CSP) until 1972, a year before the the company became Caledonian MacBrayne Ltd (CalMac).

Following a major public appeal, the Waveley re-entered service in 1973 after the vessel was gifted for £1 and officially handed over to Waverley Steam Navigation Co. Ltd., a company formed by the Paddle Steamer Preservation Society.

Since 1975 Waverley has carried over 6 million passengers and earned herself a loyal following in several areas around the UK including the South Coast and Thames. More recently in 2019 a public appeal raised £2.3m to replace the steam boilers and save the vessel from withdrawal.

The 623 tonnes steamer has a range of facilities including a self-service restaurant, bar lounges, tea bar and souvenir shop selling a wide variety of exclusive gifts. The main attraction is to watch the steam engine, which is open to full view, as it drives the ship’s paddles.

As mentioned above, tickets for the excursion operated by Waverley Excursions have since been sold out. (For more cruises operating elsewhere this season, click here).

The Waverley's once-off cruise from Warrenpoint Port is to start at 7pm with the steamer returning at 10pm.

Access to the ship will be via the Town Dock office at Warrenpoint Square. Please note there will be no access via the main port entrance.

Northern Ireland's Ballyholme Yacht Club and County Antrim Yacht Club have both been announced as finalists in the RYA Club of the Year 2023.

Although six miles apart on opposite sides of Belfast Lough, the clubs were formed within about twenty years of each other, CAYC emerging with the twentieth century in 1902 and Ballyholme in 1919. But one keelboat class connects the two, the Waverley class, designed by John Wylie and first raced in 1903 at Whitehead, the home of County Antrim YC. By the end of WW1, the class was no longer exclusive to CAYC, and two boats were built at Ballyholme. By 1961 when the class had been reformed as a racing class at BYC, there were Waverleys at most Belfast Lough Clubs. Now the class has moved on again, this time to Strangford Lough Yacht Club at Whiterock.

As Afloat reported earlier, both clubs are passionate about youth sailing.

Ballyholme Yacht Club

In 2018 the Ballyholme club had one Topper racing regularly, and at a recent Topper event, 35 of the competitors were BYC cadets. The club is known both locally and internationally as expert at hosting big events and in the past those have included not only its local regatta but the ISA Youth Championships, ILA Masters, RS 400/200/Feva Nationals, the RYANI Youth Championships and Optimist Ulsters. Many of the youth sailors are in the RYANI Topper and ILCA squads, and among its members are past Olympians such as Bill O’Hara and Matt McGovern. Also, John Driscoll, Chris Boyd, and Conrad Simpson have all represented Ballyholme at Olympic Games in the Finn class, and the club hosted the Finn Gold Cup (World Championship) in 1992. Other club activities are open-water swimming and Stand Up Paddleboarding.

RS Feva racing at Ballyholme Yacht Club Photo:Simon McIlwaine

Commodore Dougie Rennie commented, “It is, of course, a privilege to be nominated again for this award and is a testament to the members of BYC who volunteer to help BYC host all the events and activities that the club puts on for the benefit of all sailors and the wider community”.

County Antrim Yacht Club

County Antrim YC is a relatively small club delivering a varied and successful programme of activities on the water and ashore, planned to benefit club members and the local community, including charities. The club has a strong volunteering culture and encourages members from all backgrounds to access the water, free-of-charge or low-cost dinghy loans and courses are offered. The club’s junior development pathway resulted in 2022 successes at regional and national, and world championship levels. In addition, the club hosts regional and national events, most recently the Flying 15 Northerns. The club provides race management and mark laying/safety boat teams to support events across Northern Ireland, including Irish Sailability and the RYANI Youth Championships. CAYC introduced ‘try sailing’ days and a ‘get to know your club’ day, with targeted communications resulting in significantly increased membership.

Flying Fifteen keelboat racing at County Antrim Yacht Club Photo: CYCA

The club believes it can have a cohesive role in its relatively small community and has worked with local stakeholders to host community events coming out of the pandemic. It has bulk-purchased SUPs and kayaks so there are now around 30 and 40, respectively available, enabling non-sailing members to get on the water and reach out to non-members. Due to 2022’s new-member successes, the club is providing additional training and coaching efforts – it also identified a Covid-related age gap in junior sailors and is planning additional confidence-building coaching sessions for the 2023 pre-season.

Commodore Peter Darragh is delighted that his club will be one of 12 clubs shortlisted for RYA Club of the Year. “This is significant given over 1,000 other diverse clubs across the UK are in the running for this accolade. A successful club is built on its members, so we see this as a great recognition of the hard work, expertise, and commitment our volunteers put into operating a very full calendar of sailing and other water-based activities. Support for our members ranges from structured training for those new to sailing to coaching and assisting those experiencing racing success on a world stage. We also play an important role in supporting the wider sailing fraternity in Northern Ireland and love being at the heart of our local community: encouraging young and old to give sailing a go and be safe on the water. We’re a small club with a big impact and are very proud to have this validation of our efforts.”

The 18-foot Waverley open racing yacht has for many years been a Ballyholme Yacht Club class, and those which are still sailing have been berthed in Bangor Marina, which from when it was opened in 1989 proved to be something of a haven for boats traditionally moored in Ballyholme Bay which occasionally over the years were subject to being hurled onto the beach by the big seas of a northerly gale.

But now they are leaving Bangor (albeit for a trial season) for Strangford Lough Yacht Club at Whiterock on the Lough's western shore, as their owners are finding berthing costs more than they feel they want to pay, coupled with the fact that they have no engines and moving in and out is tricky. They will be kept on moorings in Whiterock Bay.

Waverley Ivanhoe

The Waverley was designed by a complete amateur, John Wylie, who was a technician at Queen's University Belfast and Captain of the newly formed County Antrim YC at Whitehead on the north shore of Belfast Lough. The first three Waverleys were built in Carrickfergus, and first raced in 1903 at the opening of the new clubhouse.

The Centenary Regatta at Ballyholme was held in 2003 with eight boats taking part.

Over the years 18 were built, gunter rigged, and all named after characters and places in Sir Walter Scott novels. By 1907 there was a fleet of eight, two of which two still sailing today, Waverley no 5 and Lilias no 7.

 A Waverley launch at Ballyholme YC circa 1973

In 1962 the boats relocated to Ballyholme, by which time the fleet had doubled in size. Those joining the owner of Waverley, Mike Stevens, a former member of Ballyholme YC and now a member of SLYC at Whiterock, are Lilias owned by Jeff Gouk, Ivanhoe (John McCrea), Fair Maid owned by Ben Gouk and Steve and Anne Allen's Durward, which was built with a Bermudan rig in Bertie Slater's Shipyard in Bangor in 1948 and is perhaps the most celebrated of all. For as you can read here as told by WM Nixon in 1961, the MacLaverty brothers of Belfast – Kevin and Colm, both alas no longer with us – sailed around Ireland in Durward crewed by Mick Clarke from Lough Erne Yacht Club.

The Waverley Opening Day at Ballyholme makes headlines in the local newspaper

The then owners of Durward seemed to have a penchant for cross North Channel voyages as well, for in the same year (1961) after Winkie Nixon sold his Skal, and was taking part in the Schools and Universities racing based at McGruers of Clynder on the Clyde, Durward turned up and provided for McLaverty and Nixon the perfect ferry substitute for the trip back to Bangor though it was a beat all the way - a lot of windward work for an 18-footer.

There are now no Waverleys in commission in Ballyholme Yacht Club, and about those leaving the club Commodore Aidan Pounder said, "The Waverley class are very much part of our history, not just at Ballyholme but in Belfast Lough and will be sadly missed. We hope that their departure is temporary and very much look forward to their return to the shores of Bangor in the very near future".

And Kevin Baird, Marina Manager, said, " The Waverly class will always be welcome at Bangor Marina, and we wish those moving to Whiterock fair winds, following seas and a safe voyage".