Shannon One Designs Continue Hectic Celebratory Pace With Lough Ree Centenary Regatta

19th July 2022

A peaceful summer afternoon at Wineport Lodge on Lough Ree. It will be a different picture at lunchtime this Saturday when the Shannon One Designs - in the midst of their Lough Ree YC Shannon OD Centenary Regatta – descend on Wineport as the finish point in a passage race, and then apply themselves to enjoying its renowned hospitality

When we remember that in the class’s early days, the hundred-year-old Shannon One Designs were accustomed to cramming much of their racing into the first half of August with the two traditional Regatta Weeks at Lough Ree and Lough Derg, then it speaks volumes for the Class’s vitality at its Centenary that we’re still only in July, yet there has been accelerating action under way most weekends since May.

The Lough Derg special Centenary Regatta Weekend for the Class was staged with great success at the beginning of July, and this weekend sees Class Captain/Chairman Philip Mayne and Honorary Secretary Naomi Algeo leading their characterful fleet into a second peak weekend, this time at their other main centre at Lough Ree YC at Ballyglass in County Westmeath.

The Lough Ree YC complex has been further extended as the club celebrates its Quarter Millennium Plus Two

There, LRYC under Commodore Georgina Kenny is catching up with marking its Quarter Millennium Plus Two, as it missed celebrating its 250th anniversary in 2020 owing to pandemic restrictions. The extensive clubhouse with its multiple facilities is conveniently on the threshold of that intricate southeast corner of Lough Ree aka The Inner Lakes, and the weekend’s Shannon OD programme will see the first morning’s competition rounded out with a passage race through the inner waters to the award-winning hospitality of the lakeside Wineport Lodge, where there’ll be a special lunch, accompanied by the usual synchronized attention to the mainbrace and the controlled splicing thereof.

They’ll try anything at least once….normally noted for their three-handed sociability, the Shannon ODs will occasionally give single-handed racing a bit of a whirl

Then after more afternoon racing, it’s back to the LRYC complex and the actual Centenary Dinner (the third one so far by Afloat.ie’s counting, but the SODs make their own rules) to energise everyone for another day’s racing on Sunday.

It is already a prodigious level of activity for any class, but this eternally energetic fleet have plans to sail their usual regatta weeks on the two great lakes in August, and then continue with a programme of weekend events which extends to the Autumn Equinox.

Published in Shannon One Design, Inland Waterways

Published in Shannon One Design

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Shannon One Design

About The Author

WM Nixon

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William M Nixon has been writing about sailing in Ireland for many years in print and online, and his work has appeared internationally in magazines and books. His own experience ranges from club sailing to international offshore events, and he has cruised extensively under sail, often in his own boats which have ranged in size from an 11ft dinghy to a 35ft cruiser-racer. He has also been involved in the administration of several sailing organisations.

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