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Shannon Boat Builder Jimmy Furey will be a special guest at the Dromineer Literary Festival at the end of the month. The appearance conicides with a screening of David Shaw-Smith's landmark documentary series
'Hands' featuring the Shannon-one-Design Boatbuilder.

The eighth annual Dromineer Literary Festival will take place from Thursday September 29 to Sunday October 2 at Lough Derg Yacht Club in Dromineer village.

At 8pm, Thursday night September 29, Dermot Healy, Kerry Hardie and Catherine Phil McCarthy will give a poetry reading at 8pm, Lough Derg Yacht Club, and on Saturday night, October 1, The Poetry Divas will perform at The Whiskey Still pub in the village.

The Meet the Authors event attracts huge audiences each year, and we are delighted that Jennifer Johnston and John MacKenna will be reading and in discussion on Saturday night, October 1, at 8pm at Lough Derg Yacht Club. We encourage our audience to read these authors to increase their enjoyment of the event.

A performance presented by the renowned Nenagh Players to close the weekend is of CS Lewis' A Grief Observed. This one man show, adapted and performed by Ronan Dodd, will take place from 8pm, Sunday night, October 2. A Grief Observed was written by Lewis after the death of his wife, Joy Gresham, from cancer in 1960.

The Sunday afternoon event afloat aboard the passenger vessel The Spirit of Killaloe, is entitled The Living Lake. Scientists Rick Boelens and Dan Minchin will give a talk on the hidden depths of Lough Derg; its biodiversity and environmental heritage. Places are strictly limited, to ensure a place, please contact Eleanor at emhooker@ eircom.net

This year, for the first time, the festival will feature film. A Short Movie written and directed by George Hooker, and produced by Sorcha MacKenna, students at DIT, will be premiered at 3pm on Saturday afternoon October 1 at Lough Derg Yacht Club. Filmed on location in Dromineer in June 2010, the short movie stars Nenagh Players actors, the late Stephen Toohey (with the kind blessings of his family), Niamh Hogan and Olly Griffin. All welcome. Admission is free.

Also on Saturday October 1, David Shaw-Smith will give a talk on his landmark documentary series 'Hands' Boatbuilder with Shannon-one-Design Boatbuilder Jimmy Furey attending as our special guest. Other films in the Hands series will be screened at Neddy's Cottage in the village, thoughout the weekend.

Committee is pleased to announce the 2011 festival programme.  Highlights include authors Jennifer Johnston, Dermot Healy, John MacKenna, and Vincent McDonnell, Poets Kerrie Hardie, Catherine Phil McCarthy and The Poetry Divas, a Short Movie by young filmmakers from Dublin Institute of Technology and more.

POETRY READINGS
Thursday 29 September, 8pm Lough Derg Yacht Club (Adm - €5)
– Dromineer Festival Poetry with Dermot Healy, Kerrie Hardie and Catherine Phil McCarthy
Saturday 1 October, The Whiskey Still, Dromineer Village
– 10.30pm The Poetry Divas will perform their poetry in The Whiskey Still pub

OFFICIAL OPENING
Friday 30 September, 7.30pm, Lough Derg Yacht Club
– Offical Opening with Dr. Ed Walsh.
– Competition Results & Readings

MEET THE AUTHORS
Saturday 1 October, 8-10pm, Lough Derg Yacht Club
– Meet the Authors with Jennifer Johnston and John MacKenna (Adm €12/€10)

FILM -SCREENINGS
Saturday 1 October, Lough Derg Yacht Club
– 3-4pm Short Film Premiere by Media Arts Students, DIT, Dublin.  Written & Directed by George Hooker. Directed by Sorcha MacKenna (Free Adm)
– 4-5.30pm Hands Boatbuilder.  Talk by David Shaw-Smith, followed by screening of his landmark documentary.  Special guest Jimmy Furey. (Adm - €5)

AFLOAT ON LOUGH DERG
Sunday 2 October, Sunday Afternoon Afloat
– The Living Lake, a talk by scientists Rick Boelens & Dan Minchin aboard The Spirit of Killaloe (Adm €12/€10)

DRAMA - Festival Finale
Sunday 2 October, 8pm, Lough Derg Yacht Club,
– The Nenagh Players present Ronan Dodd 'A Grief Observed'


Published in Maritime Festivals

Royal St. George Yacht Club

The Royal St George Yacht Club was founded in Dun Laoghaire (then Kingstown) Harbour in 1838 by a small number of like-minded individuals who liked to go rowing and sailing together. The club gradually gathered pace and has become, with the passage of time and the unstinting efforts of its Flag Officers, committees and members, a world-class yacht club.

Today, the ‘George’, as it is known by everyone, maybe one of the world’s oldest sailing clubs, but it has a very contemporary friendly outlook that is in touch with the demands of today and offers world-class facilities for all forms of water sports

Royal St. George Yacht Club FAQs

The Royal St George Yacht Club — often abbreviated as RStGYC and affectionately known as ‘the George’ — is one of the world’s oldest sailing clubs, and one of a number that ring Dublin Bay on the East Coast of Ireland.

The Royal St George Yacht Club is based at the harbour of Dun Laoghaire, a suburban coastal town in south Co Dublin around 11km south-east of Dublin city centre and with a population of some 26,000. The Royal St George is one of the four Dun Laoghaire Waterfront Clubs, along with the National Yacht Club, Royal Irish Yacht Club (RIYC) and Dun Laoghaire Motor Yacht Club (DMYC).

The Royal St George was founded by members of the Pembroke Rowing Club in 1838 and was originally known as Kingstown Boat Club, as Kingstown was what Dun Laoghaire was named at the time. The club obtained royal patronage in 1845 and became known as Royal Kingstown Yacht Club. After 1847 the club took on its current name.

The George is first and foremost an active yacht club with a strong commitment to and involvement with all aspects of the sport of sailing, whether racing your one design on Dublin Bay, to offshore racing in the Mediterranean and Caribbean, to junior sailing, to cruising and all that can loosely be described as “messing about in boats”.

As of November 2020, the Commodore of the Royal St George Yacht Club is Peter Bowring, with Richard O’Connor as Vice-Commodore. The club has two Rear-Commodores, Mark Hennessy for Sailing and Derek Ryan for Social.

As of November 2020, the Royal St George has around 1,900 members.

The Royal St George’s burgee is a red pennant with a white cross which has a crown at its centre. The club’s ensign has a blue field with the Irish tricolour in its top left corner and a crown towards the bottom right corner.

Yes, the club hosts regular weekly racing for dinghies and keelboats as well as a number of national and international sailing events each season. Major annual events include the Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta, hosted in conjunction with the three other Dun Laoghaire Waterfront Clubs.

Yes, the Royal St George has a vibrant junior sailing section that organises training and events throughout the year.

Sail training is a core part of what the George does, and training programmes start with the Sea Squirts aged 5 to 8, continuing through its Irish Sailing Youth Training Scheme for ages 8 to 18, with adult sail training a new feature since 2009. The George runs probably the largest and most comprehensive programme each summer with upwards of 500 children participating. This junior focus continues at competitive level, with coaching programmes run for aspiring young racers from Optimist through to Lasers, 420s and Skiffs.

 

The most popular boats raced at the club are one-design keelboats such as the Dragon, Shipman 28, Ruffian, SB20, Squib and J80; dinghy classes including the Laser, RS200 and RS400; junior classes the 420, Optimist and Laser Radial; and heritage wooden boats including the Water Wags, the oldest one-design dinghy class in the world. The club also has a large group of cruising yachts.

The Royal St George is based in a Victorian-style clubhouse that dates from 1843 and adjoins the harbour’s Watering Pier. The clubhouse was conceived as a miniature classical Palladian Villa, a feature which has been faithfully maintained despite a series of extensions, and a 1919 fire that destroyed all but four rooms. Additionally, the club has a substantial forecourt with space for more than 50 boats dry sailing, as well as its entire dinghy fleet. There is also a dry dock, four cranes (limit 12 tonnes) and a dedicated lift=out facility enabling members keep their boats in ready to race condition at all times. The George also has a floating dock for short stays and can supply fuel, power and water to visitors.

Yes, the Royal St George’s clubhouse offers a full bar and catering service for members, visitors and guests. Currently the bar is closed due to Covid-19 restrictions.

The Royal St George boathouse is open daily from 9.30am to 5.30pm during the winter. The office and reception are open Tuesdays to Fridays from 10am to 5pm. The bar is currently closed due to Covid-19 restrictions. Lunch is served on Wednesdays and Fridays from 12.30pm to 2.30pm, with brunch on Saturdays and Sundays from noon to 3pm.

Yes, the Royal St George regularly hosts weddings and family celebrations from birthdays to christenings, and offers a unique and prestigious location to celebrate your day. The club also hosts corporate meetings, sailing workshops and company celebrations with a choice of rooms. From small private meetings to work parties and celebrations hosting up to 150 guests, the club can professionally and successfully manage your corporate requirements. In addition, team building events can utilise its fleet of club boats and highly trained instructors. For enquiries contact Laura Smart at [email protected] or phone 01 280 1811.

The George is delighted to welcome new members. It may look traditional — and is proud of its heritage — but behind the facade is a lively and friendly club, steeped in history but not stuck in it. It is a strongly held belief that new members bring new ideas, new skills and new contacts on both the sailing and social sides.

No — members can avail of the club’s own fleet of watercraft.

There is currently no joining fee for new members of the Royal St George. The introductory ordinary membership subscription fee is €775 annually for the first two years. A full list of membership categories and related annual subscriptions is available.

Membership subscriptions are renewed on an annual basis

Full contact details for the club and its staff can be found at the top of this page

©Afloat 2020

RStGYC SAILING DATES 2024

  • April 13th Lift In
  • May 18th & 19th Cannonball Trophy
  • May 25th & 26th 'George' Invitational Regatta
  • July 6th RSGYC Regatta
  • August 10th & 11th Irish Waszp National Championships
  • August 22- 25th Dragon Irish National Championships / Grand Prix
  • Aug 31st / Sept 1st Elmo Trophy
  • September 6th End of Season Race
  • September 7th & 8th Squib East Coast Championships
  • September 20th - 22nd SB20 National Championships
  • September 22nd Topper Ireland Traveller Event
  • October 12th Lift Out

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