Skip to main content

Shannon One Design celebrates its Centenary


The Shannon One Design class celebrates 100 years of racing on the magnificent Shannon lakes. Two Centenary Weekend Regattas are being organised to mark this milestone, one at Lough Derg Yacht Club, Dromineer on the weekend of 2 nd and 3 rd July and the other on the weekend of 24 th and 25 th July at Lough Ree Yacht Club, Ballyglass. Each Regatta will host a series of competitive races and races for guests/past members and for younger future members, and a social programme, unique to both Clubs. Reggie Goodbody has very kindly denoted a model of a Shannon One Design as a special prize to encourage boat owners to participate in these two events. Each registered boat owner will receive one ticket for the draw for this beautiful model for each regatta that they enter and participate in. The draw will take place on Sunday 25 th July at LRYC (Terms and Conditions apply)

Upcoming Events
Upcoming Events
Slideshow
Home Slide Show

The Shannon One Design is a wooden, clinker-built, eighteen-foot (5.49m) racing dinghy, propelled by a single gunter-rigged mainsail of 140 square feet (15.6 sq.m). The boat has a relatively narrow beam of 4 feet 10.5 inches (1.5m), and draws 4 feet (1.23m) with her centreboard down.

With a large sail and comparatively narrow beam, a Shannon One Design is a lively performer, especially in a fresh breeze, and requires a three-person crew for normal sailing.


There has long been a strong boat-building tradition on Loughs Derg and Ree, and almost all Shannon One Designs have come from the yards of skilled local craftsmen.


The boats are unique to the river Shannon and are actively raced in both Lough Ree Yacht Club (pictured left) and in Lough Derg Yacht Club. (Links to Yacht Club websites at the bottom of this page).


Shannon sailing attracts a wide range of sailors from far and wide, not simply limited to Shannon riverside dwellers. At the two main events each year, the week-long regattas at Ballyglass on Lough Ree and Dromineer on Lough Derg, up to 55 SODs have been counted. These will be sailed by a mixture of local sailors and others based in Dublin or elsewhere (as far away as the USA), most of whom return year on year to compete.


Above all, the Shannon One Design class is a lot of fun, in which conviviality, wit, character and friendship are on a par with the high quality of the racing. Individual boats seem to develop their own idiosyncrasies to complement the eccentricities of those privileged to sail them. There is a strong and growing presence of young people alongside the older sailors, and new boats are joining the fleet every season.

Sailing-club-of-the-year.jpeg

Club of the Year 2022

The Shannon One Design Association and Lough Ree Yacht Club have been awarded the prestigious ‘Club of the Year Award’, by the ISA. We are very proud to receive this award. See more details on this link. https://www.mg.ie/news-article/mg-motor-ireland-announces-sponsorship-of-sailing-club-of-the-year-ti