Canoes re Currachs

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moc66
Posts: 40
Joined: Mon Aug 27, 2007 4:53 pm

Canoes re Currachs

Post by moc66 » Wed May 28, 2008 9:42 pm

Hi
Here is a report on the Kilrush Regatta and Bicycle Race held in Sept 1893. Of interest are the canoe races which were really currachs but called canoes in West Clare. Check out more on this site http://www.westclarecurrachs.com/index.html
As shown by the report there was three men and four man currach races. From Kilrush around Loop Head and all the way north to Kinvara on Galway Bay the currach was the traditional fishing boat for the area. Having a hostile coastline and very few safe harbours to cater for timber/iron boats currachs could be launched from beaches and rocky shoreline. The pilots at Kilbaha Carrigaholt Querrin and Scattery used them to get to ships needing pilots. Very often it was the women who rowed the men out to the ships and they would race each other to make sure their man got on board first. That was very much the case on Scattery Island. In recent years a project was set up Kilkee (funded by Leader) where six working currachs were built using a template from a fifty year old currach still in use. The currach was built by the last of the great trad. currach builders John 'Cully' Marrinan of Corbally (Coosheen) Kilkee Co Clare.
The tradition of holding currach races as been revived in the area. Thanks in no small way to the group who built the currachs and are keeping a great craft alive and into the future. Check into the west clare currachs website and you will get the full story there
moc66
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Kilrush Regatta F J fri sept 8th 1893.doc
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mcreed
Posts: 118
Joined: Wed Jun 04, 2008 9:47 am

Re: Canoes re Currachs

Post by mcreed » Wed Jun 04, 2008 2:01 pm

Hi.
There's a photo of Cully Marrinan on the library website (in Foto - http://foto.clarelibrary.ie/fotoweb/). Just search for 'cully' and you get to http://foto.clarelibrary.ie/fotoweb/Pre ... 6A907EF3C4

If you search Foto for 'currach' you get a lot more photos of currachs and canoes.
Regards,
Mike

Paddy Casey
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Re: Canoes re Currachs

Post by Paddy Casey » Wed Jun 25, 2008 9:07 am

Familiar to tourists all over the world, the currach and other traditional boats will be studied by the Heritage Section of Clare County Council, in association with the Heritage Council.

The Clare Traditional Currachs and Boats Study will be conducted by Darina Tully, a nationally renowned expert in the areas of maritime collections, as part of the implementation of the Clare Heritage Plan 2008. The study, the first of its kind to ever be conducted in Clare, is expected to be completed by October.

See http://theclareherald.blogspot.com/

Paddy

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