Bill's Log: Hands Shannon One Design

I was perusing Paul Mullings’s blog, ‘I’ve Been Thinking’ at http://flounderman.blogspot.co.uk/?view=timeslide#!/ when I noticed a link pointing to ‘Shannon One Design’. This took me to a YouTube series of videos about the building of a traditional clinker Shannon One Design racing dinghy. (See the first 3 links below.) The videos show Jimmy Furey building one of these boats. I think you will agree with me that it is a privilege to be invited into his workshop via the videos entirely free of charge. I also think you will admire his craftsmanship, which is a wonder to behold.

Back in 1920 F. Morgan Giles of Teignmouth was commissioned by representatives of three Irish yacht clubs, Loch Ree, Loch Derg and North Shannon, to design a one design racing dinghy suitable for a crew of three. The result was a lively 18 foot open clinker boat with a relatively narrow beam of 4 feet 10 ½ inches, sporting a single gunter-rigged sail with an area of 140 square feet.

Over the years, nearly 170 of these dinghies have been built, and they continue to be built today by local craftsmen such as Jimmy Furey.

Links

Part 1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XthOkO-wsK4

Part 2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XELPt_x08Os

Part 3

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPNePCOZSZo

Shannon One Design

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shannon-One-Design

Shannon One Design Association

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shannon-One-Design