Weekend of 12th and 13th of July Glandore Classic Boat Summer School will take place organised by the Glandore Harbour Yacht Club.

Glandore is well known for its Classic Regatta that occurs every two years attracting beautiful boats from Ireland and abroad to its picturesque anchorages, the Club have organised this biennial summer school since 1993 this is the 10th edition. The school programme covers themes of Irish maritime, coastal community, environment, heritage, policy and development, and of course the boats with their associated industry and traditions always feature in a big way.

The Summer school sessions will be held the Kilfaughabeg Church in Glandore beginning on Saturday morning with a presentation from Marie Healy of Bord Failte on the newly launched Wild Atlantic Way, this will deal with the project itself and its expected impact on the coastal community and environment, Jim Kennedy of Atlantic Sea Kayaking will speak about his adventure tourism business in the context of the Wild Atlantic Way and our rich natural habitats.
Following there will be presentations on our ocean and the renewable energy resources all around our coast, this will be addressed by John Keating of the Irish Marine Renewables Industry association. There are a number of interesting historical topics also being covered, Marcus Connaughton or RTE’S Seascapes programme will give a perspective of Irelands Maritime Heroes, from Edwin Bransfield to John deCourcy Ireland. Pat Ruane of the Cork City Architectural Conservation Office will be speaking about how the old City of Cork was shaped around our maritime trade. Dr John Borgonovo of UCC will be telling us about the Maritime Landings in County Cork by the Irish Free state in 1922, mentioning the Free State Landing in Union Hall. To close the afternoon there are two final items, a very interesting interview with Don Street of Iolaire, Don is a long term resident of Glandore and is known worldwide for his books, Cruising guides to the Carribean, his Atlantic crossing guides and his famous volumes of The Ocean Sailing Yacht. The final speaker, well known sailing journalist and maritime historian Winkie Nixon who will provide a provocative viewpoint asking “Why shouldn’t the Irish be a Seafaring People?”
On saturday evening the Kilfaughabeg Church Restoration group have organised a Traditional Music Concert at 20.00 featuring Jim Murray (guitar) with Fiona Kelleher (vocals) & Ciaran O’Connell (banjo) (entry is €10)

The Summer School continues Sunday morning beginning at 11.00 when John Kelleher of the new Union Hall lifeboat station will be on hand to tell of the project, the base set up, and the boat itself. Then from a new RNLI to an old RNLI, Colm Sliney of the Mary Stanford Project in Ballycotton, will tell us about his group and their work in rescue and preservation plans for the former Ballycotton lifeboat (1930 to 1959), the only RNLI vessel ever awarded a medal by the RNLI! There are important contributions on new boat builds also Noel Ryan and Willie Kirwan who will speak about the the new Bantry Long Boat built in Co Offaly, the Sionn Mhara. Stephen Henning will tell us about the new Namhog built in Clonakilty by the mens shed group. Noted author and yachting historian Hal Sisk will share an understanding on how the modern amateur sport of yacht racing developed particularly how the advent of railway travel assisted the growth of sailing!
The last session will be on Sunday afternoon and will focus on the recent renovations and re-launch of traditional and classic sail and work boats from Hegarty’s boatyard at old Court. We will hear the latest progress updates on the Ilen, an account of the wonderful work on the Eve first launched in 1893 over 120 years ago! We will also have updates on the following boats Teal, Oilean na Ean, An Suire, Sile a Do and Speckled Wood.

Overall a very varied Summer school of maritime history environment and heritage lies in prospect of the weekend with something very much of interest to many during the two days. The subscription for the two day lecture series is €15 and we hope to welcome everyone to Glandore for our 10th Summer school

The Glandore Classic Boat Summer School programme can be seen on the GHYC website