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Roundstone Regatta

Galway Hookers being towed back to port

Roundstone Regatta has been taken place for over 200 years and features Galway Hooker and Currach racing.

Galway Hooker

A traditional sailing vessel of Galway Bay, the hooker (húicéir in Irish) has a single mast with a mainsail and two foresails. It is customarily an all black vessel (from its covering of pitch) with distinctive rust-red sails.

 

Galway Hooker reaches the finish line

Black sailed boats nears the end of the race

Currach

The currach (also curach or curragh) is a flat-bottomed, keel-less Irish boat used mainly for fishing and transporting livestock in the West of Ireland.

Competitor wetting his oar

The highly manoeuvrable currach is usually rowed with bladeless oars held in place by wooden tholepins, but some can be fitted with a mast and small lug sail.

Rowers checks they're on the right line

The race starts... 

20 seconds later and the rowers pass the port

Three Currachs racing hard

Two teams still close after long race

Boat one has a slender lead

Two currach's pull into Roundstone Harbour

Rowers swap from boat to Currach

Rowers prepare for a race

Rowers pull away at the start

Pulling together

In between the currach races I took a few shots of Roundstone from the pier. 

Boats in the harbour with the twelve bens in the distance

Media centre! 

O'Dowd's Pub

A view UP the main road

Old lamp post draped with fishing nets