Although due to a road accident injury we did not go to the Irish Lochs with Havoc but had to hire a motor cruiser, I made some notes that I would like to share with Swifties in case we should attempt to try to get there again.

his seems to be quite an undiscovered sailing area with good food at local pubs and not unreasonable prices at shops. The scenery is great and the locals very hospitable with of course great Guinness, there are though not many sailing boats but a lot of very large hire cruisers. Although not tidal the Lochs cut up quite rough, both Lochs being closed even for large cruisers for a 24 hour period in a force 6 during our week.

On Loch Derg and Loch Rea there seems to be an effort being made to improve facilities, at each of the small harbours a new slipway and limited showers and toilet blocks being installed, the slipways and parking being free, most of the slipways are quite narrow so you are not troubled by too much wash, there are no winches, (the one in the photo at Portumna is probably charged for as it belongs to a boat yard), the facilities such as showers are good and clean and can be accessed via a charge card which you can get locally (usually the pub).

At Garry Kennedy there are about 20 new marina berths which are free with rubbish disposal points, as well as the old harbour. The villages around the Loch do not have much in the way of stores so you need to stock up before entering the Lochs. There are excellent pubs with good food and live traditional music on some evenings.

I would be very cautious as the hire boats are very big, heavy and difficult to manoeuvre, making a passage up the Shannon and mooring in confined spaces quite a risky business, I would certainly trail between Lochs, boats sometimes being bumper-boated into locks (much the same way as the Dutch locks) although you could miss a few good heritage sites like Clonmacnoise though there is an ample car park which could take your car towing a swift. But if you did want to risk it Branagher is the farthest North you can go with the mast up but there is a convenient quay on the right immediately before the bridge that can be used to get the mast down. There are holding pontoons at Portumna bridge which could also be used if you wanted to take the mast down before entering the river. 

On the river there are free mooring pontoons with some commercial marinas which charge, the locals think that charging is shocking but by Solent charges they are quite modest. 

I hope this report will give anyone planning next years cruise a flavour of a quiet unspoilt cruising area, it is NOT suitable for teenagers wanting a lively nightlife. Please get in touch if you want some more info. 

More info can be found at www.waterwaysireland.org