Currach Club

Rosses Currach Club

 Club Currach na Rosann

The Rosses is a series of promontories jutting out into the North Atlantic – Dooey, Maghery, Cloghlass, the Ranna Liatha, Carrickfinn and Rannafast and bordered by a series of islands – the main ones being Inishkeeragh, Arranmore, Innishfree, Rutland, Inishcoo, Cruit, Owey,  Gola, Inishmeane, Inisheer, these latter three more oriented towards their nearest point on land, Gweedore. It is no wonder therefore that the sea has formed an important role in the lives of the people of the Rosses, to the extant that Rutland was once the main commercial centre of the area because of its strategic position on the sea, until the construction of metalled roads and land-based traffic saw Dungloe taking over this position in the nineteeth century.

To harvest the sea, the boat used by ordinary people was the currach. The predominant working currach was the Rosses or Owey currach, a small craft of some eight feet, propelled by one man with  a paddle in the bow – se Rosses or Owey currach page. Later oars on rowlocks and engines were added. Larger two and three-man currachs were also used in Gola, Inishmeane and Inisheer, with oars on pins rather than rowlocks.

Currachs were so prevalent and their operation so skilful and energetic, it was no wonder that as recreation people started to race in them and organise regattas. A tradition of skiff racing also existed and both traditions have survived until the present day. The Rosses Currach Club represents the currach tradition in the area today and there are also skiff clubs in Burtonport, Dungloe and Loughanure.

Up to the 1960s, teams from all over Donegal would have competed in regattas in racing currachs, particularly from Kincasslagh, Owey, Cruit, Carrickfinn, Gola, Inishmeane, Inishheer and Gweedore. While ther has been a revival of the tradition in the Rosses, other areas which had strong teams in the past have unfortunately shown little interest. A gleam of hope exists in Tory Island which has borrowed one of our currachs with a view to constructing currachs of their own – hopefully for competition purposes!

The Rosses Currach Club organises and takes part in local regattas in Burtonport and Kincasslagh and competes in the series of races organised along the West Coast of Ireland. The Club holds the All-Ireland mixed title and were runners up last year in the women’s event. The men’s team took fourth place. The Club will again be competing this year in the All-Ireland competition to be held in the Maherees in Kerry on the weekend of 7/8 July.

In the local regattas a big feature unique to the Rosses is the one–man and one-woman Rosses currach race – last year in Kincasslagh we had twenty competitors and a huge turnout of spectators and this year we are hoping for even more as we now have a dozen newly-made currachs. This race will be a highlight of the Kincasslagh Community Festival to be held this year from 11 to 15 July 2007.