Author: ilen

Baltimore Wooden Boat Festival – The Ilen School Gandelow crew are back in Limerick and celebrating after taking the big rowing prizes at the Baltimore Wooden Boat Festival 2015. Rowing races at the West Cork festival on Sunday included a Pilot Race Event under sail and oar; an action packed race to land a pilot on … Continue reading 04-06-15: Ilen School Win Top Prize at Baltimore Wooden Boat Festival

JP McManus, Paul O’Connell and AP McCoy push out a Gandelow boat to signal the commencement of the Clean-up. The Ilen School was delighted to be part of Team Limerick clean-up, sponsored by JP McManus Benevolent Fund, launched at Clancy’s Strand Limerick on Good Friday the 3rd April 2015. There was up to 10,000 people … Continue reading 04-06-15: Ilen School participated in Team Limerick Clean-up.

Steadily and purposefully she is realising the wonderful dream of her original designers – stronger than ever and with greater detailing she will take and return the many from epic and wandering odysseys.  

Excerpt from Limerick Leader Feb 23rd 2015. Article by Anne Sheridan A RARE celebration for Limerick’s growing fleet of boat builders has been witnessed, as the ‘whiskey plank’ was nailed into the hull of the historic AK Ilen. The famous vessel was sailed to the Falklands Islands by Conor O’Brien, an Oxford-educated Limerickman and the … Continue reading 23-02-15: Limerick’s historic sailing vessel, AK Ilen, will reclaim high seas

The good ship Ilen’s whiskey plank was jointly nailed home by Minister For The Marine, Simon Coveney, Mrs Kate Jarvey, Gerry Boland of JP McManus Charitable Foundation, Rear Admiral Mark Mellett, the Deputy Chief of Staff of the Defence Forces and Gary MacMahon, director of Ilen School. Minister Simon Coveney praised the educational model of … Continue reading 18-02-15: Uniting Ireland’s Coastal Communities

Extract from West Cork Times, February 17, 2015 SAILORS, shipwrights, well wishers and the plain curious gathered in the Great Corn Store at Hegarty’s Boatyard, at Old Court between Skibbereen and Baltimore, recently to witness a major milestone in Irish shipbuilding. They were there to witness Minister for the Marine, Simon Coveney hammer home the … Continue reading 17-02-15: Minister guest of honour at “whiskey plank” ceremony

Nailing Home The Whiskey Plank MONDAY 16 FEBRUARY 2015 Hegarty’s Boatyard, Old Court, West Cork Simon Coveney T.D. Minister for Agriculture, Food & The Marine and Minister For Defence, with a little help from his friends, will hammer home the final ‘whiskey plank’ of European larch on the hull of the good ship Ilen. THE … Continue reading 02-02-15: Ilen’s Whiskey Plank Ceremony

Extract from Irish Times Sat Jan 24th 2015 Witnessing a “Whiskey Planking” is not an everyday event in a politician’s diary, but Minister for the Marine Simon Coveney is on the guest list for one in a south coast boatyard next month. The “whiskey plank” is the last piece of timber fitted to the outer … Continue reading 24-01-15: Irish sail training “shipshape” in spite of Asgard II loss

The Ilen is now planked, but for a few feet of larch left un-nailed in anticipation of a Whiskey Plank ceremony next Spring. The whiskey plank is the last plank of a wooden ship, and it’s arrival is traditionally heralded with a modest celebration and a “drop o’ the quare stuff”. 2014 has been a … Continue reading 28-12-14: A Wonderful Year for the Ilen Draws To A Close

At 11.30 am today the task of planking the good ship Ilen was finally accomplished. A few feet have been deliberately been left unspiked – to facilitate a modest Whiskey Plank celebration, sometime in the Spring when the weather softens. The rig is well underway at the Ilen School, Limerick, with new main, top and … Continue reading 30-11-14: The “Whiskey Plank” of Ireland’s Sole Surviving Sailing Ship