Galways hooker ‘Mac Duach’ glides into Ballina Quay for regatta

The Galway hooker Mac Duach glided into unfamiliar waters yesterday as it arrived at Ballina Quay in Co Mayo for the local three-day regatta.

Its owner, Dr Michael Brogan said it was the first time in living memory that the classic traditional vessel, had negotiated the Moy estuary despite it having been to Greenland and Spitzbergen in Norway in recent times.

Dr Brogan's shipmates on the trip from Kinvara to Ballina were Jarlath Cunnane and Tom Moran.

Both Brogan and Cunnane have extensive experience of sailing in both the Arctic and Antarctic and are veterans of successful attempts to negotiate the North West Passage.

The first Ballina Quay Regatta since the 1990s, presented by the Moy Estuary boat club and the Ballyglass Lifeboat RNLI Service, continues until tomorrow.