Currach Rowers of Connecticut Shores

08/08/2026

Learn to “Row Irish” lessons

The Currach Rowers of Connecticut Shores will provide Learn to “Row Irish” lessons at the two-day Connecticut Maritime Heritage Festival, September 12 and 13 at the historic Fort Trumbull, New London.

This two-day waterfront festival on New London's historic harbor celebrates Connecticut's maritime heritage and spirit of innovation. Tall ship visits, schooner cruises, maritime crafts, naval demonstrations, and live music along the Thames River and Custom House Pier make for a lively recognition and celebration of Connecticut’s continuing maritime culture. There is no charge.

Those interested in learning the sport will please contact [email protected] and reserve a half-hour lesson. Wear soft shoes such as old sneakers. No flip flops, no bare feet.

08/08/2026

The Currach Rowers of Connecticut Shores welcomed four additional league teams to the Custom House Pier, New London this past Saturday, July 25th for this team’s annual regatta.

Team members of the North American Currach Association (NACA) had towed a currach, and this local team offered an additional craft for “commuting” members, reported president Maureen Plumleigh, president of the local team. Teams from Albany, Annapolis, Philadelphia, and Boston’s Connemara team engaged in spirited chase in the somewhat choppy waters of the mouth of the Thames River.

Earning highest points of the day was the team from Philadelphia, which also took home the trophy awarded by the Ancient Order of Hibernians, John P Holland division. Members of the AOH division also provided hands-on support, helping the day unfold smoothly for all.

Races in various configurations of rowers tested the rowers’ skills and teamwork - four man, four women, two man, two man-two women, two women, and one man-one woman.

07/30/2026

🚣 A boat made of tarred canvas stretched over a timber frame, weighing barely a few dozen kilos, has been putting to sea off the west coast of Ireland for something close to two thousand years.

The currach (KUR-akh) descends from ancient hide covered boats, the timber frame originally wrapped in cow hide rather than canvas, a design old enough to appear in early written descriptions of Irish seafaring. Modern versions swap the hide for tarred canvas but keep the same skeletal timber frame and the same essential shape, narrow, light, and startlingly seaworthy for something you can lift with two men.

That lightness is the entire point. A currach can be launched and hauled up a rocky slip with no harbour at all, riding over swell that would swamp a heavier boat, which made it the practical choice for the exposed, harbourless coastlines and islands of the west, particularly the Aran Islands and Kerry. Fishermen used them for lobster potting, for hauling turf and livestock between islands and mainland, occasionally, remarkably, for genuinely long open sea crossings.

They are still built and raced today, in currach regattas held along the coast every summer, using building methods barely changed from the ones a fisherman would have recognised centuries ago.

07/15/2026

POSTPONED UNTIL AUGUST

The Currach Rowers of Connecticut Shores will join New London Community Boatworks POSTPONED UNTIL AUGUST, Crocker’s Boatyard, 50 Howard Street, New London. The theme is Small and Smaller Boats, and boaters – avid or interested – are invited to show their small boat, as well as to tell a favorite boating story. Kids and adults alike are invited to carve a boat out of a watermelon.

There is no charge to participate or simply learn about small boats.

New London Community Boatworks seeks to connect young people to the sea through teaching the traditional craft of boatbuilding and the development of skills that promote pride, purpose, and place Committed to workforce development through connecting kids to craft. Contact leader Ben Ellcome at [email protected].
https://www.nlcboatworks.org/

The Currach Rowers will exhibit photos and a video of life in Ireland and competing in the United States. President Maureen Plumleigh will explain the construction and purpose of a currach, and anyone may snap a photo against the backdrop picturing them as a traditional Irish rower in a painted currach.

Anyone interested in learning to row a currach may register at the team’s table for the next Learn to Row “Irish” event.

06/28/2026

Fun times at "Learn to Row Irish” during the WoodenBoat Show at Mystic Seaport.

06/28/2026

Great fun getting to row a currach during the WoodenBoat Show at Mystic Seaport.

06/23/2026

The Currach Rowers of Connecticut Shores will offer "Learn to Row Irish” lessons at the Wooden Boat Show, Saturday and Sunday, June 27 and 28. The event takes place at Mystic Seaport, and the Currach Rowers will partner with the Traditional Small Craft Association, John Gardner Chapter, on Australia Beach.

Currach Rowers will demonstrate the art of rowing an Irish currach and also teach those interested. The group will be located on Australia Beach with the Traditional Small Craft Association, near the South Main Entrance.

Those interested will please contact [email protected] and reserve a half-hour lesson. Wear soft shoes such as old sneakers. No flip flops, no bare feet.

All attendees must purchase a Seaport admission. https://mysticseaport.org/visit/hours-tickets/ , and enter at either of the two main entrances of Mystic Seaport.

06/05/2026

You’ll meet the Currach Rowers of Connecticut Shores on the Connecticut River Museum lawn and by the boat launch at the end of Main Street (near the Marquee tent) on Saturday and Sunday. Remember, daytime performances are free. Find them on the schedule (aka The Grid): https://bit.ly/2026GRID

This group showcases an authentic currach, a vessel used since ancient times. Our currach is a modern version of its ancestors, built in the traditional ways, but with a sheet of canvas, not cow hide, covering the steam-bent wood lathe body. Initially used for transportation between remote islands, the craft also carried provisions and supplies, as well as animals. The Currach Rowers prepare for, and compete in, the seasonal regattas of the North American Currach Association (NACA). It’s a rugged sport, but it’s also full of strength, determination and good Irish spirit.

For more information about the Connecticut Sea Music Festival and to download a schedule of events, visit: ctseamusicfest.org/2026-festival

05/12/2026

Took another new rower out today - awesome job Stacie!

04/24/2026

Flashback ...

Our 2026 Regatta is scheduled for Saturday July 25, New London City Pier

The Custom House Pier at the Waterfront Park in New London was the place for a currach rowing regatta on 30 July. 3 August 2022By Göran R Buckhorn For the first time in his life, HTBS reporter Göra…