Date: 22nd April 2011 – Monday 2nd May 2011

Location: Dromod (first weekend), Athlone or Dromineer (second weekend)

Organised by:
Inland Waterways Association of Ireland – Powerboat Branch

The draft plan overview is as follows but not limited to the following.
Have 2 locations to hold the weekend events from that can provide access to:

  • Easy river access (slip ways).
  • Safe and Secure Parking.
  • A choice of food & accommodation to cater for all budgets including camping and campers.
  • A Location to provide viewing of an on-the-water parade of classic and not so classic boats that will be of interest to participants and general public.
  • Local area advertising to attract the general public.
  • Areas of open water to allow exploration.
  • Planned river trips to points of interest.
  • On and off water competitions e.g. Boat handling & Pub Quiz etc.
  • Location for daytime BBQ trip with shelter.

The 2 areas are Dromod (north Shannon) and either Athlone (Lough Ree) or Dromineer (Lough Derg) as they have most if not all the criteria that are needed

Dear Powerboaters,

After several months of discussion and planning, we can now announce the high level plans for the 2011 Powerboat Rally of Ireland. It began with much interest from our friends across the water in the CMBA (Classic Motor Boat Association, UK – http://www.cmba-uk.com/) who have always loved the idea of visiting Ireland for a fresh water rally.
With thanks to user Coreibh, the initial discussion soon gathered pace into the IWAI, and we can now announce that this event will be going ahead with the support of the IWAI, CMBA and CPB (to name a few).

As part of the initial discussions, it has been decided to create a Powerboat branch of the IWAI with the approval of Paul Garland, President of the IWAI. Further details on this will be forthcoming soon, but it is hoped that we can put more formality around the numerous informal groups and meets that happen on our waterways through an Official group (as well as increasing the number of events).

At the rally, we anticipate a wide variety of attendees ranging from the CMBA (UK) classic powerboaters, to the Club Powerboat.ie and IWAI cruisers and powerboat owners (several are CMBA members also).
All are welcome, and we will ask you to watch this space for more details on registration and a timetable for events. Volunteers are always welcome to help with the event(s).

The rally will consist of 2 weekends on the Shannon waterway (based at Dromod and either Athlone or Dromineer) with details of other locations (e.g. Lough Corrib, Lough Erne) available as part of the event programme to enable attendees visit other sections of the waterways on the weekdays in between.

We hope that you will support this event and the new IWAI Powerboat* branch as it all evolves in the coming weeks. More details will be published as available with an initial meeting expected in the middle of January to kick off the new branch.