Water Wag the oldest (1886) one-design dinghy in existence | Season 2 – Episode 42
Floats Jul 18, 2022
As the old saying goes, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it and the same is true for the Irish ‘Water Wag’ sailing dinghy, the oldest one-design dinghy in existence, having been devised in 1886 and formalised as a one-design class in Ireland in 1887. There was just one revision when it underwent a design modification in 1899 and it has remained unchanged since with 100 year old boats just as competitive as recent builds. So if it ain’t broke don’t fix it.
Our Water Wag story begins back in 1886 in the seaport of Kingtown, a busy centre of sailing around 10 kms south of Dublin on Ireland’s east coast. While most of us know this place as Dún Laoghaire (pronounced Dun Leary) back in 1821 in honour of King George IV’s visit the name of the town was changed to Kingstown. In 1920 the town was officially given the name Dún Laoghaire, reflecting the original Irish name.
In 1886, while sailing at the time was a popular pastime for Dublin’s middle classes, it was also an expensive hobby for many. Eager to not only to open up the sport to as many people as possible, but also to ensure that competitiveness on the water was as a result of the sailors skill instead of how technically advanced their boat was, Dublin lawyer and keen sailor Thomas Middleton came up with his novel idea for a one-design dinghy class.
As to where the name ‘Water Wag come from, it is believed that after Thomas Middleton had canvased for his new design that the name was then devised from a combination of local birdlife, the wagtails on the nearby Killiney beach and a light-hearted nod to the fun-on-the-water ethos proposed by Middleton where the club’s members would be of good-humour and ‘waggish’.
Middleton presented his plans to the gentlemen members of the Shankill Corinthian Sailing Club. His plan was twofold and involved freezing boat design to a specific date to ensure that all boats in a particular race would be built to the same approved ‘model’ and that all subsequent races would then only be a pure test of the skills of the crew.
The second part of his proposed plan was for the new series of boat to be a double-ended sailing and rowing boat, open decked, with single mast close to the bow, built of silver spruce and employing the clinker/ clincher method of construction whereby the hull planking overlaps. The sails were initially to be made of calico or cotton.
To evaluate if their plan would work in practice, the club proposed to build a series of boats to the smallest possible design and if this then proved successful, this series of design would be applied to larger vessels.
A meeting of the Corinthian Sailing Club was held in Dublin on October 27 1886 where the club finalised the design brief as follows; length was set at 13ft with a 4” 10’ beam. To provide lift to counter the lateral force from the sails a retractable iron keel which pivots out of a slot in the hull was proposed. Standard rigging supported the mast and 75 sq. ft. of sails including a 60 sq. ft spinnaker though no jib sail.
Along with being competitive, the design had to be light enough to be carried by two people as they had to be easily launched from the Killiney and Shankill beaches and seaworthy enough not to be swamped by the surf.
Seeking quotations the club dispatched boat sketches to boat yards across Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales. Leading the way Thomas Middleton had the first boat of the new designs built by Robert McAlister in Dumbarton, Scotland and it is believed that he was in turn assisted by Scottish yacht designer G.L. Watson.
In December 1886, costing £14 ‘Eva, known as’ the mother of the fleet,” was delivered to Kingstown harbour and launched on January 1 1886. As the boat construction got into full swing, McAlister built a further three boats that year Brenda, Dot and Yum Yum. By the end of the first year thirteen Water Wags had been built.
On April 12 1887 the very first one-design race in history took place. The race entry fees were 1/- per boat and Brenda, Dot, Eva and Yum Yum, competed. The Irish-built Oof Bird was on the water that day, but failed to failed to pay her entry fee and furthermore was later found not to conform to the agreed-upon design. The race start time of 12:30 pm was marked by the Kingstown (Dún Laoghaire) town hall clock and when the bell chimed the race began and was won by Yum Yum.
In short enough time, by 1889 it was realised that the 1887 rules were not strict enough, and that the double-ended boat design was expensive to build for many existing and potential sailors. Costs needed to be curtailed and it was agreed by the club that the maximum build cost per boat (including the spars) was to be set at £16 with £3 allowed for the sails.
Former Olympian sailor Cathy McAleavy is an acknowledged Wag expert and along with her husband Con Murphy they continue to race competitively. In fact such is Cathy’s love for these unique Irish boats that she apprenticed herself to master boat builder, Jimmy Furey from Lecarrow, Co Roscommon.
She initially met Jimmy when her own Water Wag required minor repair and they struck up a good working relationship which cumulated in her asking Jimmy to take her on as his apprentice. At her time of asking Jimmy had retired several years previously but was willing to come out of his retirement to teach her the skills of boat building and together they built two boats a ‘Shannon One’ design and the ‘Mariposa’ (Water Wag no 45).
Reminiscing on her apprenticeship in an interview with Joe Hogan, Cathy remarked; “I think it was very brave of him to take me on; after all he was a bachelor who had never worked with women before and it would have been easy for him to refuse. It was,” she says, “a great privilege to get such a deep insight into the making culture, down to details like sharpening saws and other tools.”
In outlining the method for building a Water Wag, Jimmy showed her how he steamed wood using an old gas drum to create the steam. Cathy says “it was a nightmare as you had to light a fire under the converted gas bottle filled with water. There was a lot of smoke. I used to feel like the witches in Macbeth! We now use a wallpaper steamer which is awesome as you have steam more or less instantaneously. This is one modern addition Jimmy wished he had had years ago.”
Cathy sourced 3″ planks of oak from Mick Dunne’s timber yard in Tullamore. The keel and keelson are oak and the planking is Stika spruce which came from British Columbia in Canada. The transom and thwarts and top strake are made of Honduran mahogany, all held together with copper nails.
Jimmy Furey died in the summer of 2020, aged 94 years and his life-time of boat building skills live on in the safe hands of Cathy McAleavy. And although it was the Gentlemen of the Corinthian Sailing Club who established the oldest-one-design dinghy class in the world back in 1886, times have moved on and the top three boats racing on June 22 2022 were crewed by five women and one man.
Water Wag racing continues every Wednesday in Dun Laoghaire harbour where there are upwards of 25 boats racing.
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Sources of information
1. Alison Hackett & Justin Geoghegan
2. Making.ie – excerpts and photographs reproduced by kind permission of Hilary Morley
3. Sharing a Skill : Building a Water Wag – excerpts and photographs reproduced by kind permission of Joe Hogan
4. RTE – Nationwide
5. The Nicholas Candy Collection
6. The Water Wags: 1887–2012 by Vincent Delany
9. www.woodenboat.com – Nic Compton
Photo & Video credit:
1. Afloat Magazine/ Baily Publications Ltd – YouTube
2. Brendan Briscoe – Photo
3. David O’Brien – YouTube
4. Tim Wall – Photo
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