We have five East Coast Skiffs at Stella Maris and race them throughout the summer up and
down the east coast of Ireland. The season begins in late May and runs all the way to
August Bank Holiday with the finale in Wicklow. You can see our upcoming regattas HERE
(link).
Racing starts at under 12 age level for boys and girls leading all the way to adult where there
are three grades: Intermediate, Junior and Senior. There are also classes for Mixed (male &
female) and Veteran (over 45’s). Crews comprise of four rowers and a cox.

The East Coast Skiff is a 25ft long double ended clinker-built rowing boats based on the East
Coast of Ireland. It is widely raced by rowing clubs based in coastal communities from
Balbriggan in North Co. Dublin to Arklow in South Co. Wicklow. In the 19 th  and early
20 th  centuries, the skiff was the work horse of the old Hobblers who used to race out to sea
off the Dublin & Wicklow coasts in order to meet incoming ships. Their challenge was to be
the first one to land their hooks on the inbound vessel where the victorious crew would earn
the right to Pilot the vessel into port and win the contract to load / unload the ships’ cargo.
This was an extremely dangerous means of earning a living with crews having to put to sea
in often dangerous weather conditions and often having to spend days at a time at sea in
open boats with no shelter in order to give themselves the best chance of landing their catch.
With advances in maritime technology in the second half of the 20 th  century, the Hobblers of
old soon found themselves surplus to requirements and the trade of Hobbling soon became
but a distant memory.
Although Hobbling faded into the past, the Coastal Communities love of skiff racing
continued. The heavy and often unwieldly skiffs of old evolved into racing machines, lighter
and sleeker and more suited to racing than the workhorses of old.
As had happened with other branches of Irish Coastal Rowing, competition developed not
just in the fitness and skills of the crews but also in the speed and agility of the boats
meaning that often races were being won not because the winning crews were faster,
stronger and fitter but because their boats were faster, lighter and more seaworthy. The East
Coast Rowing Council which is the Class Association of the East Coast Skiff finally said
enough was enough and decided to opt for a standard design and ruled that from then on all
skiffs built after the introduction of this rule would have to be built in accordance with the
stated guidelines.