# Donald Attig

Donald Attig (born February 2, 1936, in Pontiac, Illinois), also known as Donnacha Attig, is an American inventor, boat designer, entrepreneur and yachtsman.

## Life

Attig was educated in Illinois and attended St. Mary's Grade School and Pontiac Township High School in Flanagan, moving on to study at Eureka College. After working in several industries, Attig retired for the first time in his twenties, so that he could cruise on a power boat that he had designed and built. He was among the first to make a water journey from Seneca, Illinois, on the Illinois River to New Orleans, near the terminus of the Mississippi River. After New Orleans, he voyaged around the Gulf Coast, eventually crossing the Gulf of Mexico to St. Petersburg, Florida.
Attig established three World Class Benchmark records in the Adventure, Endurance, and Challenge categories. In the late sixties, he developed a system for assembly line production of panelized, all-molded homes.

### Boat design and building, early sailing

In 1968, with the approval of Brian O’Kelly, Attig became the first to build a three-masted, Irish-flagged sailboat from the keel up in the US. For ten years, Attig and his family lived and voyaged aboard the schooner. He skippered the vessel over 5,000 miles on rivers and inland waterway systems before taking it out to sea. During the 5,000 mile experience, he developed and honed the skills which decades later would carry him to his World Class Benchmark record efforts. Attig sailed with his wife and newborn son to Ireland in 1977, as well as many other points of call. Two of his five children, Omar Brendan and John Paul, were born on the vessel. For years, Attig and Omar offered free sailing excursions on the schooner for at-risk youth of any religion from Northern Ireland. After Omar, who had been born on the boat, died in a car crash, Attig donated his boat to the VEC Youth Reach Program.

## Benchmark Records

Between the ages of 71 and 73, Attig was involved in establishing International Benchmark records in the fields of Endurance Challenge and Adventure Challenge:
* In 2007, on a motorless liveaboard boat, he organized and co-crewed the first transit from Shannon Navigation to the Seaport of Tarbert, County Kerry. The River Shannon is the longest river in Ireland.
* In 2008, he traveled through the entire Shannon Navigation to the Seaport of Foynes, County Limerick, using the same liveaboard boat.
* In 2008, he was the first person to transit the River Erne Navigation in a motorless liveaboard boat.
During these three World-Class Benchmark record efforts, most of the distance was accomplished by rowing.

## Shannon Benchmark records

From the start of the Shannon Navigation at the Inishmagrath marker, on Lough Allen, in County Leitrim to the end of Shannon Navigation at Killaloe, County Clare, to the Port of Tarbot in the Sea Estuary Attig passed through 33 bridges, six locks, and nine lakes, without mechanical power. The strong flow through many of the bridges on the route can cause difficulty for both powered and non-powered boats. For example, the water flow through Killaloe Bridge can be 600 to 700 tonnes per second. In addition to bridges and fast flow rates, Ardnacrusha power station and prevailing winds from the southwest posed further difficulty for Attig.

## 2007 Benchmark efforts

During the 2007 record-establishing effort, Jack Donovan of Ballincollig, Co. Cork (who was 60 at the time and had been living with multiple sclerosis) and Attig rowed well over 90% of the time. They rowed mostly in a zig-zag pattern due to the wind resistance on the large topside area and the almost flat box-type bow of the liveaboard boat and gear. When they reached Tarbert, their Satellite navigation device indicated that the pair had traveled more than 268 miles (431 km).

### Shannon Navigation attempt

Attig and Donovan started their benchmark establishing effort on June 29, 2007, at Cormongan Beach on Lough Allen at 10:00 a.m. They rowed from there to the Inishmagrath "end of navigation" marker at the top of Lough Allen. They began the first-ever attempt to make an engineless transit of the Shannon in a boat equipped with liveaboard accommodations. Stephan Haeni, a Swiss National living at Cleighran More, witnessed their arrival and departure at the Inishmagrath Marker. They completed the Shannon Navigation on July 28, 2007, entering the Killaloe Canal at 4:20 p.m., marking the moment when official Shannon Navigation had been transited in an engineless liveaboard boat.

### Beyond the Shannon Navigation

The Irish Coast Guard attempted to dissuade the pair from continuing on past the end of the navigation marker at the Killaloe Bridge. Attig and Donovan left the Killaloe Canal at 4:20 p.m. on July 28, 2007. They dropped anchor in the bay of the seaport of Tarbert, County Kerry at 8:00 p.m. on August 8, establishing the final Benchmark records of their effort. Attig and Donovan were the first crew to transit the River Shannon Navigation and beyond in an engineless boat with full liveaboard capability. Their record-setting efforts were carried out during the wettest summer on the Shannon since 1948.

## 2008 Single-handed feats

Attig established more Adventure Challenge and Endurance Challenge records by making the same trip single-handed in the same vessel, Omar’s River Bird. RTÉ's Nationwide produced a segment about Shannon Challenge 2008 which aired on June 6, 2008.
At 1:30 a.m. June 26, Attig started at Cormongan beach on Lough Allen, in County Leitrim. He was driven back by the wind and had to anchor 30 metres (98 ft) from the beach. It was over two days before he could lift anchor and start for the marker at Inishmagrath. At 12:05 a.m. on August 16, 2008, he reached the Seaport of Foynes.

## 2009 Benchmark Records

Attig became the first person to complete the River Erne Navigation single-handed in an engineless liveaboard boat. He used the same boat for this effort as was used in 2007 and 2008. The Northern Ireland tourist site warns that Upper Lough Erne is “In some places [..] a shallow channel, in others it's five miles wide and very deep.” This Benchmark Record Establishing effort started at Belturbet, Co Cavan August 6, at 6:30 p.m. The effort was completed Sunday, August 30 at 7:45 p.m. at the Public dock in Belleek, County Fermanagh.

## Efforts witnessed and supported

The members of the Inland Waterways Association of Ireland supported, followed and chronicled the efforts of Attig. In 2007 the Lough Derg branch of IWAI awarded the boat and crew honorary membership in their annual Lough Derg rally. In the same year, the IWAI Cruising Club formally welcomed the boat into Foynes harbor, as it returned after completing the Benchmark establishing efforts at Tarbert. The club also made the crew and boat officially part of the 2007 Killaloe to Kilrush Cruise in Company.