The wreck of a custom made vintage speed boat lost on Lough Ree has been discovered after an 8 year search.
Fergal Butler was sailing the Old's Cool from Lanesboro to Athlone in June 2015 when he encountered a severe hailstorm.
The boat was damaged in high waves and sank almost immediately, forcing Fergal to be rescued by his back up boat.
Due to the weather and the strong winds, he was unable to exactly pinpoint the last location of Old's Cool.
Over the last 8 years, he's been sailing the section of lake the boat was last seen in, using sonar to scan the lake bed for signs of the boat.
During that time, he's located 50 wrecks before coming across a boat he was sure was his.
On Saturday, divers from the Athlone Sub Aqua Club, including Ethan Devaney, entered the water and finally found the classic speedboat.
''You can only see a metre in front of you, and when you're looking for something like that it's going to be covered in filth and zebra mussels so we dropped a shot line, descended the shot line and we done what we use in search and recovery - circle searches, it took a few minutes but when I found it I knew straight away.''
Listen to the full interview here.
