Further tributes have been paid to marine scientist, sailor and classic boat activist Padraic de Bhaldraithe, who has died aged 77.
As The Sunday Independent reports, it was among the rock pools and on the deck of Galway Hookers, still delivering turf to the islands, that a young Pádraic developed his passion for the sea.
His older sister Clíona says their mother Vivienne supported her brother in his plan to build a wooden kayak at their home in Dublin which they then took to the west during the summer.
After secondary school at Gonzaga College, Ranelagh, Pádraic studied zoology at University College, Dublin.
He took postgraduate studies in marine zoology and oceanography at what was then University College, Galway, and was sent to the Centre Nationale pour l’Exploration des Oceans in Brest, France, to study aquaculture.
He took a break from studies to manage a salmon farm in Leitir Meallain. Close friend and vet Maurice Ó Scanáill recalls in The Connacht Tribune that he introduced Pádraic to another post-graduate student, Máire Ní Rónáin, when visiting Leitir Mealláin.
The couple reared three children, and Pádraic taught biology at second and third level, latterly becoming an inspector for the Department of Education.
He sailed a wooden vessel once rigged as a pucán mór, and was a founding member of the Galway Hooker Association which aimed to preserve and promote the skills of building and sailing the classic craft.
Marine biologist and author Dr Peter Vine, who invited him to work with plankton research as part of the Cambridge Coral Starfish Research Group in the Red Sea, recalls many sailing trips that he and his wife Paula had with de Bhaldraithe.
“Padraic brought an intellect and inquisitiveness to all that he engaged with and his Sudanese trip was no exception,”Vine said.
“ I have fond memories of him playing the tin whistle after a hard day's work, drawing fascinated Sudanese and other team members under his spell. Music always featured in our gatherings,”he said.
“Padraic was my mentor in establishing our salmon farm in the early days of fish farming in Ireland. He was the biological consultant on the film we made, Nightlife, which was nominated for an Academy Award, ”Vine recalled.
During the 2011/2012 Volvo Ocean race, Pádraic also worked with Vine to organise a Galway hooker- Arab dhow cultural exchange.
The Galway gleoiteog Nóra Bheag and a currach were shipped out to Abu Dhabi for the race stopover, and several dhows were then flown into Shannon, with their sailors taking to the waters of Galway Bay.
Vine recalled many stories told by de Bhaldraithe of his adventures, and noted that they were “understated, modest and usually recounted with a wry smile, leaving the listener in awe of his quiet seamanship and deep love of the sea in all its aspects”,
De Bhaldraithe was author of several books, including Saothrú an Uisce (1990) on aquaculture, and Loingseoir na Saoirse (1996), a biography of the Irish round world sailor Conor O’Brien.
He also translated and annotated the classic work, The Shores of Connemara, by Séamas Mac an Iomaire, with illustrations by Sabine Springer, and dedicated it to the Connemara Environmental Education Centre in Letterfrack, Co Galway.
He was Irish language officer with the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group, translating publications like its Blubber Book and occasionally joining its members for trips on the Celtic Mist.
President Michael Higgins said that de Bhaldraithe was instilled with “a natural instinct for friendship and companionship” and “brought light, humour and a great courtesy to all occasions”.
He “unstintingly gave his heart and soul to all the other shared areas of Irish life… including traditional music, sailing and the protection of the seas”, President Higgins said.
Pádraic de Bhaldraithe is survived by his wife Máire, his children Sorcha, Rónán and Caoilfhionn and extended family.
More in The Sunday Independent here
