The largest Galway Hooker ever built is due to be donated to the Mayor of Galway Cllr Peter Keane and Bádoirí an Cladaigh in the Claddagh Basin on Saturday (July 20).
The classic boat building and training group will maintain the Naomh Bairbre, which will be used for both sail training and as an artists’ performance space.
The 47 ft vessel was built by Connemara carpenter Steve Mulkerrins over two decades ago in Chicago. He then sailed it through the Great Lakes and across the Atlantic in 2006
Mulkerrins, from Maumeen, Co Galway, explains that he gave the Naomh Bairbre to Bádoirí an Chladaigh on a loan four or five years ago.
The largest Galway Hooker ever built is due to be donated to the Mayor of Galway Cllr Peter Keane and Bádoirí an Cladaigh
“I want it to stay now in Galway as it is called a Galway hooker for a reason, and it will be a great boat for sailing training and day trips in the bay, and for artists in the winter,” Mulkerrins says.
Mulkerrins had imported the wood for the construction from Wicklow, and balladeer John Flaherty was among those who helped out. He wanted to sail the vessel to Ireland from the US in memory of his late father Colm.
The return home was planned in stages, as it was a 2,000-mile navigation from Chicago to the Hudson River alone.
The Atlantic crossing in 2006 took Mulkerrins 28 days, passing the Aran islands and on into the quay at Maumeen with his shipmates Pat and Tom Joyce, Coley Newell, and Barney Flaherty.
Peter Connolly of Badóirí an Cladaigh said the group was delighted with Steve’s gesture.
“It will become a municipal floating arts space for artists and musicians who can use it when it is not out sailing,”he said.
