Vote Now For Schull's Restored Lady Min In Classic Awards

19th January 2023

Re-born. The restored Lady Min at Cork Week 2022. You can now vote for her in the International Classic Boat Awards Credit: Bob Bateman

Irish boat restoration projects are no strangers to the annual International Classic Boat Awards, the most recent being April 2022's accolade for Stephen Morris of Kilrush and his work on the Dublin Bay 21s for Fionan de Barra and Hal Sisk of Dun Laoghaire, with the multi-tasking Hal Sisk receiving the ultimate recognition as Classic Boater of the Year 2022.

This time round, our leading representative is the 1902-vintage cutter Lady Min, designed and built in Schull, West Cork by Maurice O'Keeffe. Since 2014, the original owner-designer-builder's great-grandson Simon O'Keeffe had been running a holding operation with this remarkable and notably speedy boat, waiting until the time was right to give master craftsman Tiernan Roe of Roeboats near Ballydehob the go-ahead for a complete restoration.

The work - a major project - eventually got under way for completion in time for the 2022 season, and during the summer Lady Min became a much-admired prize-winning competitor at regattas all along the south coast. Now she is a high-profile nominee for a Classic Boat award, and all voting support is welcome for this happy conclusion to a remarkable story, details here

An early stage of the Lady Min restoration, with Tiernan Roe carefully removing material

Published in Historic Boats, West Cork

Published in Historic Boats

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Lady Min

About The Author

WM Nixon

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William M Nixon has been writing about sailing in Ireland for many years in print and online, and his work has appeared internationally in magazines and books. His own experience ranges from club sailing to international offshore events, and he has cruised extensively under sail, often in his own boats which have ranged in size from an 11ft dinghy to a 35ft cruiser-racer. He has also been involved in the administration of several sailing organisations.

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