Conor O'Brien, Circumnavigator

Ireland’s Conor O'Brien Now Listed Tops Of Cape Horners

17th January 2026 Conor O'Brien

When the International Association of Cape Horners first saw the light of day in its earliest form in 1936 in St Malo, the Last Grain Race (as so brilliantly recounted by Eric Newby) had just been sailed from Australia to…

Saoirse: Celebrating 100 Years of Ireland's Historic Voyage

19th July 2025 Conor O'Brien

A significant milestone, documented in Afloat last month, the centenary of the Saoirse’s historic voyage has quietly passed by, writes Flor McCarthy in this weekend's Irish Times. In June 1925, the small Irish ketch became the first vessel to sail…

Conor O'Brien's Saoirse Circumnavigation Centenary "Put to Rest" In Dun Laoghaire's Royal Irish YC

21st June 2025 Conor O'Brien

It was an extraordinary and eclectic group of boats new and old - some very old – that gathered yesterday (Friday) afternoon and on into the evening in Dun Laoghaire, there to celebrate the Centenary of an event which some…

Ilen begins departure from her confined berth in Kilmore Quay by going astern on the starboard aft spring, while hauling a cross-harbour port bow warp

Ilen Passes The "Kilmore Test" While Heading for O'Brien Centenary in Dun Laoghaire

18th June 2025 Conor O'Brien

The trading ketch Ilen's stately progress from Baltimore towards the Royal Irish Yacht Club for Friday (June 20th's) Conor O'Brien Circumnavigation Centenary saw skipper James Lyons of Sailing Into Wellness, owners of the ketch, making a neat job of extracting…

The Ilen at sea, on passage this past weekend from Baltimore to Kinsale

Conor O'Brien and Saoirse Circumnavigation Centenary Is Bringing Summer To Dublin Bay

16th June 2025 Conor O'Brien

The Conor O'Brien and Saoirse Circumnavigation Centenary Cruise-in-Company is well on its way from Baltimore towards Dun Laoghaire, with the 56ft ketch Ilen as flagship and Irish Cruising Club Rear Commodore Sally Cudmore of Crosshaven in charge. They were seen…

Star quality. The re-created Saoirse on her mooring in Baltimore, with the roofless friary on Sherkin Island beyond

Centenary of Conor O'Brien's Pioneering Global Circumnavigation To Be Celebrated in Dun Laoghaire Next Friday

14th June 2025 Conor O'Brien

The superb sailing waters of southwest Ireland are busy these days. Things have barely settled down after the fleet in the Volvo Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Race speeded past Baltimore on Thursday, yet today (Saturday), Baltimore sees the beginnings of…

Back in the day a hundred years ago, you were expected to be able to thread your way through many anchored yachts to reach the in-harbour finish of a Dun Laoghaire regatta, as demonstrated here by Dublin Bay 25s and Mark II Water Wags

Ireland's Sailing Centenaries – Their Deeper Meaning

31st May 2025 W M Nixon

Commemorating Centenaries is a blunt instrument. In recent years, there have been many significant hundred year markers ashore and afloat. They've been of international, national, local and specialist significance. An almost inevitable Centenary fatigue may well have set in. Yet…

An almost supernatural place. Maire Breathnach of Dungarvan, Honorary Editor of the Irish Cruising Club's Annual Journal, on the helm of Andrew Wilkes Swan 42 King of Hearts at Cape Horn

Ireland Celebrates Centenary Of Conor O'Brien Rounding Cape Horn

7th December 2024 W M Nixon

On the evening of Tuesday December 2nd 1924, a small bluff-bowed 42ft gaff-rigged ketch of antique appearance approached Cape Horn from the west across the Great Southern Ocean. The weather had been unsettled with winds from several directions, and two…

Saoirse by moonlight off Ibiza at New Year, 1932. Saoirse was rigged as a brigantine when she sailed to Ibiza, but thanks to Conor O’Brien’s willingness to have a notably long main gaff boom aloft on the aft mast, the rig change had been done using the same compact ketch masts that sailed her round the world

Another “First” For Conor O'Brien: His Alternative Image of An Unknown Ibiza

14th February 2024 Conor O'Brien

Conor O'Brien’s outstanding pioneering achievement was in demonstrating that a sailing vessel as small as his own-designed 42ft Baltimore-built ketch Saoirse could complete a global circumnavigation through the vast expanse of the Southern Ocean, south of the Great Capes. The…

The first boat ever to be awarded a major perpetual cruising trophy was Royal Ulster YC member Dr Howard Sinclair’s 26ft Brenda, which received the new Challenge Cup of the Cruising Club in 1895 for a Round Ireland cruise. Built as a straight-stemmed racing boat to W E Paton’s designs in Belfast in 1886, Brenda was converted for cruising in 1891, and in 1894 she was lengthened forward with a “modern” stem to Dr Sinclair’s own designs by John Hilditch of Carrickfergus

Ireland’s Cruising And Voyaging Continues To Develop The Rich Legacy And International Friendship Radiating From Cork

16th December 2023 W M Nixon

In a week’s time, Sailing on Saturday will resume normal service with a preview on December 23rd of the up-coming Cruising Yacht Club of Australia Rolex Sydney-Hobart Race on December 26th, both generally and from an Irish angle, for we…

Ger O’Rourke of Limerick’s Cookson 50 Chieftain slicing her way through the Solent at the start of the 2007 Rolex Fastnet Race, from which she emerged as overall winner

Shannon Estuary & Limerick Have Combined Over Centuries As Ireland’s Most Innovative Sailing Area

18th November 2023 W M Nixon

The Cruising Group can often emerge as the backbone of any sailing club, particularly in the winter. Back in the day when the new Howth Yacht Club premises opened in March 1987, fresh concepts were needed to ensure that the…

Historic Irish vessel the AK Ilen departing the Port of Funchal, Madeira, as the Saoirse Centenary Rally draws to a close

Conor O'Brien 'Saoirse' Rally Hailed a Success as Fleet Prepare to Depart Madeira

17th July 2023 Conor O'Brien

The centenary international Irish sailing event called the ‘Saoirse Rally’ has come to a successful end on the 8th of July 2023 after a series of celebrations hosted in Funchal, Madeira by the Clube Naval de Funchal, Madeira Tourism Board…

A hundred years down the line. Ilen leads the Conor O’Brien Centenary Parada Nautica at Funchal

Conor O’Brien Two Year Saoirse Circumnavigation Centenary Celebration Now Well Under Way

11th July 2023 Conor O'Brien

A hundred years ago on this day, Conor O’Brien of Limerick’s 42ft own-designed ketch - newly-built by Tom Moynihan of Baltimore with some of the West Cork shipwright’s small but very effective hull shape improvements - was well into a…

The Grandnieces and Grand nephew of Conor O'Brien with their children onboard the restored Ilen that departed Dun Laoghaire for Madeira to celebrate the Centenary of Limerick man Conor O’Brien’s circumnavigation of the globe in June 1923

Ketch Ilen is Lead Vessel in Saoirse Rally to Celebrate Legendary Irish Sailor Conor O'Brien

20th June 2023 Conor O'Brien

An international Irish sailing event called the “Saoirse Rally” organised by the Irish Cruising Club, launched from Dun Laoghaire harbour, Co. Dublin, Ireland last Saturday, 17th June 2023, to commemorate the heroic achievements one hundred years ago of legendary Irish…

The Conor O’Brien/Saoirse Circumnavigation Centenary Celebrations get underway with the Ilen at the Royal Irish Yacht Club in Dun Laoghaire on Saturday, preparing for departure for Madeira

Conor O’Brien Honoured With Ilen Dun Laoghaire Celebration For Saoirse Circumnavigation Centenary

18th June 2023 Ilen

The Commemoration of the Centenary of the pioneering global circumnavigation south of the Great Capes by Conor O’Brien of Foynes, sailing the 42ft ketch Saoirse between June 20th 1923 and June 20th 1925, was put underway yesterday (Saturday) from Dun…

The ketch Ilen alongside the Royal Irish Yacht Club at an Irish Cruising Club/Royal Cruising Club gathering to mark the beginning of celebrations of the centenary of Conor O'Brien's departure in Saoirse from Dun Laoghaire Harbour

Ilen Departure from Dun Laoghaire Harbour Marks Start of Conor O'Brien’s Saoirse Centenary Celebrations

18th June 2023 Historic Boats

The Royal Irish Yacht Club was the focus on Saturday afternoon for the beginning of celebrations of the centenary of Conor O'Brien's departure in Saoirse from Dun Laoghaire Harbour on his pioneering global circumnavigation. An Irish Cruising Club/Royal Cruising Club gathering was hosted…

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About Conor O'Brien, Irish Circumnavigator

In 1923-25, Conor O'Brien became the first amateur skipper to circle the world south of the Great Capes. O'Brien's boat Saoirse was reputedly the first small boat (42-foot, 13 metres long) to sail around the world since Joshua Slocum completed his voyage in the 'Spray' during 1895 to 1898. It is a journey that O' Brien documented in his book Across Three Oceans. O'Brien's voyage began and ended at the Port of Foynes, County Limerick, Ireland, where he lived.

Saoirse, under O'Brien's command and with three crew, was the first yacht to circumnavigate the world by way of the three great capes: Cape Horn, Cape of Good Hope and Cape Leeuwin; and was the first boat flying the Irish tri-colour to enter many of the world's ports and harbours. He ran down his easting in the Roaring Forties and Furious Fifties between the years 1923 to 1925.

Up until O'Brien's circumnavigation, this route was the preserve of square-rigged grain ships taking part in the grain race from Australia to England via Cape Horn (also known as the clipper route).

At a Glance - Conor O'Brien's Circumnavigation

In June 1923, Limerick man Conor O’Brien set off on his yacht, the Saoirse — named after the then newly created Irish Free State — on the two-year voyage from Dun Laoghaire Harbour that was to make him the first Irish amateur to sail around the world.

June 1923 - Saoirse’s arrival in Madeira after her maiden passage out from Dublin Bay

2nd December 1924 - Saoirse crossed the longitude of Cape Horn

June 20th 1925 - O’Brien’s return to Dun Laoghaire Harbour