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 long ocean voyage which eventually became the first global circumnavigation by a yacht south of the great Capes of Good Hope and Cape Horn.
While his voyage officially got under way from what he preferred to call Dunleary in Dublin Bay on June 20th 1923 - and was to be successfully completed back there on June 20th 1925 – O’Brien personally felt all his projects began and ended when he returned to his home port of Foynes in the Shannon Estuary. But in terms of the testing of a new ship and the gathering of ocean sailing experience, it’s reasonable to assert that his great circumnavigation properly began from his first port of call, Funchal in Madeira some 1,300 sea miles from Dublin Bay, which he reached on July 3rd 1923.
We’re here. And that’s our picture on the wall to prove it. Ilen’s crew in Porto Santo in the north of Madeira celebrate an 11-day voyage over the 1,300 miles from Dun Laoghaire, which they left on June 17th.
For various reasons O’Brien and his crew stayed only three days before heading on south, and soon were into strong nor’east Trade Winds which – while sailing without a port of call through the Canary Islands – was to give Saoirse her best day’s run of the entire voyage: 185 miles on July 9th 1923. But that particular Centenary went unmarked on Sunday last, for in Funchal in Madeira life was returning to normal, after several days of celebration and much Madeiran hospitality commemorating the Centenary of O’Brien’s key visit, the commemoration involving an international rally of leading cruising clubs.
Ilen ahead of Michael Craughwell’s Trewes 20 Orchestra from Galway in Funchal Harbour
With Commodore David Beattie of the Irish Cruising Club as the lead officer in a fleet in which the flagship was the restored 56ft O’Brien-designed trading ketch Ilen of 1926 vintage, the crews relished the many successful celebration programme ideas put together by a special sub-committee headed by Rear Commodore Seamus O’Connor, working with responsive and imaginative Madeiran hosts. In all, the fleet was made up of 28 very varied craft of multiple sizes, coming from the ICC, the Ocean Cruising Club, the Royal Cruising Club and leading Portuguese clubs.
Organising Chairman Seamus O’Connor (left) with Peter Crowley, Louisa Blandy-Moreau of Madeira, and HE Ralph Victory, Irish Ambassador, aboard Ilen. Photo:Aoife Nolan
Tradition brought to life – Ilen on parade in Funchal. Photo: Leszek Wolnik
Galway’s finest – the crew of Michael Craughwell’s 22m ketch Orchestra. Photo: Leszek Wolnik
Many Irish cruising boats are now based on Iberia’s Atlantic coast, but nevertheless the net was widespread, the furthest sailing from the north being Ed Wheeler from Strangford Lough with the Contessa 35 Witchcraft, Brody Sweeney from Malahide with Wotan, and Bob Stewart from Dun Laoghaire with the notably handsome Alden 60 Tara.
Best in Show? Bob Stewart’s classically handsome Alden 60 Tara from Dun Laoghaire. Photo: Leszek Wolnik
James Cahill’s Super Maramu 54 Saol Nua home-ports in Rosmoney on Clew Bay. Photo: Leszek Wolnik
Ed Wheeler’s Contessa 35 Witchcraft from Strangford Lough was a front-runner for furthest-travelled
From the west there was an OCC Belgian-owned alloy Djikstra cutter normally based in the Azores, while the voyage which started furthest east was made by Tony Linehan of Dublin’s Jeanneau 40 Sea Witch from Corfu, through a Mediterranean which was at times distinctly un-Mediterranean in its weather. And while several impressive Galway boats now base themselves south in the sun, there’s no doubt they brought the spirit of the west – beloved of Conor O’Brien – to Funchal.
It was quite a match, for the Madeiran forces of hospitality were comfortably able to provide a ready welcome at a level that any Irish port would find a matter of pride. And it went right to the top, with an Education Ministry painting competition among school children involving the entire archipelago to illustrate O’Brien and his boats, for the presence of Ilen gave it all an added significance, reflected too in the presence of government members and the diplomatic corps.
Happy coincidence. The US Coastguard barque Eagle added to the sense of occasion in Funchal for the Nautical Parade. Photo: Leszek Wolnik
The completeness of the welcome was made even more impressive by the fact that Funchal was still overcoming coastal and township damage inflicted six weeks earlier by Storm Oscar. Torrential rain had caused some land-slips, one of which had blocked the entrance to the marina. But it was dredged and ready to go as the first boats arrived, after an initial fleet assembly at Porto Santo to the north.
Most of the boats involved are accustomed to cruising on their own solitary way across sea and ocean, so for them five days of intensive socializing, celebration and commemoration is always something of a novelty, particularly in such a relatively remote location.
The ever-helpful Club Navale de Funchal staff of Antonio Cunha (Head of Operations), Carlota Duerte (Communications & Protocol) and Marco Gamelas (Director of Sailing). Photo: Aoife Nolan
Yet this “O’Brien’s First” party went so well that the Ocean Cruising Club – founded in 1954 by Humphrey Barton who did much of his early cruising in Ireland – is already thinking of something similar, but also involving the Canaries and Azores – for its 70th Anniversary next year.
Meanwhile the gallant old workhorse Ilen, now of the Sailing Into Wellness organisation, is homeward bound after her central role at the Club Navale in Funchal. Skipper for the outward passage was young Cork sailor Aodh O’Duinn with noted Derry voyager Conall Morrison as First Mate, while Conall is skipper for the return passage, with decidedly eclectic crews for both passages, and everyone on a healthy learning curve.
ICC Commodore David Beattie with Carla Carvalho Esteves of Madeira Tourism, who co-ordinated a remarkable exercise in total hospitality for a very diverse fleet. Photo: Aoife Nolan
For Ilen is a suitable introduction for the majesty of Conor O’Brien’s voyaging visions. Be warned, however, that she is just an introduction, however effectively she does it. She will only partially prepare you for the first sight of the newly re-born Saoirse, still testing the waters of West Cork. This new Saoirse, meticulousy replicated by Liam Hegarty and his team at Oldcourt for Fred Kinmonth with some sensible nods to modernity, really does have blow-your-mind star quality.
The re-born Saoirse has mind-blowing star quality. Photo: W M Nixon
