Kinsale Yacht Club member Vincent Murphy has put together a presentation on circumnavigator Conor O’Brien, which he will give on Thursday, February 9.
Murphy has compiled a booklet on the subject, which he is in the process of having printed at the moment for purchase on the night.
Conor O’Brien, a grandson of Young Irelander William Smith O'Brien, designed his own 42’ yacht, Saoirse, in 1922 and built it in a Baltimore boatyard. Then on 20th June 1923, he set out on a voyage around the world. He chose the most difficult route, the clipper route, west to east and south of Cape of Good Hope, Cape Leeuwin (SW Australia) and Cape Horn, the first small craft to do this.
After an eventful and groundbreaking voyage, he returned to Dún Laoghaire precisely two years later, on 20th June 1925. 10,000 people turned out to welcome him home.
Murphy's presentation will cover O'Brien's life in general, including his running guns for the Irish Volunteers in 1914 (both Conor and Erskine Childers were involved, Childers in Asgard and Conor in his earlier yacht, Kelpie) and, of course, his circumnavigation.
As Afloat reported earlier, Murphy travels to O'Brien's home on the Shannon Estuary before the KYC talk to deliver his presentation at Foynes Yacht Club tonight (Friday, January 13th).
