Tributes have been paid to Badóirí an Cladaigh for illuminating their fleet of Galway hookers for the St Patrick's Day festival.

Galway-based photographer Pat Cantwell captured images of the fleet of vessels on the Claddagh basin in Galway city.

The group, which is one of two organisations in Galway city dedicated to restoration of the traditional craft, also lit the Naomh Crónán in Ukrainian colours as a mark of solidarity with the people of Ukraine since the Russian invasion began on February 24th.

It also illuminated the gleoiteog Rosabel, named after the charity Rosabel's Rooms and moored at Raven Terrace. The gleoiteog was restored by Bádóirí an Cladaigh after it was acquired in 2008.

Rosabel's Rooms was established by Suzanne McClean and Gary Monroe in memory of their daughter Rosabel, who died suddenly in April 2017 when she was just 16 months old.

The charity provides family-focused bereavement suites in hospitals, designed in collaboration with the Irish Hospice Foundation.

Cantwell's photos can be viewed on Facebook here

One of Galway’s fleet of traditional craft has been lit in Ukrainian national colours in support of the people of Ukraine

The Naomh Cronán is decked out in yellow and blue on Galway’s Claddagh basin each evening after sunset.

The 40 foot Naomh Cronán was built to the design of the traditional craft once used for fishing and turf-carrying along the Atlantic coast.

It was constructed as part of a project among Irish language schools in the Clondalkin area of Dublin under the supervision of the late legendary boatbuilder Joe Murphy.

“We were preparing lights for our fleet for St Patrick’s day on March 17th, and decided to light one of the vessels for Ukraine,” Peter Connolly of Bádóirí an Chladaigh, the Claddagh Boatbuilders, said.

The initiative mirrors responses across Ireland in support of Ukraine, with thousands of families offering to take Ukrainian nationals fleeing conflict.

Public buildings have been illuminated in Ukrainian colours across Ireland since Russia launched its invasion on February 24th.

The Claddagh boatbuilders are one of two groups in Galway city involved in the construction and restoration of the traditional vessels.

The boatbuilder group is involved in the annual “greening” of Galway as part of the St Patrick’s Day national festival over four days.

The wooden craft with the signature “tumblehome” hull has been synonymous with Connemara and Kinvara, host to the annual Cruinniú na mBád regatta.

However, as Connolly says, the craft was fished from the Claddagh in the 19th century, until it was gradually displaced. Connolly’s group was formed in response to the sight of several hooker hulls languishing on the Claddagh quay wall.

They formed a partnership with skilled traditional boatbuilders in Rosmuc, Co Galway, and beyond.

There are times when somebody is so skilled in doing good work by stealth that their achievements tend to be hidden in plain sight. We were all reminded of this is in mid-January at the annual international AGM of the Old Gaffers Association, when Paul Kehoe of the Dublin branch was awarded the Jolie Brise Trophy for an exceptional contribution to preserving traditional gaff rig as a viable part of the contemporary sailing scene.

Paul had been “the-man-who-kept-the-show-on-the-road” for so long with the much-travelled Clondalkin community-built classic Galway Hooker Naomh Cronan that the rest of us simply took it for granted. And this attitude persisted even when he organised ace traditional shipwright Donal Greene to give the Cronan a major up-grade in Malahide before she was trucked across Ireland to the new custodianship of the badoiri of Galway City.

The Clondalkin team had moved on to a new Bermuda-rigged vessel more suited to their changing demographic. But with Paul still in the key role, it seemed almost like a seamless change from the “people involved” point of view. Thus it took the Jolie Brise Trophy award to shake us out of our blinkered viewpoint, and we are honoured to make Paul Kehoe the Afloat.ie “Sailor of the Month (Services to Sailing) for January 2022.

The Naomh Cronan re-fitted in Malahide Shipyard, and ready for trucking to new custodianship in Galway. Included in photo are Paul Kehoe (fourth right), DBOGA President Johnny Wedick (left) and master shipwright Donal Greene (right). Photo: Cormac Lowth

For many years until her transfer to Galway in 2021, the Clondalkin community-built Galway Hooker Naomh Cronan was a feature of sailing life in Dublin’s River Liffey at Poolbeg Y&BC in Ringsend, and she was a regular attendee at traditional and classic boat events throughout the Irish Sea and further afield.

Maintaining both her seaworthiness and the high level of activity which was central to her successful existence involved many people, but the one man who became known as “The Keeper of the Show on the Road” was Paul Keogh, who was her Sailing Manager for eighteen years after joining the building team which brought her construction to completion.

The result of a remarkable community effort – the Clondalkin-built Galway Hooker Naomh Cronan in Dublin Bay. Photo: W M Nixon

Paul’s quiet yet very determined enthusiasm, and his sometimes heroic patience as he ensured that Naomh Cronnan was always fully crewed - with newcomers being steadily recruited to the cause - was something for celebration. So when it came to a close in the summer of 2021 with the Cronan’s satisfactory transfer to Galway City custodianship, his fellow members of the Dublin Bay Old Gaffers Association began preparing a proposal that Paul’s unique contribution should receive the ultimate recognition, the Jolie Brise Trophy, which is the supreme award of their central organisation, the Old Gaffers Association.

She really is breath-taking – the magnificent Jolie Brise making knots

The award was confirmed in the online and partly active Annual General Meeting of the OGA in Newcastle in northeast England at the weekend, and will be followed by a further presentation in Dublin in due course. Meanwhile, it is timely to note that in celebrating Paul Keogh’s achievement, we are also celebrating what is arguably the greatest working gaff cutter ever built, the 56ft 1913-vintage Le Havre pilot cutter Jolie Brise. She served only briefly on pilot duties before being superseded by powered vessels, but since then has gone in to an unrivalled career as an offshore racer – she won three Fastnet Races – and sail training vessel.

An impression of latent power – Jolie Brise in Belfast Lough in 2015, on her way to being overall winner of that season’s Tall Ships Races. Photo: W M Nixon

Jolie Brise is a frequent visitor to Ireland, a notable occasion being in 2015 when she was in Belfast Lough during that year’s programme of Tall Ships Race, in which she excelled herself by being winner of both her class and the overall fleet when the series concluded. She is a magnificent vessel which never fails to excite admiration, and young Tom Cunliffe - the John Arlott of English sailing – captures it well in this enthusiastic video

The Conamara family of sailors known as Clann Johnny Jimmy Pheaitín are profiled in a documentary on TG4.

Pádraig, Jimmy and Seáinín are “Na Jimmys”, associated with the Galway Hooker An Mhaighdean Mhara.

The programme “Bádóirí- Na Jimmys” interviews the trio and some of the other relatives well known for their knowledge of sailing and the sea on Inis Mhic Cionnaith island and An Cheathrú Rua in south Conamara.

Pádraig, Jimmy and Seáinín are “Na Jimmys”

One relative, shipwright Pat Michael is finishing his Galway Hooker, a piece of art being built in the shed next door to home, and the Jimmys’ uncle, Johnny Jimmy, relates how he and his two brothers were the best rowers in Ireland and in England in the 1960s.

John Darba talks about Inis Mhic Cionaith, where he was raised, and the stories told by Jimmy an Oileáin, while Johnny Healion recalls when the Mhaighdean Mhara was still hauling peat to the Aran Islands, as he now prepares to launch his most newly built hooker.

Pat agus na lads

“Bádoirí-Na Jimmys” is on TG4, December 29th, at 8.15 pm and also available to view online here

When Brazilian Paulo Sergio Soares da Paixão became involved with traditional boats in Galway, little did he expect that his ashes would be scattered by fellow crew members at sea.

Musicians and members of Galway group Badoirí an Chladaigh took to the wateron Sunday to bid farewell to their Brazilian colleague after he died last week at the age of 52.

Known in Galway as “Paolo Sergio”, the dancer and choreographer came to Ireland to study gastronomy.

He signed up as a volunteer with Badóirí an Chladaigh, and “everyone he touched just loved him”, according to Peter Connolly of the Galway hooker restoration group.

Brazilian choreographer Paulo Sergio Soares da Paixão whose ashes were scattered by Badoirí an Chladaigh in Galway Bay1.jpg

“Paulo was very involved in our outdoor classes for schools, and there was nothing that he couldn’t do,” Connolly said.

When he became ill, he spent a number of months in University Hospital Galway and had two operations in Beaumont hospital in Dublin.

After his cremation last week, arrangements were made to scatter his ashes off Galway’s Mutton island.

The half decker Réalt Feasa and fishing boat Aisling Geal took advantage of a brief weather window on Sunday morning (Oct 31) to steam out to the island.

Paulo’s sister Mariza Soares da Paixao Milo and his cousin, Sergio Severiano Gomes Oliveira, were on board as the wind caught his ashes, a wreath was laid, and prayers were said in his memory.

A group of musicians then played a number of pieces on board the hooker Naomh Cronán, which was moored in full sail in the Claddagh basin and flying a Brazilian flag from its mast.

Relatives and friends of Paulo Sergio Soares da Paixão from left, his sister Maria Soares da Paixao Milo, Esther Niland, Sergio Gomes Oliveira and David Doyle

Mayor of Galway Colette Connolly paid her respects to the family.

Clearly moved by the tribute, Sergio called how his cousin was born in Salvador and how he had studied choreography.

He became a professor of dance at the University of Para in Belem, where he was based for 25 years, and directed works that were staged in theatres in Belem.

“Paulo spent at the University of Para, very far from his home in Salvador, he had a house and car, he returned home to see family and friends, but over time he wanted a little more, something different,”Sergio said.

“He wanted to know the world, and people in a different way, he wanted a reality different from the reality of being Brazilian,” Sergio said.

“He planned to move from Brazil and discover something new...so he came to Ireland to change his way of life and study gastronomy here,”he said.

“Paulo first stayed in Dublin and then decided to move to Galway as it is a small city and a pretty city that gave him more opportunities, and he met many people of many different origins,”Sergio said.

“ He captivated people around him, and he was made welcome here,”he said.

Esther Niland, who offered Paulo lodgings in the West, along with David Doyle and Danny Bailey of Badóirí an Chladaigh said this was “what he would have wanted”.

“I was an immigrant for 20 years myself, many of us have been there, and we felt it was so sad that Paolo died so far from his home,”Peter Connolly added.

“He was a pure gentle giant,” Doyle said.

The Galway gleoiteog named Loveen tacked across the Claddagh basin this weekend, some 96 years after it was built by the Reaney family of Spanish Arch.

The gleoiteog has been restored, plank by plank, by the Galway Hooker Sailing Association in a restoration project involving the Port of Galway Sea Scouts.

The vessel was bought by the late Nicky Dolan in 2009, but he passed away before he had fulfilled plans to repair it. With the support of former mayor and Labour councillor Niall MacNelis, it was donated to the Port of Galway Sea Scouts in 2011.

As Afloat reported previously, Expert boatbuilders Coilín Hernon and his sons, Ciarán Oliver, and a large team from the Galway Hooker Sailing Association (GHSA) have worked on the project since funding was secured.

Loveen sailing on the Claddagh basin Photo: Bartley Fannin

The association, which has over 100 volunteers, began work in earnest in 2019 and continued with careful restrictions through last year’s Covid-19 pandemic.

A flotilla joined the gleoiteog on the water – including The Lovely Anne, a late 19th-century gleoiteog, already restored by the GHSA.

The gleoiteog has been restored, plank by plank, by the Galway Hooker Sailing Association Photo: Bartley Fannin

Éinde Hernon was on the helm of the Loveen as it berthed in the Claddagh basin for a blessing by Fr Donal Sweeney of the Claddagh Dominican church.

“We can nearly always rely on rain,” Fr Sweeney joked.

Mayor of Galway Colette Connolly attended the event, and, in spite of threatening rain, a large crowd gathered at Nimmo’s pier to welcome the Loveen into the Galway hooker fleet.

Fr Donal Sweeney of the Claddagh Dominican church, blessing the gleoiteog Loveen at the Claddagh basin on Saturday Photo: Bartley Fannin

Ciarán Oliver's family history goes back over a hundred years to what was then known as the fishing village of the Claddagh in Galway. His great-great-uncle, Máirtín, was the last 'King of the Claddagh'.

The 'Loveen' doesn't go back quite that far, almost but not entirely, just 96 years. It is no surprise that Ciarán is heavily involved in restoring this gleoiteog, the second last Claddagh hooker still in existence.

Ciaran is Commodore of the Galway Hooker Sailing Club which has led a two-year project to restore the 'Loveen'. Tomorrow (Tuesday) the club will announce that she will be going back into the waters of the Corrib next month.

As Afloat reported in June here, a "low key" ceremony was held when the final plank was secured and the occasion was marked with a "modest" round of whiskey.

Ciarán's family were founder members of the club, dedicated to continuing the tradition of Galway Hooker Sailing and the culture around it on the Claddagh, to make sure the next generation knows all about it.

Working on the restoration of Loveen

The boat was bought by the late Nick Dolan, a close friend of the Oliver family before he died in 2011 and presented to the Port of Galway Sea Scouts. I asked Ciarán how he feels about reaching the completion of the project:

Podcast below

Award-winning harpist Laoise Kelly has embarked on a concert tour to five west coast islands on a Galway hooker.

As The Times Ireland reports, Kelly aims to reconnect island communities with music, storytelling and song.

Kelly, a TG4 musician of the year and artistic director of the Achill International Harp Festival, is collaborating with fellow Achill islander Diarmuid Gielty.

Their project named “Casadh na Taoide/Turning of the Tide” has secured Arts Council support.

Casadh Na Taoide - An epic cultural journey connecting five off shore islands. Launched on the feast day of St. Macdara, is a traditional maritime pilgrimage off the coast of Connemara’s Carna bay, to the uninhabited monastic island, Oileán Mhic Dara /St. Mac Dara’s island, where fishermen and locals come to venerate the patron saint of seafarers, bless the boats and to keep fishermen safe for the for the year ahead. Pictured is musicians Diarmuid Gielty (Achill Harp Festival), Freda Nic Giolla Chatháin (Casadh Na Taoide) and Laoise Kelly (TG4 Musician of the Year and Director of the Achill international harp festival. Photo: Michael McLaughlin

Both are on board the Galway hooker Mac Duach, skippered and owned by Dr Michael Brogan, who is chairman of the Galway Hookers’ Association.

The vessel participated in a blessing of the boats off the Connemara island of Oileán Mhic Dara last Friday before setting sail for Inishbofin, Co Galway.

The annual blessing event pays tribute to Mac Dara, the patron saint of seafarers.

After Inishbofin, the hooker sets a course for the Mayo islands of Inishturk, Clare Island, and then Achill Photo: Michael McLaughlin

After Inishbofin, the hooker sets a course for the Mayo islands of Inishturk, Clare Island, and then Achill.

It will then head north for its final destination, finishing at Árainn Mhór /Arranmore in Donegal.

Kelly, Gielty and crew will meet musicians, artists, storytellers and historians along the route.

As part of the project, an artist has been commissioned on each island to collaborate, compose and create a new body of work.

They include Inishbofin singer Andrew Murray; Inishturk musician Cathy O’Toole; Clare Island weaver Beth Moran; and Árainn Mhór writer Proinsias Mac a’Bhaird.

A tribute will also be made to the late Achill island visual artist Mary Lavelle Burke, who was an enthusiastic participant in the project and passed away last year.

The voyage is being filmed, as is the artistic work on the five islands.

It will feature as the Friday night performance of this year’s Achill International Harp Festival in October, Nic Giolla Chatháin says.

Read The Times Ireland here

A Galway hooker restored with the support of a city publican has joined the local traditional fleet on Galway bay.

Réalt na Gaillimhe or Star of Galway was built in Indreabhán, south Connemara, by the Cloherty boat builders in 1910.

It has been restored by Bádoirí an Chladaigh, one of the two clubs dedicated to Galway hookers in the city, with the help of Johnny Duggan of Taylor’s Bar.

Bádóirí an Chladaigh has been given the full use of the boat to add to a fleet of 14 traditional vessels.

Taylor’s Bar owner Johnny Duggan

“Since 2008, Bádóirí an Chladaigh has been given trusteeship of seven traditional Galway sailing boats within the community boat club,” the club’s secretary Peter Connolly says.

“ Of these, five have been built or restored or are in the process of being brought to full sea-worthiness,” he says.

Réalt na Gaillimhe or Star of Galway was built in Indreabhán, south Connemara

“These seven traditional boats will be joined by seven private boats to create a fleet of 14 boats, and each will represent one of the Galway tribe families,” he says.

“The community of traders in Galway's West will be responsible for the yearly upkeep of the Galway Hooker,” Taylor’s Bar owner Johnny Duggan says.

“ There is a massive natural respect here in Galway’s for the sea and this age-old tradition, but this will help to reaffirm and re-establish these links again,” he says.