The news of the death of Johnny Wedick at the age of 78 came as a devastating hammer blow to everyone who had the good fortune to know him. Devoted family man, businessman, sailor and proud Ringsender, Johnny was best known in sailing circles as a stalwart of the Dublin Bay Old Gaffers Association (DBOGA) and the Poolbeg Yacht & Boat Club (PY&BC). The two organisations have benefitted hugely from his leadership at various times over the last forty years and more, with Johnny’s tireless enthusiasm, humour & wisdom ensuring that both are much stronger at the end of his watch than at the start.
The large number of people making up his funeral cortege came from all parts of Ireland and abroad, and was testament to the number of lives blessed by his friendship. It was totally in keeping with the time-honoured tradition of the close-knit maritime city village of Ringsend - where he grew up - that Johnny’s coffin, shouldered by his family and friends, was carried “over the Bridge” that spans the River Dodder, from the Dublin side to St Patrick’s Church on the village side, for his funeral mass. This unique Ringsend custom links one’s first journey, at birth over the Bridge to the village, with one’s last on passing, and makes for a very meaningful gesture in a journey which is eloquent testament to the enduring community values of Ringsend.
Traditional coastal rowing skiffs in a modern contest in Dublin Port. In his Sea Scout days, Johnny Wedick’s Ringsend boyhood included experience with craft like this
RINGSEND CHILDHOOD WITH SHIPS AND SEA
Johnny’s family home was on North Great George’s Street on Dublin city’s Northside, but he grew up at his grandmother Molly’s house at 35 Pigeon House Road in the heart of Ringsend south of the river. Residing within a stone’s throw of the River Liffey and abeam the North Wall Lighthouse, it is not surprising that young Johnny developed a grá for the sea. Watching the ships coming and going along the river to the Docks to discharge and take on cargo, while also observing the broad range of other craft plying the river, was to stimulate young Johnny in joining the 1st Port of Dublin Sea Scouts (Ringsend) at the age of ten years.
1st Port was headquartered on the Pigeon House Road, and taught seamanship while promoting a love of camping and the outdoors. There, Johnny met a group of local lads that were to become lifelong friends: Pat Hughes, Frankie Allen, Peter Redmond and Derek Slevin - “The Lads”.
LIFELONG FRIENDSHIPS
The Lads progressed through the sea scouting hierarchy to become Rovers, but at 19 years of age were deemed too old to continue in the fraternity. Determined to continue their ten-year friendship, The Lads decided to buy between them a nautical “doer-upper”, as dictated by their meagre budget, and so began their relationship with The Bracan Lass, which was to last for another forty years.
The 1st Port and its relationship with the nearby sea scouting troops of Dodder, Dollymount and Dun Laoghaire had brought the teenaged Johnny into the orbit of a group of “movers and shakers” who went on to set up the Poolbeg Yacht & Boat Club on Dublin’s River Liffey in 1970.
LEARNING SEAMANSHIP AND SAILING
Cecil Jackson (1st Port) & Leo Hitchcock (4th Port) - both instructors - taught Johnny and The Lads the basics of seamanship, and both these influential seniors became Commodores of PYBC during its first decade of existence. Using his steel-built Waterwitch ketch, Leo Hitchcock taught The Lads the basics of sailing which significantly supplemented the Sea Scouts’ staple diet of rowing, and needless to say, Johnny and The Lads well and truly caught the sailing bug.
Johnny’s first steps in sailing were taken aboard Leo Hitchcock’s steel-built Waterwitch ketch, a Maurice Griffths design
Other influencers on Johnny at this time were, amongst others, John White Snr, Joe O’Brien, Jimmy Murray, Tom McCann, Jim Cullen, Derek Harris, Peter Tobin, Sean Whiston and Wally McGuirk. Beginnings are apt to be shadowy, but given the overlapping memberships of the local Sea Scout troops, PY&BC, DBOGA, and the rowing clubs of Stella Maris & St Patrick’s - all rooted in the local Ringsend community - it is not surprising that Johnny would go on to play such a pivotal role in the development of PY&BC and DBOGA.
APPRENTICED TO CATERING TRADE
Johnny went to school at Westland Row, and on leaving at the age of 15 years, decided that he should get himself a trade. He took up a catering apprenticeship at the InterContinental Hotel in Dublin and studied at the pioneering National Catering College at Cathal Brugha Street. On qualifying as a chef and a master butcher some five years later, he worked in a number of Dublin hotels which - combined with his own drive and enthusiasm - gave him the knowledge and insight to set up his own wholesale meat distribution business, supplying hotels and restaurants across Ireland.
Initially distributing and selling Irish beef, the Wedick business diversified into additional products, and latterly specialised in game poultry and game meats to play a leading role in the increasing nationwide popularity of venison. Johnny successfully ran the business with his wife Mary for over thirty years, before selling it and retiring to Camolin in Wexford, where they’d had a holiday home and where their five children, Eileen, Barbara, Mary, John and Carmel spent many happy times in Wexford.
Nevertheless even with his domestic home focus moved south to County Wexford, his sailing and maritime focus continued at Poolbeg, and radiated out from Dublin Bay and Ringsend.
EARLY MARRIED DAYS IN CITY CENTRE
When Johnny and Mary first married, they lived with Mary’s mother in the city on D’Olier Street in Dublin 2. It was a very different social milieu to that of the Pigeon House Road, and Johnny often recalled that Mary’s family had great difficulty understanding his Ringsend accent. However, they soon left the rarefied D’Olier Street flat to set up house in Artane on the Malahide Road on Northside Dublin, and that became the family home for the next forty years.
THE BRACAN LASS
Meanwhile back in 1968 or thereabouts, Bracan Lass - a 50ft wooden-built open-decked fishing boat, built in Fraserburgh, Scotland in 1921 to the seaworthy Zulu design – had been languishing in Dublin’s Grand Canal Dock. Johnny and The Lads had heard that her owner had given up his dream of sailing around the world when he realised how much work the Lass required, and that she might be up for sale.
The Zulu sailing drifters were common to the fishing ports of the Moray Firth at the turn of the century. She was originally called Thompson’s BCK397 and fished out of Buckie for three years. Later she fished out of Balbriggan in north County Dublin until 1952, and was previously owned by PY&BC and DBOGA member Wally McGuirk.
The Classic Zulu model. In her original sail-only form, the Scottish-built Bracan Lass may have carried a very labour-intensive dipping-lug rig, but with a more easily-handled rig she made for a good seaboat well capabable of speed
LIFETIME PARTNERSHIP
After much haggling the deal was done, and Johnny and The Lads had found the project that would bind them together for their lifetimes. In a set schedule to optimise the best use of their free time, the “Gang of Five” worked on Tuesdays, Saturdays and long weekends, such that it took four and a half years working on the Lass to fabricate a new deck & pilot house, recondition the hand start Kelvin engine, installing a large round diesel tank liberated from a Dublin bus, while laying steel ingots as ballast, then installing main and mizzen masts after re-caulking the hull.
All of this work was undertaken in the Grand Canal Upper Basin abeam of Bolands Mills, where the Lass was moored. Peter Redmond, the nimblest of the Five, would paddle out in a canoe to the Lass – moored off for security - in a canoe to attach a rope. The team then warped her to the basin wall for the day’s intensive work to begin. The project was well-advanced when the wooden masts were made by a friend in Dun Laoghaire and transported back to the Basin, with one end resting in the back of Johnny’s car and the other end lashed to a small two-wheel axle, while Peter Redmond lay in the back of the car trying to ensure the 40ft masts were successfully negotiated around the corners.
BRACKEN LASS GOES TO SEA
By 1973, the Lass was deemed sea-worthy enough to make the “epic” voyage from the Basin to her salt-water mooring at PYBC on the Liffey. Determined to make their first offshore passage, Johnny & The Lads soon sailed her to the Isle of Man. When the Manx Customs men came aboard at Peel, they were shocked to find no internal fit out of the boat had taken place.
Nobody is too sure as it is now so long ago, but this may be a photo of the Bracan Lass in Dublin Bay in her first converted version, with something still to be learned by The Lads about keeping a taut luff in the jib
For that maiden voyage offshore, the accommodation simply consisted of sleeping bags on the cabin sole, canvas deck chairs and Johnny’s mother’s kitchen table, but there were no working heads (marine toilet) for the outward passage. However, Peter Redmond plumbed in the heads on the return passage, having brought all the parts with him.
HORIZONS EXTEND TO BRITTANY AND SCOTLAND
Over the next forty years, the Lass made regular voyages to Peel in the Isle of Man, Holyhead and other parts of North Wales, and Wicklow & Arklow for the East Coast Regatta and from the mid 1980’s Portaferry was added to her sailing schedule. In 2000 she took part in the Maritime festival in Brest, and in 2003 completed the Classic Malt Cruise on Scotland’s west coast.
Bracan Lass in her final version – she went through three complete refits when The Lads owned her, and emerged from the final one with this stylishly-judged wheelhouse/deck saloon
CHANGING PARTNERSHIPS
Over time, the original partnership of the five former sea-scouts changed. Derek Slevin emigrated to Australia, while sadly Pat Hughes & Frankie Allen departed for Fiddler’s Green. In memory of the passing of their two former shipmates, Johnny and Peter Redmond restored an open decked fishing boat in their memory naming her The PatFrank.
Ever on the lookout for useful talent Johnny had co-opted a bright eyed and bushy-tailed electrician, Derek Woods, on to the Lass’s maintenance squad in 1980/81, and Derek - although a former land scout and not a sea scout - had formally joined the busy Bracan Lass partnership by 1984. Over her forty years of active leisure use, the Lass had three major refits, and was converted to her full gaff rig during the 1998/99 refit.
With paint and varnishwork gleaming, Bracan Lass with her new sails on the full gaff rig heads seaward for Poolbeg Regatta
OLD GAFFERS INVOLVEMENT
Following her inaugural passage to the Isle of Man in 1973 the Lass became a regular feature of regattas organised by the Northern Ireland OGA (NIOGA), the North Wales OGA (NWOGA) the Dublin Bay OGA and of course PY&BC.
Given Johnny’s excellent leadership qualities, combined with his business acumen, it is no surprise that he played a major role in the development of both PY&BC and DBOGA.
Today’s Poolbeg Yacht & Boat Club clubhouse/marina complex is part of Johnny Wedick’s legacy
POOLBEG Y&BC SERVICE
Johnny served on the PY&BC committee, both as Honorary Secretary & Vice Commodore during the 1980’s. He worked closely with Sean Whiston who, taking advantage of the finance available during the building of the East Link Bridge, achieved for PYBC its first proper club house and a larger plot of land for it to sit on.
Up to that time PY&BC’s clubhouse was the former wheelhouse of the Rospico, kindly donated by Wally McGuirk. Johnny continued to work on various PY&BC committees during the 1990’s serving as Secretary in 1993 and as Commodore in 2001, 2002 & 2003.
During his Presidency of Dublin Bay Old Gaffers Association, Johnnny Wedick ensured the continuation of the “fill the yellow welly” tradition to raise lifeboat funds, and he is seen here (centre) presenting a cheque for €8,000 to Howth Lifeboat with cox’n Fred Connolly (left) and Launching Officer Colm Newport (right)
DEVELOPMENT WORK
During his time as Commodore, Johnny led the Development Committee, which was successful in financing, building & completing the club’s current clubhouse & marina development, a major achievement which both improving the club’s facilities, and securing its financial future.
Johnny Wedick (right) in his role as PY&BC Commodore with inspirational teacher and ideas man Stiofan O Laoire (left) and Paul Keogh, key administrator of the Clondalkin-built Galway Hooker Naomh Cronan
Indeed, such was Johnny’s influence that together with Jerry Whiston, he was asked to join PY&BC’s current Development Committee to help formulate the club’s strategy regarding Dublin Port’s 3FM Project, which aims to achieve its ultimate & final port capacity by 2040. Just two weeks before his death, Johnny addressed an Extraordinary General Meeting of PY&BC, and through his reasoned logic and common sense, he was instrumental in the club voting to continue with its 3FM strategy.
NURTURING THE POOLBEG ETHOS
Despite PY&BC’s success in building a modern clubhouse and having its own marina - a very far cry from its humble origins -Johnny was passionate in emphasising that PYBC must stick to its guiding ethos of “providing sailing and boating for people of modest means who wish to enjoy affordable sailing”.
This ethos Johnny carried with him into the DBOGA where, in addition to being an active committee member & flag officer in various roles from the 1990’s onwards, he promoted the interests of the small boat membership. DBOGA developed out of the Northern Ireland OGA and through the Lass’s visits to Strangford, Portaferry, Isle of Man & Holyhead, Johnny promoted the Irish Sea fellowship of NIOGA, DBOGA & NWOGA.
Johnny Wedick always maintained a close personal interest in the “Clondalkin Galway Hooker” Naomh Cronan, and he and ultra-longtime shipmate Peter Redmond are at left in this group at the vessel’s handover to the current owners from Galway City
CENTRAL ROLE IN OLD GAFFERS GOLDEN JUBILEE
He played a central part in making a success of PY&BC’s role as a Stop-Over Port for the OGA’s Fifty Year-Round Britain Cruise in 2013, as well as its Sixtieth in 2023. Johnny was always a vital part of the DBOGA contingent that visited the Saxon shore each year to attend the OGA’s Annual Conference - “Head Office” as he called it.
During Johnny’s final stint as DBOGA President from 2018 to 2021, he successfully steered the organisation through the Covid pandemic, and although not a “techy”, he quickly grasped the potential of Zoom & WhatsApp as tools that could be used to bind the organisation together and make it stronger, so much so that DBOGA increased its membership during those years.
A photo that combined many of Johnny Wedick’s enthusiasms. The view from the Poolbeg Y&BC clubhouse as the classically-rigged Howth 17s sail past the Old Gaffers fleet gathered in Dublin for the OGA Golden Jubilee in 2013. Photo: W M Nixon
ASGARD INVOLVEMENT
Working with Wally McGuirk and The National Museum of Ireland, Johnny succeeded in organising regular quarterly working parties from DBOGA to clean and inspect the iconic Asgard at Collins Barracks.
And Johnny always had an ability to surprise. During the Covid epidemic, a group of DBOGA members decided to read a page of James Joyce’s Ulysses a day, and share their thoughts on WhatsApp. Johnny approved of this initiative, referring to the locale around Poolbeg by saying “Jaysus, didn’t Stephen Dedalus walk to eternity on Sandymount Strand, just round the corner and sure poor Paddy Dignam’s funeral procession started at Newbridge Avenue.”
Erskine & Molly Childers conserved Asgard in display at Collin Barracks Museum in Dublin. Johnny Wedick and Wally McGuirk were instrumental in setting up and participating in a special committee group which ensures a ship-clean for this historic vessel every three months. Photo: W M Nixon
DIRECT LINK TO JOYCE’S ULYSSES
Johnny then revealed that his great-grandfather was none other than Thomas Russell, the lapidary (jeweller) and gem cutter of 57 Fleet Street, featured in section 13 of the Wandering Rocks chapter of Ulysses.
LOSS OF BRACKEN LASS
The freakish “big freeze storm” in December 2010 damaged many boats throughout Ireland, and Bracan Lass was one of them. Although afloat at Poolbeg Marina in the River Liffey, by mid-winter there was enough fresh water and ice on the surface to provide expansion of the waterline planking which pushed out the caulking, and she sank on her marina berth to become a write-off with the hull-length damage.
The protracted negotiations with her insurers led to a delay on the acquisition of her replacement. But in due course Johnny, Peter & Derek decided to go GRP (having observed its popularity over the last 60 years!) and in 2014/15 they purchased Beatrice B, a classic Moody Carbineer 46 Pilothouse Ketch built to a Laurent Giles design in 1973 - a very versatile cruising yacht, yet one of real character despite the plastic hull.
The characterful Moody Carbineer Beatrice B, seen here in Dublin Bay, has proven to be a worhy successor to the Bracken Lass. Photo: Negley Groom
With the help of a Poolbeg delivery crew they sailed her back from Burnham on Crouch in Essex. Beatrice B gave Johnny much pleasure and allowed him and his shipmates to continue with DBOGA activities on the water. And being a grandfather to Paul, Daniel, Lauren, Alan, Shane, Matthew, Ella, Cormac, Mikey, Oscar, Liam & Sadbh and great grandfather to Sienna, Mila & Hugo provided Johnny with much solace following the passing of his beloved Mary in 2018. As the linchpin of both his family and of the father figure of the PY&BC and DBOGA fellowships, Johnny is greatly missed. We are all blessed to have known him.
Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam.
Appreciation by DARRYL HUGHES
