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2540 shelter island drive son diego, calif. 92106 tel: 619 224-8118
At the 1977 Dingle Regatta, the Dublin team waits for the fourth oarsman of their Kerry naomhog [nave-awg].
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The St. Brendan Project
NAUTICAL GIFTS
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ANTIQUES
by Larry Otway The Saint Brendan Project is devoted to preserving Irish maritime tradition and culture. We are one of the few organizations not affiliated with a college that affords New Yorkers an opportunity to row on New York City's rivers and bays. At present, we have the largest collection of Irish currachs owned by any organization outside of Ireland . These are kept in a boathouse located on the Hudson River at Dyckman Street. A currach is a small Celtic boat which does not admit of easy definition. It has been said it has no keel: the Tory and mainland Connemara currachs have keels. It has been said that the currach is a skin boat: the mainland Connemara currachs are planked. Currach in Gaelic means tippy, and there you have it. From the 26ft ocean canoes of County Kerry to the one man Welsh coracle , or inland currach, which can be carried on one's back , they are all feather-light on the water and can be tippy. Properly handled they are one of the finest small sea boats to have evolved anywhere. In six years of operation the St. Brendan Project has never had one capsize. We began in 1981 as a committee of the National Maritime Historical Society , and were formed to accept the gift of two very old Aran Island currachs given to us by the Irish Export Board. We then built a new Aran currach using traditional methods. We launched this boat at the Great Irish Fair in 1982. We next imported four racing currachs built in County Kerry by Monty O 'Leary, and arranged for Mr. O' Leary to build a boat for the newly formed Annapolis team . These boats were very kindly brought to the States by TransAmerica Lines. The next year we introduced Mr. O'Leary to the Pittsburgh club , for which he built two additional boats. At the outset of our project we began meeting regularly to race against a team in Boston. They used the wooden planked mainland Connemara currachs. We eventually purchased one of these boats SEA HISTORY , SPRING 1987
Welsh coracle-builder, Bernard Thomas , carrying one of his coracles.
and are now raising funds to build a new wooden racing currach in New York . Our rowing program, which includes both men's and women's teams, and experienced or novice rowers , begins at 6am, 17 March (St. Patricks Day) and runs through September. We meet Monday , Wednesday and Friday evenings and Sundays in the afternoon. We have approximately two races a month from May through September and have sent teams to races in Ireland . As well as our in-water program, we sponsor or are involved with a number of cultural activities such as Ceil is (Irish dances) and seasonal events, such as our St. Stephen's Day Wren (an Irish mummers parade). Although our organization is culturally Irish, our membership includes people of all nationalities and races. In addition to preserving currachs and artifacts related to their use in the fi sheries and trade, we are in the process of purchasing two Wel sh coracles, which were once the inland currachs oflreland. The future of the last commercial coracles is in grave danger. The Welsh Water Authority, turning a blind eye to thousands of sport and commercial fishermen, has chosen to blame the twenty-five surviving coracle men for the overfishing of salmon . The British government has now raised the annual license fee for the coracle men from £56 to £432. The Saint Brendan Project has formed a committee to work with the Celtic League's Wel sh chair to try and aid the preservation of the coracle, which pre-dates by some 2,000 years, at least, the government that seeks to destroy it.
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Larry Otway, a resident of New York, is the founder/director of the Saint Brendan Project. Inquiries may be addressed to him at 80 St. Marks Place, New York , NY 10003 ; 212 228-5147.
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