Galway Hooker sailors head Stateside with stories of saving iconic wooden boat from extinction

Members of the Galway Hooker Sailing Club, Maria Buckley and Collette Furey, will travel to Seattle this week to represent the club at the Teaching with Small Boats Alliance (TWSBA) seminar.

They will highlight the importance of preserving these unique wooden sailing boats, preserving the traditional skills and knowledge associated with them, and ensuring that this important part of Galway's maritime identity is passed on to future generations, explained Maria.

While in Seattle they will visit the Center for Wooden Boats in the city, an organisation dedicated to preserving wooden boats, traditional maritime skills and the living heritage of wooden boat sailing. “This visit will provide an opportunity to build international relationships, exchange ideas and explore ways in which organisations on both sides of the Atlantic can learn from one another in our shared commitment to maritime preservation” she stated.

Established in 2019, the Galway Bay Sailing club is a not-for-profit organisation, with all proceeds reinvested back into the club to support its restoration projects, training programmes and community sailing events.

Its single-minded vision is to restore as many Galway Hookers as possible, returning them to the water and keeping the tradition alive.

Lovely Anne is the club’s flagship boat, and it was during her restoration that the idea of starting a club first began to grow. Built by Patrick Brannelly around 1884, Lovely Anne came onto the radar of members when Ross Forde, a participant in their first Hooker Skills Course, discovered he was Brannelly’s great-great-grandson.After researching Brannelly’s boats, Ross found Lovely Anne and tracked her to Killybegs. Following months of negotiation with the owner, Jim Parkinson, Ross and Ciaran Oliver travelled there and brought Lovely Anne back to Galway in November 2018.

The Galway Hooker 2020 company was set up formed to manage donations, funds, and grant support for the Lovely Anne. From there, a team of dedicated boat builders and volunteers spent six months restoring the 137-year-old Gleoiteóg or hooker before it was relaunched on Good Friday, April 19, 2019, Lovely Anne was officially into Galway Bay from Blackweir, Clarinbridge, and sailed triumphantly to the Claddagh, where a cheering crowd awaited.

Since then three other boats have been painstakingly restored by the club – the Lon Dubh, Loveen, Caper Beag, with An Éasóg and the 1924 Gleoiteóg Claddagh – which featured in a Guinness advert - currently being brought back to life.

Collette says their visit will celebrate a shared passion for wooden boats and the importance of preserving maritime heritage for generations to come.

“The trip represents an exciting opportunity for Galway Hooker Sailing Club to showcase Galway's unique maritime traditions, establish valuable international connections and raise awareness of the importance of keeping traditional wooden boats sailing.”