On Friday February 3rd, Vincent Murphy of Kinsale Yacht Club will speak on the life of the extraordinary Yachtsman Conor O’Brien. Join us for a two course dinner at 7.30pm sharp followed by presentation. To book email manager@nyc.ie or call 01-2805725
Conor O’Brien, a grandson of Young Irelander William Smith O’Brien, designed his own 42′ yacht, Saoirse, in 1922 and had it built in 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, Southern Ocean all the way.
He received the Royal Cruising Club Challenge Cup 3 years running, 1923, 1924 and 1925 for his pioneering voyage.
After this rather eventful and ground breaking voyage, he returned to Dún Laoghaire exactly two years later, 20th June 1925. 10,000 turned out to welcome him home.
The presentation will cover his life in general, including his running guns for the Irish Volunteers in 1914 (both Conor and Erskine Childers were jointly involved, Childers in Asgard and Conor in his earlier yacht, Kelpie) and of course his circumnavigation
