Celebrating fifty years of the Mermaid, a Dublin designed wooden sail boat still being enjoyed by many.
In 1932, John Kearney from Ringsend in Dublin designed a 17-foot clinker boat. Fifty years on the combined fleets of the Mermaid Sailing Association meet in Clontarf for the Calor Kosangas Golden Jubilee Regatta. The event is hosted by the Clontarf Yacht and Boat Club which has a long tradition of promoting the Mermaid sailing class.
A Mermaid is a work of art in wood.
The Mermaid is clinker built, which means the planks of wood overlap. The rig, the shape of the sails, is Bermudan. Mermaids are racing boats for a crew of three but have been put to other uses as family day boats and inshore cruisers with owners hanging a tent over the boom for the night.
Michael Lysaght of the Mermaid Association provides a history of the boat. The first Mermaid was built 50 years ago, and this class of boat has grown in popularity along the east coast. Michael Lysaght points to the ease with which a Mermaid can built as one of the reasons for its popularity.
A man who can put two pieces of timber together can build a Mermaid.
To get a Mermaid built professionally could cost up to £4,500. However, most are made by amateurs.
Mermaid sailors, once hooked, remain faithful for life.
Leslie Downes has had a Mermaid for 23 years and describes it as the ideal boat for family day sailing and as a racing boat. He says that in the 50 years of Mermaids in Ireland, no other fleet has had such consistent racing. Despite the high maintenance required, Leslie Downes admits to being fanatical about Mermaids.
Three new Mermaids have been launched in the past fortnight and a further two are under construction and so the popularity of this class of boat continues. One of the drawbacks of building in wood is the cost. However, the Mermaid Association does not allow the use of plastics or fibreglass in place of wood.
An RTÉ News report broadcast on 8 June 1982. The reporter is Peter McNiff.
