SAOIRSE
Just over a hundred years ago, a record-setting achievement drew 10,000 onlookers to Dún Laoghaire seafront, County Dublin, on 20th June 1925 to raise a cheer as a small Irish yacht sailed into history. Commencing in Dún Laoghaire, the SAOIRSE (meaning ‘Freedom’ in Irish) had just become the first boat to carry the Tricolour around the world, sailing up the Irish Sea two years to the day since embarking on an epic circumnavigation of over 40,000 miles. The 42 foot (13 meters)-long ketch was also the first known small craft to sail the globe via the Three Great Capes, crossing oceans and surviving storms with neither an engine nor a radio on board. Limerick-man Conor O’Brien, owner, designer and skipper of the SAOIRSE, made headlines around the world. This was seen as our nation’s first international sporting achievement, and the voyage would herald a new era of ocean-going sailing aboard smaller craft. According to contemporary descriptions of the scenes in Dún Laoghaire, where b...