The launch of two new Galway hookers in Connemara last week was a milestone in the revival of the traditional craft. On Wednesday, St Mac Dara's Day, the Colmcille and the Naomh Ciaran sailed to St Mac Dara's Island off Carna, where they were blessed by the local parish priest, Father Padraig Audley.
The Minister of State at the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Mr Eamon O Cuiv, then formally launched the boats at Mas Pier in Carna. It was Mr O Cuiv's first official function since his appointment, and a first, too, for the traditional craft: never before in living memory have two new hookers been blessed on the same day.
The Naomh Ciaran also has the distinction of being the first Galway hooker to taste the Baltic Sea before the Atlantic: it first hit the water last month during Kiel Week in northern Germany, at one of the world's biggest annual boat shows.
A 27-foot gleoiteog mhor, it was built by three trainee boatbuilders, under the guidance of boatwright Seosamh O Rainne from Leitir Caladh. The Colmcille, a 32-foot leathbhad, was built by six other trainees, who worked under the guidance of boatwright Colm O Maoilchiarai n from Carna.
The boats had their first Irish outing at the weekend hooker races in Roundstone, where the sight of 15 hookers sailing off towards Inishlackan on Saturday enthralled visitors and locals. But the boats were becalmed during the afternoon as the light winds shifted and died, and they were eventually towed to shore in late evening. The new boats must wait for another day to be tested.
According to one of the project's organisers, the respected boatman, John Darba O Flatharta, visitors to the Kiel boat show were enchanted by the Naomh Ciaran. "Bhi siad faoi dhraiocht aici," he said.
Thousands of people visited the boat during the show, including many boat-builders, who marvelled at the craft. "They had never seen a wooden boat launched in the sea that didn't let in a drop of water on her maiden voyage," he said in Irish.
"They were sure it was made of fibreglass - they couldn't believe it was made of planks laid down flush with each other."
Mr O Flatharta is optimistic about the future of the craft, which nearly died out in the 1970s. He believes if the skills are transmitted to a new generation, new opportunities for selling newly made hookers on the world market will be created.
This is partly because of a new demand for wooden boats among the rich. "Now that everyone has a fibreglass boat, those who have the money are going for the wooden ones," he said.
The gleoiteog mhor performed well in competition with more modern craft at Kiel. "When we rigged her out we went sailing all around the bay. She had no trouble passing out any of the other boats of her size. We beat them easily."
But one of the biggest talking points among the German boat-builders was the way the sails were made. For the show, the Naomh Ciaran carried borrowed sails cut by Mr Pat Jennings in Galway.
He used the traditional technique, where the shape of the sail is first worked out using ropes strung along the spars of the boat, and the sailcloth is then cut out manually on the ground, following the pattern made by the ropes.
"Over there, when they are cutting sails, they use computers and all that to design them," said Mr O Flatharta. "But the man who cut our sails, Pat Jennings, he is 83 years old and he has been cutting sails since he was a boy. He cuts them the way they did 200 years ago."
Traditional techniques were also used in the boat's construction, according to boatwright Seosamh O Rainne. "We had no drawings or anything - we just made it using moulds the old way," he said in Irish.
"It would be easier if we were working off plans, if it was drawn on paper. But then, when you work off paper it doesn't come out right."
He praised the trainees who worked on the boat: Colm O Flatharta, Padraig O Tuathail and Padraig O Conghaile, but said they have a long way to go before they have mastered the necessary skills. "Nil acu ach leath an amhrain," he said.
The Naomh Ciaran and the Colmcille were built as part of a training scheme for the longterm unemployed, organised by Cumann Huiceir i na Gaillimhe.
The aim of the two-year scheme, which runs until Christmas, is to teach nine trainees traditional boat-building skills in the hope that they will eventually become successful boat-builders in their own right.
The scheme secured funding worth £370,000 from the EU Horizon programme and Udar as na Gaeltachta. The EU contributed 75 per cent of the cost.
Under the Horizon programme, which aims to combat social exclusion with transnational partnerships, at least two partners in other EU member-states must be involved in the project.
The partners of the hooker project included a German organisation, Drogenberatungsund Suchttherapiezentrum, which works with former drug-abusers and people with AIDS in Kiel by giving them joinery and boat-building work. They helped transport the Naomh Ciaran to and from the Baltic port.
The other partners were Annie's Land College in Glasgow, which helped with some of the coursework; the Fundacio Museu de Transport in Barcelona, which is involved in the restoration of antique modes of transport; and the Hotel Font Picant project in Barcelona, which seeks to rehabilitate former drug abusers and help people with AIDS by involving them in the tourist industry.