How She Came
to the Club
Having sat on the dry for years, on what’s known as the ‘bankeen’ in Claddagh, each storm taking its toll, this boat made famous by the Guinness Christmas ad held a special place in the heart of Ciaran Oliver. Built along the same lines of Truelight, a hooker owned by his great grand uncle Mairtín Oliver, and a sister to Loveen, it was inevitable that when she was bought by the Oliver family in 2024 that she would be entrusted to the club for her restoration.
Restoration
and Revival
A dream came true at Christmas – as the Christmas Guinness Ad was making its annual return, wishes came true for our club as we started to make plans to bring Claddagh into our newly acquired workshop space at the Port of Galway, where she will live while her restoration takes place.
With the use of connections and social media, crew have overcome some of the challenges such as scarcity of wood such as oak and larch, as well as the availability of local skilled boatbuilders to begin working on her. Boat builders from around the world have jumped at the chance to travel to Galway and spend some time working on her as well as upskilling our crew.
Claddagh is the main highlight of our workshop tour – the very essence of our living museum, as she is being worked on right now – come see her before she is gone and launched back into the waters at Claddagh in the not so distant future.
