The
process of rebuilding and restoring Peggy Bawn started
with her purchase by Irish yachtsman and yachting
historian Hal Sisk in early 2003.
She'd
been lying for some years - badly laid up and the
subject of two aborted rescue attempts - in a hay
barn near Dunmore East, Co. Waterford, Ireland. Years
of neglect of her most basic needs and bad storage
made it look a daunting task. As is always the case
the project ended up much
bigger than we'd hoped and more like we had feared.
Hal
is an expert at goal setting and, it seems, in patience.
We never lost sight of the goals although things took
a little longer than we'd hoped. The fact that we
knew exactly what she was going to be doing; that
she had a planned itinerary, was quite a motivator.
For the team that had been assembled for the project,
launching day at Crosshaven, Co. Cork on Bloomsday
- June 16th 2005 - was an emotional affair. Looking
back now on a year when we have achieved so much:
both in the rebuilding and restoration and then in
the sailing - both cruising and racing - of such an
important part of maritime history is very satisfying.
And it's all been done very authentically, even down
to dressing the part!
