THE country’s last surviving wooden sailing ship is proving a star attraction for Heritage Week 2025 with the vessel open to the public for viewing and the opportunity to sail aboard her around Kinsale Harbour on August 24th.
The AK Ilen, which marks its centenary next year, was renovated in Hegarty’s boatyard on the banks of the River Ilen and is now an integral part of the programme offered by the charity Sailing Into Wellness.
The charity, which helps those in recovery and other marginalised groups, will provide free tours demonstrating heritage sailing knots and sharing stories of her voyages since her original build in Baltimore back in 1926.
Its co-founder Colin Healy explained to The Southern Star why the boat has helped transform his life and how he continues to benefit from sharing that experience with others.
‘It’s our first time taking part in Heritage Week,’ he explained.
‘We were very fortunate in 2025 to be one of the awardees of the heritage fund. Funding gives us the opportunity to see to the maintenance of the boat and run workshops. With a ship that size there is a lot of moving parts, a lot of maintenance. It’s all about building a community around the ship.’
There was huge interest in the sailing event which is now booked out, but there are also a number of family-friendly activities – such as ‘make your own heritage knot bracelet’, throw a ‘monkey’s fist’ as well as a heritage workshop on rope splicing.
Colin continued: ‘A boat like the Ilen has to be moving, a wooden vessel has to be used and sailed because essentially they will rot away otherwise. I found sailing to be very therapeutic, my own background is in mental health and addiction.
‘What I put myself through many years ago…for me was a very personal journey, probably one of the most valuable things I’ve done, to get involved in sailing.
‘I was in addiction, it was a transformative experience for me, the first time on the water… it’s a multiple thing, sea and water is therapeutic by nature, it was being involved, being a part of something I just found it added value to my recovery and drove home the fact that there’s more to life.
‘On a vessel like the Ilen it is a magical experience.’
The 56ft ship was designed by Conor O’Brien, the first Irishman to circumnavigate the globe in a small boat, and was used as a cargo vessel in the Falklands for more than seven decades before it returned to Cork in 1998 in need of a quite a bit of care and restoration.
It lay dormant for ten years before the Ilen Project linked up with Hegarty’s boatyard in Old Court, near Skibbereen, to restore the Ilen to its former glory. A team led by Gary McMahon worked on the deckhouses, the spars, the decks, the interior and a total rebuild of the engine.
‘It’s been a joy to see her going around Ireland,’ said Colin. ‘The engine was a rebuild that was in a trawler that was originally in a bog in Galway. The interior is made of pitch pine that came out of a church in the US, the planking is from a forest in Germany. We had to spend two years convincing that man to sell that planking.
‘There is a lot of love gone into her, they reckon around 40,000 man hours and €1.2m. I’m like a tour guide, I feel the pride of showing her off. We’re very privileged to have her. We’re an island nation, but I think we’ve lost a bit of our connection to the sea. There is 1,100km of coastline in Cork, and we just want to continue to share this fabulous ship.’
In celebration of Water Heritage Day 2025 on Sunday August 24th, the boat will take to the seas from Fisherman’s Pontoon in Kinsale with the chance for those on board to join in hoisting its masts.
National Heritage Week is in its 20th year with the theme is ‘Exploring Our Foundations’ inviting communities to reflect on elements that underpin our heritage - not only this historic ship and her traditional wooden build, but our natural landscape, beautiful coastline and maritime and cultural practices that shape our collective identity and sense of place.
