Carpenter who built world’s largest Galway hooker and sailed back to Ireland from Chicago

When Connemara carpenter Steve Mulkerrins said he was going to build and sail a Galway hooker from Chicago to home, no one quite believed him. Not only did he construct the largest Galway hooker ever in his shed, with much help, but he sailed it through the Great Lakes and across the Atlantic in 2006 – and now he is donating it for sail training and the arts in Galway city. Bádoirí an Cladaigh, the classic boat building and training group, is due to take formal possession of the timber-built vessel, Naomh Bairbre, on Saturday.