Cruinniú na mBád
Ruby, Katelyn & Éabha
How it began
The Cruinniú na mBád Festival celebrates an time in Irish history when Galway hookers could be seen all around the coast of Galway and the Aran Islands. Cruinniú Na mBád recreates the time when turf was unloaded on the quay.
The festival began in 1979 and over the years has become very popular bringing many visitors to the locality. When you go to Kinvara you can see some of the Hookers that used to sail between the two coasts and some date back over a century and a half.
Information taken from the Cruinniú na mBád website.
‘In 1979 the Cruinniú na mBád wasn’t called a festival, because they thought it would be a once off to get the turf boats back to Kinvara.
The boats had been left to rot in nooks and crannies around Connemara ,since they were no longer needed as roads had gotten better and bottled gas/electricity came into vogue.
At the first cruinniu na mbad there was no stalls and food was provided mostly by the kinvara people ,at the end they had a banquet in dunguaire castle for the badoiri and crew, it was spontaneous and just happened’.
Interview with Michael Brogan by Ruby.
What’s a Galway hooker?
The Galway Hooker is the traditional boat of Galway, built of strong oak to sail the rough seas of the Atlantic. The boats are easily recognised by their vivid red sails and there huge sutt body. They have one main sail and two foresails all on a single mast.
The seaweed raft/ Climín [Clemeen]
At the Cruinniú na mBád you can see the hookers in action once again as they sail around the bay. There are lots of other types of craft sailing and competing with each other and another highlight of Cruinniú na mBád is the Climín. A Climín is a ‘raft’ made from seaweed blocked and tied for transportation to a collection point on the shore. Seaweed harvesting was once a thriving industry along the west coast of Ireland, including Kinvara
