By Georgina Brennan

Hurricane Katrina may have stirred up an ancient Irish tradition in her aftermath.

A group in New London, Connecticut called Celtic Cause is organizing a building extravaganza of Ireland oldest boats with the intention of racing them.

It’s all because Hurricane Katrina made one currach owner homeless. Celtic Cause decided to try and help their friend Danny O’Flaherty, originally from Connemara and a keen currach enthusiast, who has for the past 17 years run O’Flaherty’s Irish Channel in New Orleans, which was displaced and bankrupted by hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

“O’Flaherty’s was more than a pub. There was a traditional pub, with seisiuns and dancing, darts and Irish sports, and a currach hanging over the bar,” says Janet Buck from Celtic Cause.

The other two founders of Celtic Cause are Diarmuid Hanafin, from Dublin, who just opened Hanafin’s Irish Pub in New London, and Geoff Kaufman.

Luckily O’Flaherty’s currach survived the devastating storm that decimated the south and will soon hang in Hanafin’s bar, but in the meantime the homeless currach prompted an idea to rejuvenate the currach tradition in America.

“We could not let Danny’s work as musician, philanthropist and cultural preservationist come to an end. We were able to pull together a benefit concert with some of the leading lights of Irish music in America and raised a substantial contribution to the cause, but we wanted to do more, not only for Danny’s work but for our area as well, and thought we could do both by building a partnership between his work in the south and our program here,” Buck said.

O’Flaherty grew up with the ancient Irish boats, called currachs, off the Aran Islands, and was founder of the Margaret Rowing Club in New Orleans.

In the 1980s there was a group called the Irish Currach league who ran into controversy for having black rowers in their boats when they went to race in Boston. Luckily things have changed and Celtic Cause will be reforming the league in a way and beginning a currach building program.

A currach is a lightweight boat that has been used in Ireland for more than 6,000 years. Made up of a wooden framework covered with hide or canvas, these boats can be as large as 25 feet long and four feet wide, and are cheap, easy to build, and very practical. They’re also very light and can be lifted up by three people and carried away.

One of the most famous currach builders is Monty O’Leary who lives in Co. Kerry. When the Celtic Cause decided to build some currachs to revive the tradition of racing them in America, they called O’Leary.

“Monty is recognized by the Irish government as one of the tradition-bearers, one of only a handful of remaining boat smiths who still build currachs by the traditional means. He will be staying in New London, building currachs for us to begin a rowing team here with Lorcan Otway’s help, and possibly with help from Mystic Seaport small boats shipyard staff,” said Buck.

“The building will be taking place inside, in New London, next to Hanafin’s pub, where people will be welcome to come observe the work, and we will be documenting the whole process in photos and video, for local display and to add to the traditional craft knowledge at Mystic Seaport.”

Celtic Cause is working with Hanafin’s to start up a rowing club and to compete with the teams in Boston, Albany, New York City and in Louisiana.

“Monty and I were both concerned that we may be the last generation building them,” said Otway, who will begin building the boats in the New Year.

“This concern may be premature, as one of the places to whom I am speaking about storing two boats for the New York teams, asked me to teach boat building in exchange!”

Otway hopes to see currach building along the Hudson as a result of this project. Already the group had secured a night at the American Irish Historical Society to raise funds for the project. Each boat cost $6,000 to build.

For more information on the program or to donate, contact celticcausen@aol.com.