Peter and I met in 1983 while sailing with the Ocean Youth Club. In 1985 we sailed away to the Mediterranean on our 27ft sloop "Caccia of Strangford." After 2 years we knew the cruising life was for us and that 27 feet was too small to live aboard full time. So we returned to Northern Ireland and took on the task of building "Mithril". The project was deemed overly ambitious by many; what did we know about building a steel boat? Peter put his engineering background to good use and I learnt how to use a grinder.

After some 2.5 years of full time work we completed, in 1991, what was then the largest privately owned yacht in Northern Ireland. Since then we have sailed some 140,000 miles, mostly on our own and without any sort of sponsorship. Our sailing has taken us to many unusual places; often areas where most cruising boats do not go. We have completed a circumnavigation by way of the Roaring Forties when we became the first Irish registered boat ever to visit the sub Antarctic island of South Georgia. Our longest non-stop passage to date was 84 days from the Southern Ocean to Ireland. After a major re-fit in 2002 we made a circumnavigation of the North Atlantic returning to Ireland in 2004 to Newry where we are currently based.

 

Read more about Mithril's sailing adventures.