New wheelchair accessible fishing charter boat for hire in Mayo's Clew Bay
By Tom Gillespie
A NEW state-of-the-art €300,000 wheelchair accessible fishing charter boat is about to be launched in Newport by local skipper Darragh McGee.
The specially designed craft has been named ‘Mo Cara’ in memory of Darragh’s late father, the handballing legend Peadar McGee.
Darragh explained: “Because my dad had such an interest and played a huge part in getting this project across the line I wanted to have a connection to him on the boat.
“I was trying to come up with a name initially and I was looking at Naomh Peadar but it didn’t rest well with me. I was looking at a lot of names and I came across ‘Mo Cara’ (My Friend). When you put a name on a boat you do so to remember people - remember your family and your friends. I thought it was the correct way to remember my dad.”
Darragh bought his first boat ‘White Water II’ at the end of 2010 but did not start operating it until mid-2011 and on the day before Covid lockdown in 2020 he sold it.
Darragh, who runs Clew Bay Charters, said: “I sold it with the intention of a career change but still in the lines of the fisheries and stuff. But Covid scuppered all that.
“I wondered where I would be down the years and I realised there is no better place than Clew Bay. When you are out there you are meeting different people. Every day is a different day whether it is the weather or the people.
“We put the process together for the new boat and made an application to Leader for funding. In order to get it grant-aided it had to be different so I decided we would go along the wheelchair accessible route which was a non-runner for my last boat. So I decided to design one.
“When the country opened again after the first Covid lockdown I went to Killybegs to fish with Michael Callaghan who has a similar boat to the one I designed.
“It was a research trip for me. We headed out to Donegal Bay and it was a dirty slop of a morning. We were travelling at 19 knots and you would not know you were on a boat. I said this is the vessel for me.
“We got the paper work, prices and designs done and we went to Leader and we got 50 per cent Leader funding. I could not have done it without it because the cost of these boats are phenomenal.
“After the contract was signed the construction started in April 2020 in Portsmouth. A lot of the work was done through video calls with the builder until we could actually travel again.”
Darragh continued: “Because the Marine Survey Office (MSO) had built two of these boats with this company before it made the process that much easier. For me it meant less travelling. We only made three trips to England.
“I went over each time with a naval architect that was assigned to the build. It was hard work. You were looking for an end product and looking for it as soon as possible. With Covid and Brexit the yard was struggling to get materials to complete it. And because they are a small yard they were at the end of the pecking order. That is why it took it so long to be completed.
“We did the sea trials in Portsmouth harbour and the naval architect was very impressed with it. It is a fabulous, sturdy craft. It was trucked over in the cargo ferry into Rosslare and delivered to Westport.”
The new boat is a twin engine, seven-ton BWC Cat, powered by Hyundai 270 hp engines.
The boat has a wheelchair door on the side with ramps, a fully wheelchair accessible wheelhouse where the seating is designed that it can be lifted up to accommodate two wheelchairs and there is ample space in the wheelhouse for another one or two.
There is a spacious, fully accessible toilet which accommodates a wheelchair and an assistant.
Darragh added: “All going to plan we should be operational by April 1. We are licenced to take 12 passengers and a crew of two.
“I will be doing a full day and half day fishing charters, sight-seeing trips around Clew Bay, and if people come to me with an idea of what they want, like hen parties, etc., I will take them.
The charter prices are €600 for 10 people, €750 for 12 for a full day charter and a half day charter is €400.
Darragh added: “This boat has a P5 licence which allows me to go 30 miles out to sea. That was one of the important things when I was designing the boat. Each wheelchair on board has to have an able bodied person with them so that limits it to six wheelchairs.”
The biggest fish caught on Darragh’s ‘White Water II’ was a common skate weighting 174 lbs. followed by a 48 lb. blue shark.
The main species in the bay are dogfish, thornback ray, skate, mackerel, herring, tub gurnard, john dorey, pollock, cod and spurdog.
He concluded: “It is all catch-and-release now and it has proven very successful particularly with the growing numbers of skate.”
All bookings to be made by phone and Darragh can be contacted on (086) 3884425.