Yes, we saw the Brendan boat this summer at folk park in County Clare. I can't recall the name of either the boat or the park at the moment. It certainly didn't look large enough to go across the Atlantic but then most are braver than I am. Thanks for all the information. Ludie ----- Original Message ----- From: Edward Andrews To: 'Loudene Tollar' ; Scotch-Irish-L@rootsweb.com Sent: Friday, December 09, 2005 8:09 AM Subject: RE: [Sc-Ir] Irish Sea Channel crossing While historically Curraghs have been used on the Irish Sea, for some reason they went out of use a long time ago. I've never seen anything except a "Wooden" boat in Northern Ireland Waters, though there are some Curraghs in Donegal. (By Wooden I also count fibreglass and metal.) Neither have I historically ever seen a picture of anything except a wooden boat. It may well be that this is a relic of the Norsemen. Presumably the skin and thin wood frame is a function of technology and availability of materials. Certainly a wooden boat is much longer lasting than a skin one. There has been a bit of a revival of them as historic vessels having been used in 1963 to go to Iona, and then in 1997 (I think) for the same trip. There was also the Brendan voyage to America. Hope that this helps Edward Andrews -----Original Message----- From: Loudene Tollar [mailto:ludiekt@juno.com] Sent: Friday, December 09, 2005 1:12 AM To: Edward Andrews; Scotch-Irish-L@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [Sc-Ir] Irish Sea Channel crossing I'm certainly learning and it is interesting. I was thinking in terms of the curraghs I saw in the south and west of Ireland as possible means of fishing and getting between Scotland and Ireland. Yes, and understand many too poor to own even so small a boat. Ludie