The Dual Journey of Wicklow Sailor and Author Dermot O'Neill

Although born in Courtown Harbour, county Wexford, Dermot O'Neill moved to Wicklow as a young boy, first to Wicklow town and later to Arklow, where his family operated the Bridge Hotel. He was involved with the sea from an early age, being a founding member of the Arklow sub-aqua club and a keen surfer and later sailor. In the early eighties he took over the running of family hotel and pub, and made a great success of it. However he felt that a life behind the bar wasn't for him. "I looked around me at others who had spent their lives in the hospitality business", O'Neill told WicklowToday. "I didn't want to spend my life that way".

The Wicklow Mountains over Arklow Harbour

In 1985 he made the first step in changing his direction when he bought 'Poitin', a small wooden boat. His first voyage was just a few miles up the coast to Wicklow town, but he was soon using Poitin for weekend voyages, even sailing to Wales. In 1990 he made his break and left to sail the Atlantic single-handed.

The voyage took nearly two years, with the actual crossing lasting close to two months. A year spent island hopping in the Caribbean led to him meeting his future wife Caro, a native of Cornwall, in the Virgin Island. She joined him for the return voyage to Ireland.

Although the actual voyage is an incredible accomplishment for any person, it is the accompanying inner voyage of discovery of himself and the world that is most intriguing about Seascapes and Angels. The journey, and the silence makes him philosophical "There is no doubt in my mind now, that unknown to our conscious minds we choose our path in life".

O'Neill's arrival back in Wicklow was bittersweet. "The Wicklow Mountains rose high into the afternoon sky while Arklow waited by the shore. Nothing appeared to have changed. He observed Poitin's return, remembered her departure, and for a brief moment there as nothing in between. An ocean full of events, of people and conversations, flooded into his mind. He opened his diary and wrote; "Arklow, approx. three miles off".

Dermot now lives in Santa Maria, a mountain village on the island of Mallorca, with his wife Caro and two children. The Poitin currently stands behind the Arklow Sailing Club's building on the North Quay in Arklow, having been out of the water for several years.

Seascapes and Angels, by Dermot O'Neill. Published by The Collins Free Press Ltd., Cork, April 2000.