History of Keewaydin
The Story So Far
The sailing trawler ‘Keewaydin’ has a long and colourful history. She was built in 1913 at Rye by G & T Smith for Lowestoft owners, where she went to trawl the North Sea banks. In 1937 she went to the Baltic, where she was used to carry cargo.
She served faithfully in both World Wars, carrying refugees from Denmark to neutral Sweden, and in one trip carried a total of 420 commandos.
Restoration
1963 saw her conversion into a yacht and in 1972 she was entered in the first Whitbread Round The World Yacht Race, where she completed the circumnavigation. After the race she continued to charter in the Mediterranean Sea and surrounding islands.
The Welch Family purchased her in 1997 in Malta, where she was rescued from a watery grave after her then owner became disillusioned with the restoration project. She was sailed to Brixham in 1998, where her restoration was finally completed.
2001 was the beginning of a new chapter in her long history as she began her new role within the holiday market. She is now employed to give people the unique opportunity to sail her, and we do mean sail her as opposed to sailing on her, and to learn the old skills of sailors that have been handed down through the years. People are offered the chance to experience sailing on this fine vessel as it was a hundred years ago.
The Keewaydin has moved from the ancient seaport of Cardigan, West Wales, from where she operated out of during 2001 -2008. She is now based on the River Fal. Her new home port is Falmouth this has opened up many new opportunities for trips to Brittany, the Scillies and beyond.
The future of the Keewaydin is to take people on short sailing holidays around the coast of Britain and Ireland and to help keep alive the skills of the old sailors. It is hoped that she can carry on sailing the open sea for many years to come as she always has, and to bring people together to experience the unique sensation of sailing and living on this beautiful vessel.