Passion for sailing has become part of Jim’s life
By Aideen O'Flaherty
A BLESSINGTON man has been building a boat since the pandemic began in March, and he’s hoping to set sail in it in a race across the Atlantic later this year.
Jim Schofield, 57, decided to start the boat building project in late March, after finding out about Australian adventurer Don McIntryre’s ClassGlobe 5.80 Project, where sailors across the world are building Mini 5.80 Class yachts at home.
Schofield has been building a boat since the pandemic began
The plans for the yacht went on sale in late March, and now people all over the world are building it to Don McIntyre’s specifications, in the hopes of taking part in the race later this year.
Jim bought the plans, which included all of the pre-cut-out wood needed to build the yacht, and swiftly got to work on it.
“I remember the 25 sheets of plywood being delivered. I just looked at it and thought, ‘Oh, what do I do now?’,” he laughed.
“I just started bit-by-bit, building the frame and the internal structures.
“I’m taking my time and doing each part of it as right and as good as I can.”
Jim’s garage has become home to his building project, which is now just over the halfway point, and he has amassed a strong following on TikTok after uploading his progress.
Jim told The Echo: “We’re all building our boats all over the world, and as part of the project you have to have a blog documenting your progress.
“I kept a blog at the start, then I started doing YouTube videos because I preferred it to having to take still photos and writing for the blog.
“Then I had been looking at TikTok, and one day I just said, ‘I’ll do a TikTok about the boat’. So I posted it, and the next morning it had over 35,000 views.”
A passion for sailing became a feature of Jim’s life in the 80s, when he did a sailing course in Cork and then bought a little boat that he kept at Dún Laoghaire Harbour and regularly sailed on. He also went sailing around Tahiti for a month in 1989.
However, Jim didn’t see the sea for the first time until he was 12-years-old, and remembers being unimpressed with it.
“I’m from a place in Tipperary called Cappawhite, so I didn’t see the sea until I was 12 and went to Tramore,” he explained.
“I remember thinking that it was dirty and smelly, because I was used to fresh water rivers and woods.”
Fortunately, Jim overcame his reservations about the sea and is hoping to spend 30 days at sea in his home-built yacht this November, in a race against other sailors who’ve also constructed the Mini 5.80 Class.
Jim is hoping to do a short practice race from Portugal to the Canary Islands in October, before taking part in the main event, travelling southwest from the Canaries, and past Cape Verde, to the finishing point at the West Indies.
“I haven’t really thought about the race yet,” Jim said. “I just want to get the boat finished.
“There’s always apprehension with these things, but you just have to absorb the daunting feeling and keep going.
“I want no drama, no storms – I just want to get there comfortably in my slippers!”
To keep up with Jim’s project, follow LiffeySailor on YouTube and TikTok.
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