by Dymphna Lonergan
Good stories can be hard to find these days, so it is good to hear that Irishman Fergal Butler’s lost, found, and restored boat Old’s Cool is set to be relaunched.
Living in Balrothery on Ireland’s east coast, Fergal Butler has been a long-time carer for his disabled wife and son, and so began his interest in building and restoring boats, a handy occupation allowing him to work in the back garden on a hull while at the same time being close to the house.
In 2013, his specially designed and built cruiser Aquarius that could accommodate two wheelchairs was launched and enjoyed by Fergal’s family thereafter, until circumstances made it difficult to maintain. Rather than sell the cruiser, the family donated it to a keen boatie who was also disabled.
Proud mother Nora, who lives in South Australia, recalls that the schoolboy Fergal was always engaged in some project or other. At one time, when the family was living in Skerries, she was missing her eggbeater only to find that Fergal had purloined it for the replica he was making of the local windmill. The cogs in the eggbeater were the very things he needed to turn the windmill. Nora didn’t say whether he ever bought her a new one!
Fergal’s next project was to restore a speed boat. This he christened Old’s Cool, a pun on ‘old school’ and ‘old is cool.’ One night, however, on Fergal’s way home from the Shannon Boat Rally in 2015, he ran into a hailstorm and Old’s Cool sank in Lough Ree. Luckily a friend in a backup boat called Murphy’s Law came to Fergal’s rescue: ‘In ways I was lucky if the other boat was a bit further away from me he would not have been able to find me the visibility was that bad.’ There was no time to put anything in his dry bag, so he lost his GPS, and the backup boat did not have one. In addition, the wind was so strong that it later made it made it difficult to locate the wreck.
But if there is one standout character that Fergal Butler has it is determination. For the next eight years, on weekends and during holidays, he had one thing on his mind, finding and restoring Old’s Cool. He bought sonar equipment and enlisted the help of the Athlone sub aqua club for the search in water that was as deep at 150 feet at times.
In January 2015, Old’s Cool was finally found and amazingly lying in only thirty feet of water: covered in marine life, but intact, Fergal accrediting the epoxy he used for the preservation (produced by epoxycraft.com) to cover the timber inside and out. However, he is downplaying his boatmaking skills: a reader of Fergal’s story of boards.ie said, ‘But one thing we’ve see consistently over that time is that your track record on getting the job done is 100%.’
Fergal then set to restoring every aspect of Old’s Cool, including the engine. Anyone who has restored or repaired rather than thrown away and bought a new item can appreciate Fergal’s mindset. Perhaps he is also expressing gratitude for the miracle that brought Old’s Cool back from its watery grave.
For the past two years Old’s Cool has undergone a complete restoration and the plan is for the relaunch to take place on July 12 at Coosan Point in Westmeath.
You can follow the story and further developments on https://www.facebook.com/fergal.butler.5
Tinteán 