164 Mermaid

Joseph Murphy - IDRA 14/64, Mermaid (1951)

It’s a summer day. I'm in the back seat of my dad’s car, Ian Sargent is in the passenger seat and we’re on our way from CY&BC to Clonskeagh. I don’t remember the exact date, it’s sometime in July 2009, I’m 15 and I’m about to become the new owner of 14/64, Mermaid. 

We pull up to Michael Moran’s house and he swings open the doors of the garage and there she is. I had looked at a few boats before and none of those could compare to this one. In the sun, her deck glistened and the lines of her clinker planks were so graceful that even standing still I could visualise cutting through the water effortlessly. Negotiations complete, we arranged to pick her up during the week and from there my journey with 64 began – a journey that I’m sure will be a lifelong one. 

Over the winter of 2010 and spring of 2011, I had stripped and wested the outside of 14/64. 

I have fond memories of sailing in Clontarf and of all those in the IDRA class at the time, especially Ronan Melling, Donal Heney, Ciarán Browne and Pat O’Neill. I sailed actively in the class until 2013 when I started sailing a J24 as part of the Youth Squad Campaign in Howth. Over the next couple of summers, I was doing more keelboat sailing and spending the summers in New York instructing on J1 visas whilst Mermaid sat stored patiently on a farm in Malahide. 

In April 2017, I made the full time move to New York but never stopped thinking about my IDRA. In 2020, I bought a J24 and started a campaign over here after joining Sayville Yacht Club – commuting from the city to sail. Shortly thereafter, in March 2022, I made the move from apartment living to a house near the club. Now I finally had the space for my IDRA to join me in America. I am extremely grateful to my parents for the opportunities they have afforded me and their unwavering support. My father, Robert Murphy, worked out all the logistics with the shipping agents and paid for my IDRA’s voyage across the Atlantic. 

September 2022 saw the J24 Europeans sailed at HYC and I flew over to compete. Accompanied by two teammates from New York, we were joined by two Irish crew members for the regatta. This trip coincided with the IDRA 14 75th Anniversary and I was able to catch up with Ian Sargent and let him know my plans for 64. After the celebrations and a drive to the farm, we began preparing Mermaid for her journey. I flew back to New York and my father delivered her to Dublin Port.  

After a stop in Copenhagen, IDRA 14/64 arrived safe and sound at the port in Newark, New Jersey on November 1st 2022. Surrounded by Volvos, with the New York skyline across the Hudson as my backdrop, I drove to the end of the carpark and we were reunited.

Back at my house and securely inside my shed, the work began. Unlike the last time when I just wested the outside of the hull, this would be a complete restoration and refit. A true passion project, a labour of love – one that has taken almost three years. There were dark days, as well as jubilant ones – and I’m sure everyone who has restored a classic wooden boat has experienced. Months of stripping and sanding, especially every nook and cranny on the inside of the hull can take their toll. 

There is something quite spiritual about working with wood. It is a natural material with a lifeforce. Mermaid’s planks crafted from Norwegian Spruce trees have been nurtured by sun and rainfall over decades, they have taken in carbon dioxide and emitted oxygen – they have had a symbiotic relationship with the environment and the organisms that inhabit it. It’s an incredible thought that our IDRAs started as just a few seedlings growing in the forest. 

The deck and the hull (both inside and out) were stripped and sanded before being barrier coated with 3 coats West System Epoxy. Followed by 7 coats of varnish and paint from Epifanes. Floorboards and Floorboard bearers have been replaced and she has been refit with new harken hardware including centre mainsheet conversion. I also added lifting points as my club here only has a crane or a beach for launching and that would be a tough task in the soft sand! There have been so many jobs on this restoration, too many to list, no stone has been left unturned. Mermaid has been given a new lease of life. She also has a new set of foils from Alistair Duffin, new North Sails from Nigel Young and a set of new spars awaiting fulfilment from Super Spars. 

Built in 1951 by DBL Ltd (George Bushe) of Ringaskiddy, Co. Cork – 14/64 is 74 years old. She is a testament to craftsmanship, to wooden boatbuilding, to her designer George O’Brien Kennedy, to Irish Sailing, to the IDRA 14 class as a whole, to those who have been her steward over the years and to my own personal sailing and racing history and future. 

This past Thursday, October 2nd 2025 - I sailed her again for the first time in 12 years! I was joined by my friend, Brett and was extremely grateful to my father who visited for a week and helped me to the finish line and saw 14/64 launched and sailing before having to rush to the airport to catch his return flight to Dublin. 

It’s a truly amazingly wonderful experience to be sailing 64 again. She still moves as naturally and responds exactly as I remembered – even in 5 knots of breeze. I’m looking forward to the all the future sails onboard!

Joseph Murphy,

IDRA 14/64, Mermaid

Long Island, New York. 

Dublin, Ireland. 

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