- Peter Faulkner is a boat builder who makes coracles, bowl
- shaped boats
- of cow hide that are used for fishing off the coasts of Wales and Ireland. But
- now he and a crew of six are
planing planning
to make the first crossing of the English
- Channel for over two thousand years in a bigger ancient boat called the currach,
- also made from animal hide. They have
allready already
crossed from Ireland to
- Scotland in one of these boats, their voyage following the
coarse
course of Saint
- Columba
,
who established the first Christian community on the island of Iona
- fourteen hundred years ago after travelling there in one of these boats. Before
- devoting himself mainly to making boats, Faulkner spent time as a seaman, but
- he has been a science teacher and he still teaches children with special
- need. 'It
s 's
exciting to make an ancient craft like a currach,'he says,'but even
- more to sail it across waters where one hasn't been for thousands of years
; ,
- since the prehistoric explorers used them, in fact. 'The currach will have a sail
- and paddles. Faulkner is confident it will make the crossing
successfuly
successfully but
- will not undertake the voyage until he has
tryed tried
it out on a river and also under
- sail off the
welsh Welsh
coast, It should be able to cope with waves but we need to
- find out exactly how well it handles,
' he says. The crew will include a butcher,
- Douglas Griffiths, who supplies the hides from which the boat is made, and
- Faulkner
s 's daughter, Louise, will also make the trip.
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