Tributes paid to around-the-world sailor

TRIBUTES were paid yesterday to a Limerick man who completed a solo around-the-world voyage when he was in his 70s.

Pat Lawless, aged 84, died at his home at the weekend.

He got a hero’s welcome when he navigated his 30-foot vessel Seadog up the Shannon Estuary in July 1996, completing a three-year voyage of 30,000 miles through the Cape of Good Hope, around Australia and the Panama Canal.

Mr Lawless narrowly escaped death on an earlier attempt to sail solo around the world when his yacht was wrecked in a storm off Africa. A passing cargo ship plucked him to safety as his boat capsized.

Undaunted, he set out again to complete his lifelong ambition.

Mr Lawless developed an interest in sailing late in life when he joined the Iniscealtra Sailing Club in Lough Derg.

Mayor Maria Byrne said Mr Lawless had left a lasting sporting legacy.

Labour TD Jan O’Sullivan said: “His achievements at sea will long be remembered after the rest of us are forgotten.”

She said: “Pat was also one of those loveable characters, someone who was great fun and always was great to meet him. You wouldn’t think meeting him that he was one of those extraordinary people able to achieve in life what the rest of us could only dream about.”

Mr Lawless died suddenly at his home at Harbour View, South Circular Road on Friday last.

After his funeral Mass in St Joseph’s Church in Limerick yesterday, his remains were brought to Dun Chaoin on the Dingle Peninsula for burial.

He is survived by his wife, Nancy, daughter Helen and sons Jim, Pat, Dan, John and Peter.