Kadoona

Is she a little bird or a big steel boat?

One thing is for sure, she really does float!

Such tales of her voyages have been wrote,

of her journeys to places far and remote.

She’s sailed each of the seven seas,

encountering both fair and fierce breeze.

But of all of the adventures she could note,

there’s one prize she’d always quote;

When her fox and jay won the vote

for ‘the youngest crew’, she’d often gloat.

- Cat Heffernan

About Kadoona

Kadoona is our family sailboat — a very special Alan Pape–designed Ebbtide 36, built in Cornwall and sturdy enough to have travelled all the way to the other side of the world and back.

Her first owners named her Kadoona, meaning “little bird” in Inuit — which is funny, considering she’s one very heavy steel yacht!

Sixteen tonnes, to be precise.

She has ventured to some of the most remote places on Earth, witnessed extraordinary sights, and even made the long journey from Australia back to Cork with my husband, Ian.

But in recent years, she’s had some of her funniest, loudest, most imaginative, and downright craziest adventures yet — all thanks to her new pirate crew: Brendan Fox and Noah Jay.

I penned this little poem to celebrate both her and them — pictured below defending their “youngest crew” title for another year at the Crosshaven Traditional Sail in 2025.