IF Peter Hogan opens a new art gallery he's going to call it "The Second Chance". He got that second chance when a German ship found him in a dinghy that saved his life last week.
The inflatable dinghy was five feet in diameter with an orange tent over it. He spent 18 hours in it after his yacht, the Molly B sank near Sicily.
He knows it was 18 hours because he became obsessed with his watch. "I kept telling myself that if I could get through one hour then maybe I could get through two."
It was to be a two year trip of a lifetime for the 45 year old Irish artist and his girlfriend Micaela Kuh. The 30 foot ketch that he built himself was launched with the blessing of Tanaiste, Mr Spring, last November.
He sailed it calmly down the Liffey on its way to Vancouver, via the Suez Canal, the Indian Ocean, the South China Sea and the Bering Sea.
But the boat did not make it out of Europe before waters got choppy. Mr Hogan says he fell out with Ms Kuh and she left the boat in the South of France. He set off into the Mediterranean.
Mr Hogan was already the first Irish man to sail around the world single handedly. "In retrospect I could have been a bit more careful. I was over confident in a way." As the weather got worse, the boat capsized a number of times before it finally sank.
Mr Hogan arrived back in Ireland on Tuesday via Sardinia. He was spotted by a German ship after sending up a flare.
He said he has given up ambitions to go sailing again and will probably start painting again, using the experience as inspiration. "Maybe I'll take up modelmaking."
