Author Wyl Menmuir and Seaworthy Boat Restoration

A small red boat with the name 'Eleana' painted on in white.

We’re delighted to welcome award-winning author Wyl Menmuir to our boatbuilding workshop this year as he begins working on a new project, Seaworthy.

In an attempt to feel less adrift in the world, author Wyl Menmuir buys and restores a neglected boat with a plan to sail it from his home in Cornwall to the Isles of Scilly, across 30 thirty miles of open ocean. It’s a quest – a foolhardy one, some say – during which he hopes to make not only the vessel seaworthy but himself too, able to function once again in a world he finds overwhelming.

While restoring the boat in the boatbuilding workshop here at the National Maritime Museum Cornwall, Wyl will be exploring the stories seaworthiness in the lives of those he meets, the ups and downs of life and the skills we need to navigate those journeys too.

Find Wyl working on the restoration in the boatbuilding workshop on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays from February until Spring 2026.

Plan your visit

1962 wooden Wayfarer Eleana under a cover at the water's edge.

About the Boat

Eleana is a 1962 wooden Wayfarer, well-loved and well sailed. Previously, she was a family boat, owned by the same family for over 30 years. Children were raised on this boat, holidayed on her, learned to sail, laughed and created shared memories.

Her previous owner patched her up over and again and now she is worse for wear, in need of a complete overhaul. She is the perfect boat for a writer who wants to understand seaworthiness in all its forms.

Seaworthy

Seaworthy, which will be published by Picador in early 2028, is in part a book about the ways we find to fix ourselves when we are mentally unmoored, and in part about the value of using our hands and involving ourselves more fully in the world of things. It is an adventure into good mental health and a timely reminder about the value of creativity to help us work out our place in the world.

Seaworthiness is a metaphor for the ability to navigate life’s storms. In an age of increasing challenges to our mental health and changing climate it is, perhaps, the metaphor we most need right now. Seaworthy, will blend an exploration of the mental health benefits of working with our hands with the challenge of restoring a craft capable of sailing on the wild Atlantic.

Black and white portrait photograph showing author Wyl Menmuir wearing a striped shirt.

About Wyl Menmuir

Wyl Menmuir is the author of a trilogy of non fiction books that explore our relationships with the natural world, The Draw of The Sea (winner of the Roger Deakin Award for nature writing and a Holyer an Gof Award), The Heart of The Woods (winner of the Award for Excellence from OWPG) and The Spirit of Stone.

He is the bestselling novelist of The Many and Fox Fires and his fiction has been nominated for the Booker Prize. His short stories have appeared twice in Salt’s Best British Short Stories, broadcast on Radio 4, and published by National Trust Books and Nightjar Press among others. When he is not writing or teaching writing, he is happiest at sea and can often be found messing around in boats.

Image: Oli Udy

What else is at National Maritime Museum Cornwall?

Explore 15 galleries over five floors, climb the 100-foot Lookout Tower, go underwater in the Tidal Zone, uncover ocean adventures and survival stories, sail miniature boats on the Boat Pool and learn about Cornish maritime history in our Cornwall galleries.