What do the Maoris know about the naomhogs to be found around the west coast, especially in Dingle and Clare? These are currachs to the uninitiated. Bounding barques made with loving care from frugal materials, majestic things that haven't changed much in design since the early Irish monks took to the sea.
The Maoris, of course, know a bit about the sea, too, and in their New Zealand habitat down the centuries their version of the naomhog, the waka, has been a bounding barque as well. The tradition of the sea and seagoing is in their blood. Now a meeting of minds could be about to happen because the naomhog is about to arrive in the southern hemisphere.
It arises as a cultural alliance, and it could be a fruitful one. The Edinburgh festival has its fringe side, why shouldn't the America's Cup be built around the naomhog?
The America's Cup is the champagne of sailing. Break a mast and if you have to worry about the £10,000 or £20,000 cost, you shouldn't be sailing in the first place. The big boys are there for the honour and glory - and because they can afford it.
So where's the fringe? Right now, the great yachting event is being held in New Zealand. Nations will vie with one another using the most expensive sailing equipment yet assembled. There will be a winner, naturally, but my bet is that memories of the fringe will linger in the memory long after the champagne has bubbled over the crowds. That's where the naomhogs come in.
That's where Lorcan Slattery and his friend, Padraig de Hora, enter the frame. They will travel to Auckland on November 10th. The Dingle-based pair will not be racing the big yachts but will be constructing three naomhogs in New Zealand for the first time.
The America's Cup will still be on when the currachs are finished and enter New Zealand waters. But because the millennium approaches, it goes without saying that this America's Cup will have special side events.
Lorcan's role will be as navigator. His friend Padraig de Hora and Mick Downes, who lives in New Zealand, both experts in woodwork, will fashion the boats. They have a special love for the traditional boats and have experience to prove it.
De Hora and Downes will be in New Zealand when more than 7,000 sailing craft converge on the waters there. Their aim is to introduce the naomhog to the southern hemisphere. This should be interesting, not least because the currachs will take their place alongside craft peculiar to other nations.
From all over the world, representatives of varying traditions will be travelling to New Zealand to show how their maritime tradition has evolved. Winning honours is important to the race participants, but it is good that lovers of maritime history can show their wares and compare notes. Why did the waka become the preferred craft of the Maoris, and the naomhog become the one chosen by the people of west Kerry?
These matters will be discussed in the evenings when the experts and seadogs get together.
It was Lorcan Slattery's idea to use the America's Cup as a showcase for the Irish craft. He and Padraig de Hora will bring the art of currach-building to New Zealand and, no doubt, the wakamakers will be looking on. This is about cultures colliding in a good way.
The first of the three currachs will be finished and launched in the early days of December, after about three weeks work. The two others will follow shortly afterwards. However, unlike the sailors, the ones who build and fashion simple craft will have other notes to swap, because for them, this is a great adventure. I think I'd rather be a fly on the wall when the naomhog-makers with their waka counterparts get together than when the owners of the big ones come ashore to compare their travails of the day.
A currach negotiating the Blasket Sound on a winter's day with cattle on board bound for Dun Chaoin would make more sense to a native New Zealander than talk of a broken mast costing £10,000.
Hopefully, the exchange of views will be recorded because it's not just about Irishmen and New Zealanders but about many other seagoing peoples whose cultures have produced boats that went to sea and defined them.
In our culture, the humble naomhog ranks with the best. Lorcan Slattery's idea is a good one, and all going well we will read about the results.
The America's Cup is a great competition. For sailing enthusiasts, it is the World Cup.
But what about this? During the event, currachs built by Dingle men in New Zealand will leave Auckland Harbour for a beach on a Maori homeland, along with the indigenous craft of many other nations. As I write, 2,000 people are rehearsing a Maorihaka. When the flotilla arrives, the Ngatay Whatua tribes people will be there to greet them.
The event will form one of the highlights of the New Zealand millennium celebrations. Isn't it great that the currachs - almost the same design that brought our monks to distant parts in the past - will feature again as we enter a brave new world?