Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

The Irish Cruiser Racer Association must be applauded for providing a platform under the theme: 'we need to talk about cruiser racing' at tomorrow's conference in Limerick. Like an elephant in–the–room, the overcrowded Summer fixtures needs to be urgently addressed…

The second Olympic Women's Laser Radial trial in Miami is looming but it looks like there were some unexpected implications from December's first trial between Annalise Murphy and Aoife Hopkins in Rio because men were racing with women in the…

#loveboating – Poor old Tim O'Brien appears so down in the dumps about his River Shannon Motor Cruiser that he's outlined ten reasons why he 'hates his boat' in today's Irish Times here.  Tim imagined a life of ease, messing…

#olympicsailing – Irish Olympic sailing is one of the best state funded sports so perhaps those thinking of representing Ireland in Rio next year should think of nothing of a globe–trotting Olympic trial but as Water Rat points out three…

#isafconference – The annual bunfight that is the conference of the world governing body for sailing, the International Sailing Federation(ISAF) gets under way at the start of next month in Palma, Majorca.Over 400 blazers (including a 13–strong delegation from the…

#roadtorio2016 – After Ireland secured three Olympic berths for Rio in Santander, the Irish Sailing Association (ISA) has yet to publish its own selection criteria on how Irish sailors might contest these places. According to David O'Brien in last Frday's…

#dinghy – Just because Irish dinghy and one design fleet attendances appear to be holding up well in recession doesn't mean there is nothing of concern in the numbers involved in what is the backbone of Irish sailing. In fact, there's…

#icra – The future of the ICRA National Championships is on the agenda this week, and the absence of some key clubs at the championships getting under way today in Tralee Bay will no doubt be highlighted. A Sailors 'Open…

A celebration of European maritime communities is to be held tomorrow Tuesday (May 21st) but who here has heard of it? We are a small island in the North Atlantic but thanks to our sea territory we're also one of…

It is important that all classes can aspire to participate in the All Ireland Championships but it needs to be seen to be fair and equitable. Giving pre-emptive qualification rights purely on the basis of numbers attending a class's championships when…

#BEN AINSLIE – As Britain's sailing superstar awaits a hearing with the Royal Yachting Association (RYA) over the incident at the World Championships in Perth last December, the consensus in the electronic media is that he has been hard done…

#OLYMPIC – Now that Ireland's Star, 49er and Laser Radial places are secure for the Olympics, attention now turns to delivering at the event itself. We're only 200 days or so out from the first race of the Olympic sailing…

While it might be an exaggeration to say that all of the 21 crew members of Rambler 100 owe their lives to the Irish Search and Rescue service, there are certainly five people whose future prospects were greatly improved by…

When a property doesn't have as many redeeming features as the developer would like, extra effort is put into talking it up by way of the promotional brochure. It could be said that the gloss of the brochure takes the…

Afloat opinion: The recent results in World Cup sailing regattas will give rise to considerable optimism in Irish sailing circles that David Wilkins and Jamie Wilkinson's successful performance in the boycott affected 1980 Olympics may be repeated. There have been…