Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

Sligo Yacht Club provided a range of weather conditions over the weekend for the Mirror Western Championships. 16 boats took part in glorious sunshine and light winds on Saturday which changed to rain and 20 + knots of wind on…

A busy June period drew to a close this weekend; concluding with the ever-popular biennial Sovereign's Cup Regatta – writes Graham Curran of UK Sailmakers Ireland. The weather did not make life easy for competitors over the four-day regatta but…

The spirit of the Whitbread Round the World Race is back with the announcement of the 2023 'OCEAN GLOBE RACE' (OGR), a retro event starting from a European port on September 10th 2023 celebrating the 50th anniversary of this major…

Since 1991 the scenic Glandore Harbour has seen some of the most elegant classic yachts coming together for racing and craic on shore. Organisers say the reason why so many classic yachts keep coming back to Glandore is that it offers an unbeatable…

A new cruise berthing and visitor centre at Greenock Ocean Terminal on the Forth of Clyde, Scotland has been confirmed, it was revealed today. At its June meeting, the Glasgow City Region City Deal Cabinet approved a contribution of £9.693m…

Today a small Japanese fleet caught their first whales in the nation's first commercial hunt in more than three decades, a move that has aroused global condemnation and fears for the fate of whales. Japan RTE reports has long said…

If Kinsale Port wasn't treated to enough on Saturday with the climax of the 95-boat Sovereign's Cup Regatta at Kinsale Yacht Club, the West Cork Town also had a visit from the Celtic Steam Engine Association writes Bob Bateman. It…

In the mid-west the Shannon Foynes Port Company is pursuing an unprecedented investment programme at pace to transform the Shannon Estuary into a major economic hub and act as an economic counter-pole to Dublin, consistent with Government’s National Planning Framework.…

A man was taken to hospital with hand injuries by Irish Coast Guard helicopter after a Mayday call on a yacht off Kilmore Quay on Saturday (29 June). The local RNLI lifeboat crew were en route to another vessel that had…

#Rowing: The Afloat Rower of the Month for June is Sanita Puspure. The world champion in the single sculls became the European champion with a gutsy performance in the final at Lucerne.  Puspure pushed into the lead after just 500…

The International Optimist Dinghy Association Ireland (IODAI) shared a photo yesterday (Sunday 30 June) of the five-strong team headed to Antigua to represent Ireland at the 2019 World Championships later this week. Rocco Wright (Howth YC), James Dwyer Matthews (Royal…

The General Lighthouse Authority which is responsible for England, Wales, Channel Islands and Gibraltar, Trinity House is joining aids to navigation authorities around the world to mark the first ever World Marine Aids to Navigation Day held today, July 1st.…

Whitbread Race competitor Angela Heath will join regular Dublin Bay helms Jean Mitton and Alison Clarke among the inspiring and influential Irish women taking part in the first Pathfinder Women at the Helm event next month. This new event “encourages…

The Irish Examiner writes that the Taoiseach has said that a no-deal Brexit would have a severe impact on the Holyhead/Dublin trade route. Speaking at the 20th anniversary of the British-Irish Council (BIC) in Manchester, Leo Varadkar said Ireland would…

There was some disappointment for kitesurfer Eoghan Quinn as his attempt to ride the waves from France to Ireland yesterday (Sunday 30 June) ended prematurely when the wind dropped off Cornwall, just short of the halfway point. But the 31-year-old,…

North Sails Ireland was on and off the water, last week in Kinsale for the biennial Sovereign's Cup supporting our customers and all the competitors writes Maurice O'Connell My colleague Shane Hughes raced aboard the Wright's "Mata", winning the super-competitive…

There was a packed clubhouse at Kinsale Yacht Club for the presentation of O’Leary Life Sovereign’s Cup prizes. Photos by Bob Bateman. As Afloat reported previously, with a superb string of six race wins in the four-day event, Frank Whelan's Eleuthera from…

Ireland’s sole surviving ocean-going wooden sailing ship, the ‘Ilen’, which was re-built through a community educational programme in Limerick, will set sail from Limerick Docks this evening to follow the migratory journey of salmon in the Shannon River to West…

It was always the plan to qualify for the Tokyo Olympic Regatta at the first attempt but in the absence of any such result last year at the World Sailing Championships in Aarhus, Irish Olympic Laser campaigners face their penultimate opportunity to…

Dun Laoghaire's Kenny Rumball is skippering the Ker 40 Keronimo in the Round Gotland Race that started yesterday.  It's not Rumball's first time in charge of the Swedish Grand Prix yacht. Last month he steered her to second in RORC's Cervantes Trophy Race. In…