Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

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…

Seven young sailors were selected at the Optimist trials last April to represent Ireland at the Optimist Europeans in Crozon, Brittany writes Coach Thomas Chaix. The 2019 regatta had about 300 entries from 50 countries making it virtually a 'B Worlds'.…

A Waterford man with Type 1 diabetes is currently kitesurfing over 275 miles of open water from France to Ireland today (Sunday 30 June) in aid of a charity supporting people with the disease. Eoghan Quinn is attempting to race…

X-Yachts has announced that its brand new X4° cruising yacht has been launched in Denmark ahead of upcoming sea trials. The performance cruiser was announced in February of this year as the latest addition to the successful Pure X range.…

Local boat Eeyore, an Alacrity 18 Bilge Keel from Cowes, has laid claim to the prestigious Gold Roman Bowl, winning this year’s Round the Island Race after a long tactical day on the water. With a crew of just three:…

The Sovereign's Cup Portcullis Trophy was awarded to John Gordon’s X-yacht 'X-Rated' from Mayo Sailing Club for the best overall performance under the ECHO handicap system. The X-332 entry won two races in the ECHO division of the Cup's biggest…

In the Sovereign's Cup non-spinnaker fleets, Waterford Harbour Sailing Club’s Shane Statham on Slack Alice won the overall White Sails trophy for his straight wins under IRC plus his counterpart victory on ECHO handicap, a feat only managed by Eleuthera…

Staging a major sailing event which best reflects the spirit of your beloved home port is not a challenge for the faint-hearted writes W M Nixon. When we consider the multiple factors involved in the completion of the complex four-day…

DBSC Race 1 Cruiser 0 IRC: 1. Lively Lady, 2. Tsunami Cruiser 0 Echo: 1. Lively Lady, 2. Tsunami Cruiser 1 IRC: 1. White Mischief, 2. Ruth, 3. Dear Prudence Cruiser 1 Echo: 1. White Mischief, 2. Ruth, 3. Dear…