Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

The Irish National Sailing & Powerboat School (INSS) rings in the new year with a video reviewing its action-packed 12 months in 2018. Highlights of the school’s 40th year include the children’s summer sailing programme, with over 2,800 youngsters taking…

Dun Laoghaire will get a new 'boat engine showroom' if planning permission is granted at a West Pier site in the Harbour. According to a planning application received by Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council, applicant Pod Marine Ltd is seeking planning…

#Angling - Only hours after 84 Irish rivers were opened to salmon angling on Tuesday 1 January, the first salmon of 2019 was caught and released on the Lackagh River in Co Donegal. Michael McCann of Templeard, Derry landed the…

Dublin Bay youngster Flossie Donnelly made a great start to the New Year with a Killiney Beach Clean Up as part of her ongoing campaign to rid Dublin Bay of plastics. As Afloat.ie previously reported, young coastal litter crusader Flossie…

There were 20 entries in a light southwesterly breeze for the Royal Irish Yacht Club's Annual Charity Race on Sunday, 30th December 2018 Race officers Henry Leonard and Paul McCarthy laid a triangle/sausage/ triangle course which was completed in an hours…

A single race was deemed plenty for sailors to shake off the cobwebs at Howth Yacht Club. The Lasers got off to a great start for the 2019 season with a mild 10-12kt Westerly. The breeze shifted right, bang on…

To celebrate the recent Irish Whale and Dolphin Group (IWDG) expedition to Iceland in May-July 2018 onboard Celtic Mist, the IWDG will be undertaking a tour of Ireland to share stories, images and videos of this exciting and challenging marine…

With over six months to the first gun of Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta, 228 entries had been received by the close of the Super Early Bird Entry deadline of 31st December 2018. The biennial regatta Chairman Don O'Dowd told Afloat.ie "compared to…

Who gets your vote as Afloat Sailor of the Year 2018? The past year, in the view of Winkie Nixon, has produced some 'extra-special sailors', and over the past 12 months we have picked out 26 individual sailors and pairings who have excelled in…

Darryl Hughes is so completely identified with his classic 43ft 1937 Tyrrell-built ketch Maybird (whose superb restoration he project-managed himself) that, as Maybird shares her home port between Crosshaven in Cork and Poolbeg in Dublin, both places can claim this…

Fintan Cairns of Dun Laoghaire is disarmingly modest about his many achievements in cruiser-racing organisation, based as they are on his extensive experience as an active sailor, his own innovations, and his readiness to acknowledge when he has taken an…

Donal O’Sullivan’s retirement after 27 years as Honorary Secretary of Dublin Bay Sailing Club provides the opportunity for honours from all sides for someone whose contribution to the continuing vitality of one of the world’s largest yacht racing organisations is…

Lough Ree RNLI and Athlone Sub Aqua Club volunteers responded to reports of a person in the water in Athlone town late last night. At 11.25pm on the 30 December 2018 Lough Ree RNLI volunteers were alerted by the Irish…

#DublinBay - A dredger docked in Dun Laoghaire Harbour just days before Christmas Day, remains in port due to space restrictions in neighbouring Dublin Port, writes Jehan Ashmore. The hopper dredger Freeway which Afloat tracked upon arrival to Dublin Port…

#Lighthouses - A workboat operating from Dun Laoghaire Harbour which was used to assist the Commissioners of Irish Lights has completed duties offshore at the Kish Lighthouse, writes Jehan Ashmore. The Westport registered workboat, James, Afloat spotted since the summer…

Bangor RNLI has paid tribute to its dedicated lifeboat volunteers after what’s hoped to be its final callout of 2018. Just after 6.30am this morning (Monday 31 December) the lifeboat was called to assist in the rescue of a vulnerable…

#FerryNews - The Irish Times writes the Government needs to “immediately move” to bolster and diversify transport links to the European Union, the Labour Party has said. Labour party leader Brendan Howlin said the Government is “standing idly by” while…

In offshore yacht racing the margins are fine, permutations seemingly infinite and influence of unpredictable factors like the weather significant. Concentration, resilience and a deft ability to react to unforeseen change and adversity are a prerequisite for any successful crew.…

In an end of year review, the Coast Guard is continuing to highlight the capacity to Raise the Alarm and Stay Afloat as essential elements to reducing loss of life owing to drowning’s at sea or on inland waterways. The…

Save the dates 9 to 11 August 2019 in your calendar for the Spinlock IRC Welsh National Championships, which promises a long weekend packed full of great racing and fun ashore Once again the Welsh Nationals have been selected as…