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Afloat – Ireland's Sailing and Boating Magazine
Yachts wait for wind on the third Sunday of RCYC's Autumn League
In contrast to last Sunday where Royal Cork Yacht Club's Autumn League featured the heavy weather drama of broken spars, a grounding and a crew in the water, today's race was an airless one and racing for classes 1,2,3 and 4 (the…
Jack Dorney, the fastest sculler at Cork Head of the River.
#Rowing: Shandon amassed a big set of wins at the Cork Head of the River at the Marina on Saturday. Their men’s senior quadruple, competing in the fourth head, set the fastest time of 12 minutes 3.4 seconds, while their…
Turlough Hughes
#Rowing: Turlough Hughes won the Dublin Sculling Ladder Time Trial. The Dublin University Boat Club man had just under a second to spare over Niall Beggan of Commercial on Saturday. One of the masters of the event, multiple winner Sean…
The Clann Lir was blessed in a service of dedication
At a special naming ceremony and service of dedication held yesterday (Saturday 13 October), Ballyglass RNLI officially named its new D class lifeboat, Clann Lir, in the Mayo coastal town. The honour of naming the lifeboat went to Derek Moran,…
#Rowing: Ireland crews reached multiple A Finals and had two fifth-place finishes at the World Coastal Rowing Championships in Sidney, Victoria in Canada.  The Myross men’s coxed quadruple of Kenny McCarthy, Vincent Browne, Andy O’Sullivan and James Lupton, with cox…
Alex & Daria Blackwell’s Bowman 57 Aleria enjoying the best of Galician summer weather in the midst of the ICC’s July 2017 Rally to Northwest Spain. Although normally based in Clew Bay, Aleria elected to stay on in Galicia, where she was recently hauled for her second winter in Spain
Is Irish sailing heading south? Are significant sectors of the national fleet heading for new home berths in the Lotus Lands asks W M Nixon. Every Autumn, we hear of boats which have headed down to southern Brittany or southwest…
Launch of Migrant–Built Traditional Currach in Cork
In July of this year, a group of adults arrived in the boatyard at Meitheal Mara in Crosses Green in the heart of Cork City to learn about a proposed new boat-building programme. For 25 years now Meitheal Mara has…
Unite says UK shipyards like Belfast's Harland & Wolff should get work otherwise cranes could “end up as tourist attractions” if MoD contracts go overseas
#BelfastLough - Belfast's iconic cranes of Samson and Goliath could “end up as tourist attractions” if military shipbuilding contracts are awarded overseas, it has been warned. As Belfast Live reports the union UNITE made the claim as they launched a…
Women taking part in a Try Sailing event during this year’s SeaFest in Galway
Irish Sailing is seeking expression of interest from Irish sailing clubs to host the inaugural Women at the Helm Regatta next summer, as well as subsequent events in 2020 and 2021. The debut regatta is set for two days in…
Howth/NYC sailor Rocco Wright was one of the stars of this year’s Oppy Nationals in Kinsale
#Optimist - Howth Yacht Club will host the 2019 Optimist National and Open Championships between 15 and 18 August, the International Optimist Dinghy Association Ireland has announced. The association added that it is still in the process of finalising dates…
#Ports&Shipping - MSC Ela, the large containership which due to engine-problem was forced to divert to Dublin Bay last week while on a voyage from UK to the USA, has finally arrived in New York Port today, writes Jehan Ashmore.…
Nicolas Troussel sailing his Class 40 Corum in the 2018 Round Ireland race off Wicklow in July. No single ocean race has seen so many entries in one class as next month's Route du Rhum Class 40 fleet in which Troussel's Corum is a front-runner
The largest fleet in the Route du Rhum 2018 – the solo transatlantic race that starts from St Malo on November 4th – is the Class 40 monohull division with 53 sailors taking part that includes Nicolas Troussel, the French entrant…
This weekend's SB20 Midland Championships have been cancelled due to a low number of participants
The SB20 class has cancelled its Midland Championships due to the very low number of boats signed up for this weekend's scheduled event.  Class President Colin Galavan says 'This is due, in part, to damage incurred to some of the boats…
Annalise Murphy gave a first-hand account of her experience in the Volvo Ocean Race at the NYC
At last night's popular 'Speakers Supper' at the National Yacht Club in Dun Laoghaire, the club's own Olympic Silver Medalist Annalise Murphy gave a first-hand account of her personal experience and reflections in the Volvo Ocean Race that she completed in…
Rio Olympic Silver Medalist Annalise Murphy (pictured above centre) with crew Katie Tingle and coach Rory Fitzpatrick in her new 49erFX dinghy can look forward to a trebling of investment for elite athletes
The Olympic Federation of Ireland has welcomed the Government’s announcement that it will increase current funding for Sport Ireland by €6.5m in 2019.  The news has also been cautiously welcomed by Irish Sailing's High-Performance Director James O'Callaghan.  Through its National…
A photograph of Croagh Patrick and Clew Bay in Co Mayo taken from an Air Corps. Mayo Sailing Club's anemometer provides accurate wind readings on the Bay
What is the number one topic of conversation in Ireland? We all know the answer: It’s the weather. We also know that the forecasts we hear on the radio or see on the telly are, shall we say, not always…
Volunteers Wanted For Howth Coast Guard
#Coastguard - Howth’s Irish Coast Guard unit is looking to recruit and train three new volunteers in 2019. If you live very locally to the North Co Dublin coastguard unit and are highly available, interested volunteers must attend an information…
Castletownbere RNLI's all-weather lifeboat Annette Hutton
#Lifeboats - Castletownbere’s all-weather lifeboat launched last night (Wednesday 10 October) to a Mayday from six fisherman whose boat lost power and was drifting rapidly towards the shore. Pagers sounded for the volunteer RNLI crew at 7.30pm following the alert…
Irish Naval Service’s LÉ Niamh (above) along with sister Afloat adds, Roisin the namesake of the OPV80/ P50 class patrol vessels would undergo a mid-life refit as part of Defence Forces spending which in 2019 will increase by €47.5m to almost €1b
#NavalService - Naval Service along with the Army and Air Corps that form the Defence Forces reports The Irish Times, has received significant extra money for purchases of new equipment next year. Morale in the Defence Forces has been hit…
Relatives of S.S. Dundalk on RTE's Nationwide edition (last night also featured RMS Leinster) where a commemorative ceremony was held in advance to the 100th anniversary (14 October). AFLOAT has identified the ceremony took place on board the Isle of Man Steam Packet's Mannanan (with master above). The fastferry took a special detour to the wreck site.
#ssDundalk - Only four days after the sinking of RMS Leinster, another Irish Sea steamer S.S. Dundalk was torpedoed on 14th October 1918 just weeks before the end of World War 1. As the Dundalk Democrat writes, twenty lives were…

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