Afloat – Ireland's Sailing and Boating Magazine
John O’Driscoll and Shirley Gilmore brought the Water Wag Wednesday evening to a close with victory aboard Moosmie in the Walpole Prizes race on Dublin Bay on September 16th. A fleet of 24 Water Wags turned out for the penultimate…
The Dún Laoghaire Motor Yacht Club's Kish Challenge sponsored by Leinster Boats returns to Dublin Bay on Sunday, September 27th, with racing and cruising divisions again featuring in the annual end-of-season fixture. The 2026 Challenge has a warning signal scheduled…
Frank Whelan’s Greystones Harbour Sailing Club-based El Syd has secured the 2026 ICRA IRC Boat of the Year title, according to the latest calculations from the Irish Cruiser Racing Association (ICRA), with the two remaining qualifying Autumn Leagues overlapping. The…
Pippa VI Wins Portpatrick Race as eXcession Takes NIOPS Titles
16th September 2026 Northern Ireland Waters
The Portpatrick Race brought the 2026 Northern Ireland Offshore Points Series (NIOPS) to a close on Saturday, 5 September, with Pippa VI taking line honours and corrected-time victory after a closely fought crossing of the North Channel. Strong but fading…
The line-up for the 2026 Irish Sailing Junior Champions’ Cup has been announced, with 16 of Ireland’s leading junior sailors invited to compete at the Fastnet Marine Outdoor Education Centre (FMOEC), Schull, West Cork this weekend. The two-day competition brings…
New Port Director Appointed by Peel Ports Clydeport to Lead Its Scottish operations
16th September 2026 Ports & Shipping
A UK port operator, Peel Ports Group, has appointed the head of one of Amazon’s biggest UK depots as its new Port Director in Scotland. Jamie Strain will lead the port operator’s Peel Ports Clydeport business, overseeing its key Scottish…
RNLI Says "Significant" Boost In Donations After Far-Right Criticism
16th September 2026 RNLI Lifeboats
The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) says its donations have been boosted significantly since the organisation’s volunteers were criticised by far-right agitators over migrant crossings to Britain. As The Guardian reports, RNLI staff and volunteers say they were the target…
Irish Olympic sailors are among the athletes highlighted in a pre-Budget submission calling for an overhaul of tax relief available to Ireland’s high-performance sportspeople. The Olympic Federation of Ireland Athletes’ Commission is proposing a new tax credit for Olympic and…
The Seafood Ireland Alliance (SIA) is calling on the Government to honour commitments made to the seafood sector and provide financial support and policy changes aimed at securing the fishing industry's long-term viability. The alliance says action is needed in…
Scientists from Trinity College Dublin (TCD) say they have discovered how to decode weather in faraway deep space worlds. The researchers have identified that the weather on a well-studied brown dwarf, “SIMP 0136”, previously linked with Northern Lights-like phenomena, is…
Plans are being filed with An Coimisiún Pleanála (ACP) to dismantle and decommission the Arklow wind farm off the Wicklow coast. As RTÉ News reports, Arklow Energy Ltd is applying to dismantle and remove seven wind turbine generators and all…
The Sea-Fisheries Protection Authority (SFPA) has updated its information on labelling on board freezer vessels. It says that all boxes or blocks of frozen products caught within the North-East Atlantic Fisheries Commission (NEAFC) Convention Area, which includes all waters surrounding…
Blazing bonfires and spectacular light shows are promised on beaches around the coast for Culture Night on September 18th. A "chain of light along the Atlantic seaboard" is promised for "Bop ar an Trá", from An Rinn in the south…
Blustery Start to Howth’s Autumn League Sees Puppeteer 22 Performance Plus
16th September 2026 Howth YC
If you want to see what became of the Puppeteer 22 OD created at Killyleagh on Strangford Lough by designer-builder Chris Boyd from 1978 onwards, then Howth is the place to be. At last Saturday’s blustery opening of the six…
Golden Globe Race: Leaders Guillou and Lawless Record Same 24-hour Run
16th September 2026 Golden Globe Race
Approaching the Canary Islands towards midnight Tuesday (September 15th) in the Golden Globe Race 2026, France's Damien Guillou with his Rustler 36 and Ireland's Pat Lawless with the Saga 36 SilverminesHydro were both recording 24-hour runs of 105 miles, but…
Sanctioned Russian Tanker Monitored by Air Corps Off West Coast During Trump Visit
15th September 2026 News Update
A sanctioned Russian tanker was monitored by the Air Corps off the west coast during the visit to Doonbeg, Co Clare, by US president Donald Trump. As The Irish Independent reports, a crude-oil tanker recently renamed the Dozor was within…
A fleet of 170 Swan yachts has gathered in Porto Cervo, Sardinia, for the 23rd Rolex Swan Cup as Nautor Swan celebrates its 60th anniversary. More than 90 Swan models spanning six decades of production are represented at the Yacht…
As the ILCA Senior Women's World Championships came to a close in Dun Laoghaire, the ILCA Ireland end-of-season event got underway at Waterford Harbour Sailing Club, Dunmore East. Home Waters – Local sailor Nicola Harris competes in the ILCA 7…
EirGrid has launched a 12-week public consultation on proposed electricity grid infrastructure in Cork and Wexford to connect future offshore wind generation off Ireland’s south coast. The consultation, which opened on Tuesday (15 September) and runs until 8 December, sets…
Fethard RNLI volunteers responded to three incidents over three consecutive days at the weekend, including the rescue of two people cut off by the tide on rocks in poor visibility. The first call came at 3.15pm on Friday (11 September),…
