Afloat – Ireland's Sailing and Boating Magazine
Wicklow Sailing Club's Ger Owens and Mel Morris have been crowned 2026 GP14 World Champions after Ireland completed a remarkable one-two at the 90-boat championship on Belfast Lough. Owens and Morris finished the eight-race series at the Royal North of…
€1.5m ILCA Worlds Charter Fleet Lands on Carlisle Pier Some €1.5 million worth of brand-new ILCA dinghies has arrived on Dún Laoghaire's Carlisle Pier as preparations move into their final phase for the 2026 ILCA World Championships on Dublin Bay.…
Alan Green and Caroline Hanniffy produced a runaway victory in Thursday evening’s Flying Fifteen DBSC Summer Series race on Dublin Bay, converting an early tactical call into a commanding win over the 16-boat fleet. Another evening of light winds presented…
Kilkeel RNLI’s new Shannon class lifeboat, Bobby Cameron, will be officially named by its donor at a ceremony at the Co Down lifeboat station on Saturday 22 August. The all-weather lifeboat, which entered service in June, was donated by Margaret…
Minister of State for Fisheries Timmy Dooley has appointed Marie Gleeson and Dervla Tierney to the Board of the Marine Institute, with both taking up five-year terms. The appointments followed an open State Boards recruitment process. Gleeson is a former…
Ireland’s Pat Lawless has arrived in Les Sables-d’Olonne as preparations intensify for the 2026 McIntyre Golden Globe Race, which starts from the French Atlantic port on 6 September. Lawless, sailing the Saltram Saga 36 Green Rebel, is among 16 skippers…
Australia’s Great Barrier Reef is more resilient than scientists thought after undergoing a mass bleaching event. As The Times UK reports, the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) has issued results showing that coral cover on the reef has largely recovered…
Dún Laoghaire sailor Frank Cassidy has completed a 2,500-mile homecoming voyage from the Canary Islands aboard his Pacific Seacraft 40 Ocean Blue, bringing to a close a three-and-a-half-year Atlantic island odyssey covering almost 10,000 miles. The National Yacht Club's Cassidy…
On the English Channel a new first ‘sailing’ ferry service is launching between the UK and France next month using a high-performance 12-passenger-only catamaran. The eco-friendly operator, SailLink (Afloat notes, similarly named to the long-defunct ferry firm Sealink), inaugurated in…
Thirteen Irish sailors are among the 429 competitors from 45 nations beginning the 2026 ILCA 6 Youth World Championships in Aarhus, Denmark, on Thursday (13 August). Ireland has three sailors in the girls' championship — Abigail Murphy, Siún Ní Choistealbha…
Nineteen teams representing nine nations have already entered the inaugural Cape 31 Gold Cup in Saint-Tropez, with organisers targeting a fitting 31-boat fleet for the October championship. Into Formation: Black sails stretch across the horizon as the Cape 31 fleet…
Nominations have opened for the 2026 World Sailing Awards, with sailors, teams and contributors to the sport eligible for recognition across a range of categories. The nomination period runs until 30 September, ahead of the awards ceremony at the Qingdao…
Major Shareholders of ICG Oppose Management Buyout’s €1.2bn Deal As Undervalued
14th August 2026 Irish Ferries
Several big shareholders of Irish Ferries, parent company the Irish Continental Group (ICG), oppose the planned sale of the ferry operator to management, led by chief executive Eamonn Rothwell, arguing last month’s announcement of a €1.2 billion deal undervalues the…
Turf, Timber, and Timeless Magic: A Greek Sea Scout Adventure in Irish Waters
14th August 2026 Maritime Training
It began, as all great adventures do, with a call across the sea. Drawn by the undeniable magic of Ireland's maritime heritage, twenty young Sea Scouts from Dionisos, Greece, embarked on a quest to celebrate their group's 20th anniversary, weaving…
Nils Razmilovic and Glasgow Kiss secured a SB20 double at the 200th edition of Cowes Week, winning both the Grand Slam and Mini Slam as more than 20 boats contested one of the class’s largest Cowes fleets in almost a…
Ireland's Ger Owens and Mel Morris take a commanding 24-point lead into the final day of the GP14 World Championships on Belfast Lough after Thursday's light and patchy conditions produced some major changes among the leading contenders. The Wicklow Sailing…
Irish double Olympian Robert Dickson has won redress at the GP14 World Championship on Belfast Lough after an International Jury found his Race 5 score had been made significantly worse through no fault of his own by an improper action…
A generally light easterly breeze produced close racing across Dublin Bay on Thursday evening (August 13), with Valentina, Riders on the Storm and Windjammer heading the principal cruiser results in the AIB Dublin Bay Sailing Club Summer Series. Conditions appeared…
Afloat.ie records with profound regret the death of American sailing writer and historian John Rousmaniere at the age of 82. He was best known on this side of the Atlantic as the author of the best-seller "Fastnet Force 10", his…
A 30-metre French schooner carrying 25 people has been successfully freed after running into a salmon farm off Clare Island in Co Mayo. The Rara Avis, a flat-bottomed schooner modelled on Thames sailing barge lines, entered Mowi Ireland’s Portlee Smolt…
