Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

There’s been a ferry across the Strangford Lough Narrows between Portaferry and Strangford for four hundred years (reputed to be the oldest continuous ferry crossing in the world) but five years ago, in celebration of the Christmas season, there appeared…

Ardglass, on the southern coast of County Down, has one of the Northern Ireland’s main fishing harbours, is home to over 30 fishing vessels and is the main hub for the region’s pelagic fish processing industry writes Betty Armstrong As…

Belfast Harbour has been named the best port of call in the UK and Ireland for cruise ships. The accolade was awarded by a global panel of cruise experts as part of the 2019 Cruise Critic Editors’ Pick Awards. It…

It’s not often a Notice to Mariners is issued by Bangor Harbour on Belfast Lough for a paddleboarding event but this was the case when a fundraiser was held in the Harbour on a very cold Sunday morning (1st Dec)…

In celebration of 85 years of sailing, 190 Strangford Lough Yacht Club members enjoyed a memorable gala ball in the Clandeboye Lodge Hotel in Bangor. Commodore Rosie Baird said “It was great to see so many members and their guests…

Recently Royal Ulster Yacht Club was contacted by a Mr Andre Jaku of Melbourne, Australia about a goblet he had bought from Leonard Joel’s Auction house in the city.  It was listed as silver and was engraved with the words: …

Enda O’Coineen has many friends who sail Northern Waters. Now there’s the chance to meet up with him next week at the launch of his latest book, Journey to the Edge in No Alibis bookstore on Botanic Avenue, Belfast writes…

Another project in addition to the Bangor Queen’s Parade development on the County Down coast mentioned recently in Afloat, should see the enhancement of a two-mile stretch of the coast from the west of the Bangor Harbour all the way through…

Three volunteers from Northern Ireland are celebrating as their efforts were recognised by Her Royal Highness the Princess Royal at RYA’s Volunteer Awards held in London on Friday 22 November, to reward hard-working volunteers from all over the UK for…

Portaferry RNLI came to the aid of three people stranded on Trasnagh Island near Whiterock at Killinchy on the western shore of Strangford Lough this afternoon, as the weather deteriorated. Portaferry’s volunteer crew launched promptly at 1.26 pm and made…

Since Victorian times until about thirty years ago, Queens Parade in Bangor was a thriving seaside thoroughfare with shops, hotels, a cinema, and ice cream vendors all colourfully set in a row, attracting hundreds to that part of the town…

Bangor, Northern Ireland sailor Mikey Ferguson and Finnish airline pilot Ari Hussela finished the famous 4350-mile coffee route ocean race, the Transat Jacques Vabre offshore race, from Le Havre to Salvador da Bahia in Brazil, on 15th November. But not…

The Ards and North Down Christmas lights switch-on this year on Saturday (23rd) at Bangor on Belfast Lough will be followed by a spectacular firework display from a floating barge moored outside the Harbour. A 200-metre safety zone will be…

A ‘Town’ Regatta in Bangor first saw the light of day a century ago and Belfast Lough will, from 25th till 28th June next year, see a repeat of the 2018 reincarnation as Bangor Town Regatta, a four-day multi-class event…

Ards and North Down Borough Council paid £36,000 to scrap an abandoned fishing trawler in Ballyhalbert harbour on the Ards Peninsula writes Betty Armstrong. Ballyhalbert is a small seaside village on the Irish Sea coast of the Ards Peninsula at…

As you make your passage west through Belfast Harbour to the Marina you probably don’t realise that on your port side near the cruise liner terminal is gem of a wildlife sanctuary just a hundred metres away writes Betty Armstrong.…

Strangford Lough Yacht Club that celebrates its 85th anniversary this weekend is celebrating its shortlisting as a finalist in the 2020 RYA Club of the year competition writes Betty Armstrong. As Afloat reported earlier, two northern clubs have been selected as…

Just as well Ballyholme Yacht Club is at present extending the south dinghy park and widening one of the launching slips because next July an entry of over 300 is expected for the Laser Youth Radial European Championships which will…

Now that the city of Derry’s legendary Halloween celebrations are over, all eyes are on July 2020 which will be a key date in the Derry/Londonderry calendar when, on Saturday 25th, the eleven 70-ft yachts in the Clipper Round the…

Belfast used to turn its back on the River Lagan. Not anymore writes Betty Armstrong. Within the city much development, both commercial and urban, has taken place around the river – a weir, Belfast Harbour Marina, riverside walks, a new…