#santa – Santa Claus arrived by boat yesterday into Dun Laoghaire harbour and headed straight to a packed National Yacht Club where sackfuls of presents were handed out to children of all ages.  

Everyone – big and small – was entertained all day long, with the very special guest of honour arriving at noon and accompanied by his Elves.

Next weekend (December 14) Santa is scheduled to make another waterfront appearance at the Royal St. George Yacht Club and on the other side of Dublin Bay at Howth Yacht Club too.

#SURFING - Here's a little something festive with four weeks to go till Christmas, as Afloat alum Markham Nolan highlights this wonderful photo of Santa Claus riding the waves on a stand-up paddle board via surfing website Magicseaweed.

The shot was captured by Rich Murphy over the weekend in Dublin, and not only shows Santa getting to trips with a new form of transport - but that even the east coast of Ireland has its fair share of quality swells.

Yacht clubs in snowy weather are even odder than snow resorts in summer. But in America's sailing Mecca of Newport, Rhode Island, there was a further inversion at the East Providence Yacht Club on Sunday night after the annual pre-Christmas party reports W M Nixon.

Only a lone barman was left on the premises, and when a large fat white-bearded man dressed in red and carrying a sack came bustling in, he smiled a cheerful welcome. But the new arrival immediately brandished a gun, and by the time the police arrived he had cleared out all the weekend takings – "a lot" – and had made good his escape to the sound of jingling bells.