Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

In Australia, the unprecedented heatwave is so totally engulfing the continent that respected observers of maritime weather patterns such as Matt Allen, owner/skipper of the very special Botin-designed TP52 development Ichi Ban 2, reckon that we’ll have to be a…

The 12th edition of the Royal Ocean Racing Club's Caribbean 600 will start on Monday 24th February 2020 from Antigua. Already the early entries are nudging towards an eclectic mix of 50 boats, with competition expected to be as red…

Back in 1991 when the world seemed a much simpler place, a three-crew Irish team - using shrewdly-selected offshore racing boats chartered in Australia - took part in the then-popular International Southern Cross Series, which was built around a programme…

A National Yacht Club crew from Dublin Bay have finished fourth in class and fourth monohull in the 2019 Atlantic Rally for Cruisers (ARC).  As previously reported on Afloat, the NYC crew made the crossing in the 80-foot Swan yacht…

World Sailing has recently announced the criteria for selecting teams for the Offshore World Sailing Championships scheduled to be held in Malta from 10 – 22 October 2020. This is a newly established event for a double-handed mixed crew. There…

The RYA is on the hunt for sailors and boat owners interested in the new double-handed mixed offshore event that will debut at the Paris 2024 Olympics. This exciting discipline will see mixed pairs battle it out over a 4-day…

World Sailing has sent a shout out to its member countries to take part in the 2020 Offshore World Championships, to be held in association with the Middle Sea Race in October 2020. The prospect of the new Olympic class…

Subject to ratification by the World Sailing Speed Record Council, Phil Sharp has set a new record for single-handed monohull up to 40 foot for the Around Isle of Wight aboard Class 40 race boat OceansLab. At 08:24 UTC yesterday…

The 19th AGM of SCORA, the south coast racing association, was held on Tuesday at the Royal Cork Yacht Club Crossshaven writes Bob Bateman The well-attended meeting included representatives of all the Cork harbour clubs in addition to Kinsale, Waterford and…

Organisers of the Rolex Fastnet Race have citied “infrastructre” issues in their decision to move the finish of the 2021 and 2023 races from Plymouth to Cherbourg. And in a press conference announcing the move this afternoon (Tuesday 26 November), the…

The Royal Ocean Racing Club (RORC) is heralding big changes to its world's largest offshore race, the Rolex Fastnet Race at lunchtime today. The offshore club has invited members of the press to a Briefing concerning the world's largest offshore race, at its…

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 tide is turning” on the prospect of offshore sailing at the Olympics, says Seahorse Magazine as it proposes how the new keelboat category could make the sport more accessible than ever. Last year’s introduction of the Mixed Two Person…

After 14 days at sea and with the IMOCA podium decided, PRB and Charal are fighting for 2nd and 3rd place in the Imoca category of the Transat Jacques Vabre 2019. It's a race with continuing Irish interest as two…

The skipper of the IDEC SPORT maxi-trimaran shattered the Mauritius offshore Route record between Port Louis (Brittany) and Port Louis (Mauritius) at 0726hrs local time (0326hrs UTC) on Friday 8th November). Francis Joyon smashed the reference time he set in…

As Afloat's WMN Nixon reported at the weekend, Wicklow Sailing Club has confirmed that SSE Renewables will be the new title sponsor for the 704-mile Round Ireland Race that gets underway on Saturday 20th June 2020. The biennial race is…