Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

Tonight at the RDS in Dublin, over 400 people will gather for the Afloat.ie Volvo Irish Sailing Awards to celebrate some maginificent achievements from 2017. As previewed this morning in the Irish Times, offshore sailing achievements look set to be a…

In the depths of this winter, traditional boat enthusiasts worldwide were thinking of Oldcourt in West Cork, where the traditional ketch Ilen, having completed her basic restoration, had to be moved in difficult and cramped conditions out of her building…

Voting is now closed in the Afloat.ie Sailor of the Year award, and the adjudicators are working towards a final decision which will be announced as the climax of the Volvo Sailing Awards ceremony in the RDS in Dublin on…

With a readers poll already showing trends in the Sailor of the Year Award stakes, the ceremony itself is less than a month away.  The past year, in the view of Winkie Nixon, has produced some 'extra-special sailors', and over the…

Who gets your vote as Afloat Sailor of the Year 2017? The past year, in the view of Winkie Nixon, has produced some 'extra-special sailors', and over the past 12 months we have picked out 28 individual sailors and pairings who have excelled in…

The exemplary rescue by Lough Swilly-trained skipper Conall Morrison (35) in the Clipper 70 Class in the early stages of the Rolex Sydney-Hobart Race has been rewarded with a full two hour redress by the International Jury for the time…

The runaway success of Irish-Australian sailors in the Rolex Sydney-Hobart Race 2017 ended the year on an unprecedented high. Gordon Maguire of Howth may already have had two overall wins under his very experienced belt, but his third with the…

Finn Lynch (21) of the National Yacht Club (NYC) is the Afloat.ie “Sailor of the Month” (Olympic) on the strength of his Silver in the Lasers in the Gran Canaria Olympic Week in mid-December, sailing nine races in light to…

With the year drawing to a close, it looked as though Liam Manning of Schull would be seen as 2017’s ultimate bridesmaid, as he was crew for Fionn Lyden’s All-Ireland Sailing victory in October. But the dark days of November…

Paul O’Higgins (RIYC) is November’s Afloat.ie “Sailor of the Month (Offshore)” for the sporting way he campaigns his JPK 10.80 Rockabill VI. He knew when to make it serious to win the Volvo Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Race, but equally…

If you accept that West Cork begins at Kinsale, then West Cork has made a clean sweep of Irish Sailing’s All-Ireland Titles for 2017. Before Fionn Lyden of Baltimore put his stamp on the Seniors’ historic silver salver at Mullingar…

The Afloat.ie “Sailor of the Month” process in October is normally self-selecting, as the Senior and Junior awards go to the new Irish Sailing All-Ireland Champions. But when Fionn Lyden of Baltimore demonstrated at Mullingar in 2017’s Championship of Champions…

Lorcan Tighe of Dun Laoghaire makes such a broadly-based contribution to Irish sailing as a sailor, an instructor and a race officer, that you’d assume he was somebody with many years of experience under his belt. But he’s only 17…

The Irish Sea Offshore Racing Association’s increasingly busy annual programme is notable for the way several leading crews take in recruits from both sides of St George’s Channel, and September’s Afloat.ie Sailors of the Month (Offshore) reflect this. Vicky Cox…

Michael O’Connor of Royal St George YC is the Afloat.ie “Sailor of the Month (Inshore)” after celebrating September with the Corinthian Division overall win in the SB20 Worlds on the Solent early in the month and then, in an intense…

In the 21 years since the Afloat.ie “Sailor of the Month” awards were first introduced, we had always dutifully waited until the end of the month before allocating the plaudits, even when it had been clear for days or even…