#FIREBALL – On the opening day of the Irish Fireball season, Noel Butler & Stephen Oram set the pace, bagging three race wins from four races and effectively continuing where they finished off in the Frostbite season writes Cormac Bradley. 19 Fireballs have made the trip to Killaloe for the Munster Championships and the Classic Fireball Championship. Sailing in dull...

#HOWTH YACHT CLUB – The Hegarty's Eclipse was the winner of the Puppeteer Howth Yacht Club race today with Schiggy (G. Kennedy) second. In the White sails Xebec (T. Giles) took the honours. The full Howth Yacht Club results are below: HOWTH YACHT CLUB. SATURDAY SERIES 1 (RACE) 19/05/2012 Puppeteer SCRATCH: 1, Eclipse A & R Hegarty; 2, Schiggy G Kennedy; 3, Cloud 9 C Fee...

#DBSC – Jonathan and Chris Nicholson's Red Rhum made the most of the easterly winds and big seas for today's Dublin Bay Sailing Club race even though the veteran DB1 cruiser was chased hard by Mervyn Dyke's Jawesome J80 for IRC handicap honours. Red Rhum from the Royal St. George YC also took ECHO honours with Jim McCann's Mustang 30 Peridot second. The one design divisions ...

CANOEING: New Ireland star Andrzej Jezierski qualified for the B Final at the canoe sprint World Cup in Poznan in Poland. Jezierski finished fourth in his semi-final, just over three tenths of a second off the second place which would have put him in the A Final. Jezierski booked his place for the Olympic Games at the same venue in the Olympic Qualifier on Thursday. Canoe Spr...

#VOLVO OCEAN RACE - The six Volvo Ocean Race teams have announced their crew line-ups for today's in-port race in Miami, Florida. Yesterday the team skippers talked about their expectations on the eve of the race, which is set to be the most hotly contested of the series so far. Mike Sanderson of the Irish-backed Team Sanya, which is currently languishing in last place, was s...

#CHOIRAL CONCERT - The Luther College Nordic Choir from Iowa in the US is to perform a concert in aid of the Maritime Institute of Ireland's National Maritime Museum. The choir conducted by Dr Allen Hightower, will be held in Monkstown Church of Ireland at 8pm next Wednesday 23 May. Tickets cost €10. In early June the refurbished National Maritime Museum of Ireland in Dun L...

#ANGLING - Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI) has been successful in a circuit court case against a Louth man who appealed a district court decision over illegal salmon fishing. Pat Smith of Annagassan, who was appealing the severity of the sentence handed down by the District Court in April last year, was ordered to pay two fines totalling €600 and costs of €2,369 to IFI in a...

#MARINE WILDLIFE - Another humpback whale sighting off West Cork has been confirmed by the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group (IWDG) - and it could be a new arrival to these shores. The humpback was encountered some seven miles southeast of Galley Head near Clonakilty Bay on Wednesday 16 May by local whale watch operator Colin Barnes. A tell-tale series of three blows and a tail f...

#VOLVO OCEAN RACE – As the boats of the Volvo Ocean Race prepare to leave Miami for Lisbon, Tourism Ireland and Let's Do It Global hosted a reception in the Volvo Ocean Race Village in Miami last evening to drive awareness for Galway as the Race Finale destination as well as Ireland as a holiday destination. The Volvo Organisers have issued details of how you can get afloat ...

#STAR SAILING – The last time anyone said the Olympic buildup is great crack for the participants must have been way back in the previous millennium. That's if it was ever said at all at any time since the first Olympics in ancient Greece, and on current form the Greeks -ancient or otherwise - just don't do great crack. But in Olympic sailing, as in every other discipline in...

#RNLI – Lough Derg RNLI Lifeboat was launched to investigate a possible missing person/s after a lakeboat was found adrift towards the northern end of the lake this afternoon.  On the return journey, the lifeboat was diverted to Scarriff Bay to assist a person in difficulty on board a 32ft crusier in Scarriff Bay, at the southwestern end of the lake. At 15.20hrs on Frid...

#LASER RADIAL – Discarding her first race result of 65 keeps Ireland's Annalise Murphy in 15th overall at the Laser Radial worlds in Boltenhagen Germany tonight but a gap of 13 points exists to tenth overall so a place in Sunday's coveted medal race depends on achieving the same results as shed did on Tuesday and Wednesday. Results available for download as a pdf below. As ...

#TRAWLER DETENTION - The Naval Service OPV LE Aisling (P23) detained a Spanish registered fishing vessel approximately 175 nautical miles off Mizen Head, Co. Kerry on Wednesday night. The detention was in relation to an alleged breach of technical fishing regulations and the vessel was escorted by the patrol vessel to Castletownbere and handed over to the Gardai. So far this ...

#CANOEING: Ireland’s Barry Watkins reached two semi-finals at the ICF Canoe Sprint World Cup in Poznan in Poland today. He came closest to reaching the A Final in the K1 500 metres - he finished fourth in the semi-final, having won his heat. In the K1 1,000 metres he was second in his heat and fifth in the semi-final. Jenny Egan reached the semi-final of the K1 500 metres, w...

#LIGHTHOUSES – Taoiseach Enda Kenny, T.D., today officially opened the new exhibition at Loop Head Lighthouse and launched the 2012 visitor season at the historic West Clare tourist attraction. Loop Head Lighthouse, located at the mouth of the Shannon Estuary, is steeped in history and rich in maritime heritage with its origins dating back to the 1670s. The Taoiseach's grand...

#RIB – Do you want to get a front seat to watch the V70's in Galway? Do you have a Rigid Inlatable Boat (RIB) and want to launch in the City and be sure of a berth for it in the docks? Well, there's only one way to be certain of all these and that's to volunteer yourself and your RIB as a Marshall boat. RIBs must be 5.5 metres in length or bigger and volunteers would need to ...

#TRY BOATING – As well as the Round the World Racers on show at the Volvo Ocean Race 2011- 2012 Grand Finale in Galway (30th June to 8th July 2012) there's also a chance to get on the water have a try at Sailing, Windsurfing, Paddle Boarding, Sea kayaking and Water Polo. Get on board a Galway Hooker, Donegal Drondheim, Achill Yawl and Arab Dhow. See what it's like on board a...

#WEATHER - The Irish Times reports on video of what appears to be an over-water tornado or 'seaspout' off the coast of Sligo last week. The video above was captured at Rosses Point on the afternoon of Monday 7 May by Graeme Salter. “I’ve been going to Rosses Point since I was a child and have seen some mad weather, but never anything like this,” he said. Seaspouts or w...

#ROUND ANGLESEY CRUISE – A 'Round Anglesey' cruise operated by Waverley Excursions and served by  Balmoral (1949/688grt) is scheduled a month from today as part of the season of excursions, writes Jehan Ashmore. The cruise circumnavigation of the Isle of Anglesey on 18th June starts from the Menai Bridge Pier. From there the veteran vessel passes the famous Menai Bridge...

#ISLAND NEWS - The latest Marine Notice from the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport (DTTAS) outlines the reinstatement of passage for boats through Achill Sound in Co Mayo. Passage will be subject to the following procedures that Mayo County Council have put in place in relation to the opening of the Achill Sound Bridge: Mayo County Council will require a minimum of t...