Friday evening’s announcement of the Irish Sailor of the Year 2023 title for 19-year-old Eve McMahon at her sailing home of Howth Yacht Club well captures the zeitgeist of mid-2020s…
Friendship, family and sailing enjoyment expressed enthusiastically through quietly efficient organisations - that was the warm theme which dominated Thursday evening’s convivial gathering in the National Yacht Club on Dun…
What, you might well wonder, is a blatant billboard doing at the top of the page this Saturday morning, even if it is exactly a month to Christmas, and Christmas has come early for Ireland’s younger international sailors in 2023?…
After 50 years, there is a major change in sailmaking at Crosshaven, Cork Harbour’s dominant sailing centre..Outside the village, the loft associated with the legendary Des McWilliams and family is no longer a sailmaking centre. Barry Hayes and his wife,…
The Cruising Group can often emerge as the backbone of any sailing club, particularly in the winter. Back in the day when the new Howth Yacht Club premises opened in March 1987, fresh concepts were needed to ensure that the…
It is easier to pump oil from the bottom of the ocean than to farm seaweed, according to French oceans advisor Vincent Doumeizel. Doumeizel, from Burgundy in France, is a senior advisor on the oceans to the United Nations (UN)…
Tom Dolan halted his latest Round Ireland speed challenge on October 31st due to worsening weather forecasts off the South and Southwest coast. It was a disappointing decision for him and his team and a great many readers who had…
It’s prize-giving time down beside the Old Granite Pond. Last night (Friday), Commodore Eddie Totterdell presided over Dublin Bay Sailing Club’s annual re-distribution of their enormous cache of trophies in the National Maritime Museum in Dun Laoghaire. And tonight (Saturday),…
There is a growing feeling in the fishing industry that there is a lack of coordination between various Government Departments in developing marine, specially designated protected areas. This has been particularly highlighted by the Killybegs Fishermen’s Organisation, which has claimed that the…
A statement from Tom Dolan Racing, issued at 07:54 on the morning of Wednesday, November 1st after his anti-clockwise Round Ireland Campaign from Dublin in his Figaro 3 had been abruptly brought to a halt at Dingle on Tuesday evening…
It has been a remarkable week for Irish sailing, with our clubs last weekend managing to get in the complete programme of Autumn League racing despite being close in on the tail end of Storm Babet. Meanwhile, Eve McMahon confirmed…
Dublin Port chief executive Barry O’Connell had previously worked in eight different countries for Coca-Cola before he took up his new post a year ago this November. The port has been investing in community projects, including the refurbished substation on…
As solo star Tom Dolan said when he arrived this week in Greystones to position himself on stand-by for his waiting-game round Ireland record challenge from the Kish Lighthouse, the current increasingly Autumnal weather pattern is much more encouragingly dynamic…
Noel Campbell, Assistant Keeper at the National Museum of Country Life in Turlough Park, Castlebar, is leading the development of a boat gallery to preserve the history and culture of Irish traditional vessels. Turlough Park is about eight miles from…
You never really know when you’re experiencing history in the making. It was early in March 1973 when we were invited to Portaferry, along the east side of the Narrows going into Strangford Lough, on a Saturday morning. The idea…
It seems the sailing world has “recovered from recovering from the pandemic lockdowns”, as the world’s year-round programme of major events – particularly high-profile offshore challenges – swings back into top gear. Not that some of these events didn’t somehow…
“Offshore sailing is a mechanical sport, and it is an intellectual sport. More than using physical abilities and power, you can use your head to get the boat to work for you.” That piece of advice could, it seems to…
Pip Hare picked up a magazine one day to read about the BOC challenge, which was the forerunner to the Vendéé Globe. “And all of a sudden, there is Isabelle Autissier, absolutely kicking arse and being written about in the…