Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

The ‘spatial squeeze’ is an issue that has been coming increasingly to the fore in recent months as more concern is expressed about the pressure being exerted by offshore wind farm developers for planning approval of their proposals. There are…

Everyone seems to relish the idea of sailing round Ireland. Indeed, such is our appreciation of it that it all seems to mean different things to different people. To start with, how far is it? Time was when you’d be…

As the 2023 sailing and boating season gets into full swing, I’ve spent quite a bit of time over the past week getting my boat ready for launching and discussing safety on the water with fellow boat owners. A safety…

It’s an idea whose time first came back in 1884, and yet Dublin Bay Sailing Club remains as timely a concept as it ever was. Its official 2023 Opening Day is at Dun Laoghaire today, Saturday, April 29th, even though…

“There are two places in the world that create a sort of a spark within one that is so unique…and one of those is Inis Mhic Oileáin..” That’s how award-winning artist Maria Simonds-Gooding feels about the Kerry island, one of…

It’s beginning to look as though University College Dublin is a sailing university with a work and studies problem. As the pressure builds in all departments ashore and afloat, they’re piling on the pace in the team and match racing…

The disappearance of 129 people led by Sir John Franklin after they set out in 1845 to find a sea route to the Orient by way of the North-west Passage is one of the great mysteries of high-latitude exploration. That’s…

The best news for Ireland thus far in this developing sailing season of 2023 is that, at last weekend’s 400-boat four-day Spi Ouest Easter Regatta at La Trinite in Southern Brittany, Meath’s own Tom Dolan won the hyper-keen Figaro 3…

Recipe for a great day of celebration: Put together a well-earned praise-fest in which the lead speaker is a senior Government Minister and sailing enthusiast of the calibre of Simon Coveney TD. Add in a lively attendance of 270-plus that…

Let us imagine that you are both an enthusiast for Conor O’Brien (1880-1952), the Shannon Estuary’s great pioneering voyager, and that you are also one of those number-crunchers who enjoy calculating on what particular day significant anniversaries will fall in…

Sam Field Corbett, director of a number of marine-based companies in Dublin and Galway, found himself at the centre of criticism last week when a military tank which he had imported to incorporate into an “escape room” was reported to…

If success has many fathers, while failure is an orphan, then Afloat.ie must be one of the most successful media outlets in Ireland. For in recent years, several people have proudly claimed to have been the founder of what is…

Many tributes have been paid to RTÉ Radio One Seascapes presenter and producer Fergal Keane, who has announced he is leaving the national broadcaster to pursue new interests. Keane announced his departure on Twitter on March 16th, and on-air during…

“Jaws” it ain’t – the Angelshark has more in common with the skate and ray but is now an endangered species. The squat flat shark, appropriately named Squatina squatina, once lived in abundance on sandy and muddy seabed areas on…

That headline may suggest the latest Viking television melodrama. And at times Sailing To Antarctica, this new multi-aspect book of memoirs - written moreover in an Irish sea village with strong links to the Scandinavian sea rovers - brings the…

You could over-analyse the many attractions of a round Ireland cruise. Apart from being a romantic yet manageable act of homage to our island home, it appeals equally to the adventurous - in that you are always outward bound –…