Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

It’s 6,000 miles from Strangford Lough Yacht Club in the small hamlet of Whiterock on the western shore of the Lough in County Down, to Da Chan Bay in Shenzhen, China. And it is very different racing for Jon Gundersen…

Belfast based Harland & Wolff is to introduce a new fast ferry to the Isles of Scilly which they say has been "secured" and due to start running a service in the spring in competition with an existing company. The…

The Marine Casualty Investigation Board (MCIB) has said that boarding and disembarking risk assessment and associated policies and procedures should “immediately be reviewed” after the serious injury of a diver working on salmon farms off the Galway coast. The 33-year-old…

Maritime enthusiasts from Arklow have implored Wicklow County Council to help them in their race against the clock to save parts of an historic auxiliary sailing cargo-ship, the last of its type to serve on the Irish Sea. The local…

Shipyard firm Harland & Wolff based in Belfast has decided not to make a formal bid to buy the passenger ferry and freight-company, which operates to the Isles of Scilly off Cornwall. In an initial approach by H&W to acquire…

The Port of Galway says that “Christmas has come early” for it, with confirmation that it has been recognised for European TEN-T status. The development has been welcomed by the harbourmaster, Capt Brian Sheridan, and Galway West junior minister and…

For Kinsale Yacht Club's Cian McCarthy, owner and co-skipper with Sam Hunt of the Jeanneau Sun Fast 3300, Cinnamon Girl – Eden Capital, the two-handed entry from Ireland, this will be their first Sydney-Hobart Race, one of ten international entries…

Dave Dwyer’s success with Swuzzlebubble comes from a determination to acquire the classic Farr-designed half-tonner, which had been a wreck in Greece. He comes from a Cork family that has a four-generation sailing history. Dave Dwyer’s Half Tonner Swuzzlebubble competing…

It’s time to ask serious questions about the EU’s attitude to Ireland and the Irish fishing industry, according to the Irish Fish Producers’ Organisation, which suspects that the European Union may be engaged in “closed doors” discussions with Iceland to…

Loughs Agency has made the decision to retain salmon carcass tag numbers for angling licence holders for the 2024 season in line with the policy followed in the previous three years at a maximum of one blue tag (1st March…

The recently crowned ICRA Boat of the Year, the Half-Tonner Swuzzlebubble, is confirmed among the early entries for Volvo Cork Week 2024,  just one of a number of key campaigns aiming for the biennial race week at Royal Cork Yacht…

Officers employed by the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company, will according to a union, refuse to work overtime from 27 December in a dispute over changes to contracts. In a ballot of union members from Nautilus International, who make…

Ferry company, Stena Line has signed a significant deal with a major UK port operator, the Peel Ports Group to operate from Heysham Port, England for the next 77-years until 2100. A twice daily freight service is run on the…

The Coast Guard, Water Safety Ireland and the RNLI have issued a joint appeal for the festive season, urging people to be mindful of the potential risks with their chosen activity and attend to their personal safety in planning and…

Cork maritime journalist and Afloat.ie columnist Tom MacSweeney contributes this week to 200 Voices, the special podcast series marking 200 years of the RNLI. Also featuring in the series this week is MacSweeney’s erstwhile colleague when he was marine correspondent…

Waterways Ireland advises masters and owners of vessels that all 16 locks on the Shannon-Erne Waterway will be out of service from Friday 22 December to Monday 1 January inclusive. No lock passage by boat will be possible during this…

Following a busy and successful racing season of Irish Cruiser Racing Association (ICRA) events nationwide, the legendary Half-Tonner Farr-designed yacht, Swuzzlebubble, raced by David and James Dwyer under the burgee of the Royal Cork Yacht Club, was deemed the 'clear…

East Down Yacht Club will start the New Year with its annual Icicle Series on Sunday, 7th January. It will run for six Sundays, ending on 11th February. The Club is situated on a nine-acre site on the western shore…

With exactly one hundred days to go until the start of the 53rd Trofeo Princesa Sofia Mallorca the Organising Committee has just published the Notice of Race. As regular Afloat readers will recall, Dublin 49er campaigners Robert Dickson and Sean…

At noon on Christmas Eve (Sunday, 24 December) Dun Laoghaire Harbour RNLI volunteer lifeboat crew will gather at the end of the East Pier to lay wreaths at sea and remember 15 of their lifeboat colleagues who lost their lives…