Afloat – Ireland's Sailing and Boating Magazine
#RNLI - Arklow RNLI was launched yesterday evening (Tuesday 17 October) following a call for assistance from the crew of a sailing vessel reporting mechanical failure. The volunteer crew on board Arklow's all-weather lifeboat proceeded to the reported position approximately…
Dingle today is closely associated with superb hospitality, good food, the sporting entertainment of the biennial Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Race, and the eternal sense of the nearby presence of the mighty Atlantic in one direction, and majestic mountains soaring…
Storm Ophelia: Should Boaters Who Disobey Coastguard Warnings be Criminalised?
18th October 2017 News Update
Is it good enough that surfers, sailboarders, swimmers and yachtsmen put to sea, quite literally in the eye of a hurricane? The overwhelming response online seems to be a resounding 'No'. There are now calls for legislation to penalise people…
#freightferry - Irish Sea freight-only ro-ro operator, Seatruck Ferries has from today increased capacity by adding Tuesday morning sailings on the core Dublin-Liverpool route, writes Jehan Ashmore. Due to increased demand, Seatruck Ferries new Tuesday morning sailings on the busy…
#TransitGateway - As part of “Port Perspectives”, Transit Gateway is a project that documents the transitional changes of the shape of Dublin Port from its medieval shoreline to its current infrastructure. Transit Gateway as an artistic mapping cartography shows the…
A former hyper-active hurricane, only very recently re-classed as a severe tropical storm, hits southwest Ireland at dawn from south of southwest on a mid-October Monday morning writes W M Nixon. It spends the entire day tracking destructively across country,…
#ferry - The highest number of lorries and trailers travelling on P&O Ferries between Larne and Cairnryan was reached in the third quarter of the year than it has in any Q3 since 2011. As the News Letter writes the…
Brad Jackson Is New Skipper Of Team AkzoNobel In 2017-18 Volvo Ocean Race
17th October 2017 Ocean Race
#VOR - Three-time Volvo Ocean Race winner Brad Jackson has been announced as skipper of Team AkzoNobel after the surprise dismissal of Simeon Tienpont at the weekend. Jackson, who coached the Swedish all-women entry Team SCA in the 2014-15 edition,…
#RNLI - Both Larne and Bangor RNLI were requested to launch last night (Monday 16 October) by Belfast Coastguard during Storm Ophelia. The volunteer lifeboat crew pagers sounded at 9.25pm following reports of a person in the water at Whitehead…
UCD Sailing Team set off yesterday to compete in the Student Yachting World Cup, held near Marseille, France. Having qualified against stiff competition at the Student Yachting Nationals in April, the team will represent Ireland in the week to come.…
Niall and Nikki Meagher in Ffantastic Mr Fox had two great race wins in very difficult shifty conditions in the National Yacht Club Flying fifteen Frostbite Series on Sunday. The strong winds of the morning had abated and by the…
Storm Ophelia Video: Cork Harbour Yacht Breaks Moorings in Monkstown Bay
16th October 2017 Monkstown Bay Sailing Club
A video of a yacht that broke free of its mooring in the teeth of Storm Ophelia in Cork Harbour, has recorded over 50k views on social media. The Ensign Bar in Monkstown Co. Cork posted the vid on Facebook…
Storm Ophelia VIDEO: Rosslare Harbour RNLI Rescues Three People After Yacht Mayday
16th October 2017 RNLI Lifeboats
Volunteer lifeboat crew with Rosslare RNLI launched this morning (Monday 16 October) during Storm Ophelia to rescue three men onboard a 10m yacht after they issued a Mayday. The crew had been trying to get to safety since the early…
Ben Saxton and Toby Lewis today added another three wins to their already impressive haul of first places from yesterday in Essex to win the 2017 Endeavour Trophy series with a race to spare writes Sue Pelling. Going into today’s…
Another successful annual IRC Congress meeting was held in early October in the popular sailing venue and race destination of St Malo on the northern French coast. Forty delegates from as far afield as Japan and the USA came together…
Ophelia: Windsurfers 'In Difficulty' Prompt Rescue Operation In Dundalk Bay
16th October 2017 Rescue
#Ophelia - Windsurfers on the Louth coast have been roundly criticised on social media as they prompted a major rescue operation before the arrival of Storm Ophelia, as TheJournal.ie reports. The four windsurfers, originally thought to be kitesurfers, made their…
The first IUSA team racing event of the 17/18 season took place this weekend (14th - 15th of October) in Wexford. ‘Irish University Sailing Associations Easterns,’ was held in Wexford Harbour Boat and Tennis Club, and run very successfully by…
#OpheliaDublinPort - Met Eireann and the National Emergency Coordination Centre are advising everyone throughout the country to stay away from coastal paths, cliffs and harbours during the forecasted extreme weather event. Dublin Bay For safety reasons there will be no…
Hurricane Ophelia - Dangers at Harbours, Jetties & Moorings during Stormy Weather
16th October 2017 Inland Waterways
Waterways Ireland advises Masters and Owners of vessels berthed in public harbours, at jetties or moorings against visiting any vessels or boats during periods of extreme weather such as storm force winds and heavy rainfall. Strong winds are a hazard…
All Port of Cork shipping movements have been suspended in the harbour since 0600 this morning. Cargo operations are suspended until further notice, all cranes and cargo handling equipment have been secured until the storm passes. All persons are advised…
