Afloat – Ireland's Sailing and Boating Magazine
#RNLI - Baltimore RNLI launched on Monday evening (7 May) to carry out a medical evacuation for a man from Sherkin Island off the West Cork coast. The volunteer lifeboat crew arrived on scene at 7.40pm, just eight minute after launch,…
#DublinBay - A transport company based in the UK reports The Times, is involved in a planning row over the proposed use of the former ferry terminal in Dún Laoghaire Harbour as a coach park. Go-Ahead, which recently secured contracts…
There will be some in the 2018 race who remember the first Round Ireland Yacht race in 1980. Back then, within a few weeks of the preliminary race programme being published, more than 50 requests for it were received. As…
As darkness fell and the lights came on at the RCYC Marina on Friday night I was a happy man. We had sailed our first club evening race in Cork Harbour the UK Sailmakers Ireland League, without any hassle. We…
Irish ocean racer Tom Dolan from the National Yacht Club and his co-skipper Tanguy Bouroullec had moved inside the top ten in the Transat AG2R La Mondiale on Tuesday as the finish line draws close. The pair have less than…
Dolphins Spotted at Play Inside Dun Laoghaire Harbour (VIDEO)
9th May 2018 Dun Laoghaire Harbour News
The National Yacht Club's Mal Nowlan couldn't believe his eyes on Saturday afternoon when a pod of dolphins came into the harbour to play around his boat. 'I was calibrating my RIB’s compass when DBSC’s Committee Boat 'Freebird' came into the harbour…
#FerryNews - In an announcement today, the Manx Government has plans to acquire the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company (IoMSPC) for £124m. If approved by Tynwald later this month, BBC News writes the deal would see the government commit…
George Sisk's Farr 42 WOW! Gets a Makeover for 2018 Sailing Season
8th May 2018 UK Sailmakers Ireland
Royal Irish Yacht Club Skipper George Sisk has had the Farr 42 WOW! for nearly ten years so there was a feeling that it was time to look at a new boat for his Dublin Bay and Irish yacht racing…
A ceremony took place at the Old Head of Kinsale in Cork at the weekend to commemorate the sinking of the Lusitania and its 1,191 victims 103 years ago. The ocean liner was torpedoed at 2.10pm on 7 May 1915…
Brittany Ferries Connemara Debuts Firstly on France Route But Diverts to Brest
8th May 2018 Brittany Ferries
#FerryNews - Brittany Ferries new chartered Connemara has completed a maiden voyage overnight from Cork however instead of arriving in Roscoff, the ropax ferry diverted to Brest from where the ship this afternoon has just berthed, writes Jehan Ashmore. The…
Baltimore Wooden Boat Festival (May 25th-27th) Has Historic Ketch Ilen as Flagship
8th May 2018 Ilen
The 1926-built 56ft Conor O’Brien ketch Ilen, painstakingly restored in a visionary joint operation by the Gary MacMahon-directed Ilen Boat Building School in Limerick working in concert with master shipwrights Liam Hegarty and Fachtna O’Sullivan at Oldcourt Boatyard near Baltimore,…
#VOR - The Spanish team MAPFRE stunned the Volvo Ocean Race fleet on Tuesday morning (8 May) by stealing a win in Leg 8 with a shocking come-from-behind victory into Newport, Rhode Island. Twenty-four hours before, with just 300 miles…
#DublinBay - All planned diving expeditions in Dublin Bay have been cancelled due to silt from dredging operations clouding the water, it has been claimed. The Irish Times reports that Irish Underwater Council members have abandoned all scheduled dives, as…
Dear Editor, I moved to Inchigeelagh, Co Cork last October. My first Summer here is being filled with admiring all of the beautiful scenery. I've got a bug about sailing in the local lake that just won't go away, I'm…
Larne RNLI launched their inshore lifeboat yesterday afternoon (Monday 07 May) to reports of an 18ft motor vessel with two people on-board lost in foggy conditions near the Maidens Lighthouse. The inshore lifeboat launched at 11.40am and with assistance from…
The J24 Association has been growing its fleet steadily over the past few years and last year had an impressive 26 boats at the National Championships in Sligo. This year the J24 Association are keen to improve on that number…
#CruiseLiners - For the first time ever a cruise ship called to the West Cork island of Cape Clear last Thursday morning with a group of 70 bird watchers. Guests on the cruise ship Ocean Nova, writes the Evening Echo,…
20–Boat ISORA Fleet Swells Wave Regatta Entry to 110 For Inaugural Event at Howth Yacht Club
8th May 2018 Wave Regatta
Howth Yacht Club's Wave Regatta is set to be the biggest sailing club event on the East coast in 2018 and aims to deliver great racing afloat with an unmissable entertainment programme ashore. The arrival of Ireland’s long-awaited Summer weather has…
#Rowing: Queen’s University won the Championships Quadruple at the BUCS Regatta in Nottingham today. The crew of Nathan Hull, Sam McKeown, Philip Doyle and Tiernan Oliver beat Reading into second and Oxford Brookes into third. The Queen’s women’s Beginners’ eight…
#VOR - Team Brunel were on the brink of Leg 8 victory today (Monday 7 May) as they led the seven-strong Volvo Ocean Race fleet towards Newport, Rhode Island with a 14-mile advantage. The Dutch crew, skippered by esteemed round-the-world…