Afloat – Ireland's Sailing and Boating Magazine
Belfast Lough's offering as a maritime heritage destination has been given a major boost today as two iconic attractions – the Great Light and Titanic Walkway – officially opened to the public in Titanic Quarter. The opening event was also…
Ireland has two sailors among the ninety-six Finn sailors from 33 countries counting down the days to next week's Open and U23 Finn European Championship in Cadiz, Spain. Oisin McClelland from Donaghdee Sailing Club and Fionn Lyden from Baltimore Sailing…
Council Votes to Take Over Control of Dun Laoghaire Harbour
7th March 2018 Dun Laoghaire Harbour News
With the recent damage to Dun Laoghaire Harbour by Storm Emma adding to the seriousness of the problem, last night’s decision regarding harbour management by the Council - and the comments issued this afternoon by the Save Our Seafront organisation…
Theo Phelan of Wicklow Sailing Club Retires as Round Ireland Race Organiser
7th March 2018 Round Ireland
It’s the end of an era. Theo Phelan of Wicklow, who has been intimately involved with the organsation of the biennial Round Ireland Race since 2008, has stood down from his demanding and time-consuming position after ten years in roles…
#Navy - The Naval Service has posted to its Facebook page a remarkable video captured by drone of the LÉ William Butler Yeats carefully berthing in its home port at Haulbowline in Cork Harbour. The €66 million vessel, which was…
Irish Clipper Skipper Hopes For Building Wind As Race Fleet Nears Taiwan
7th March 2018 Clipper Race
#ClipperRace - It’s been a busy 24 hours in the Clipper Race onboard HotelPlanner.com, according to Derry-Londonderry skipper Conall Morrison. “As the wind has freshened significantly we are now on Yankee 3, staysail and reefs in and out of the…
Portaferry Lifeboat Rescues Dog Walker Stranded On Strangford Lough Island
7th March 2018 RNLI Lifeboats
#RNLI - Yesterday afternoon (Tuesday 6 March), a volunteer crew from Portaferry RNLI was tasked to go the aid of a woman stranded on one of Strangford Lough’s many islands. The woman had been walking her dog on Rough Island,…
Ireland's newest Star Class team, brothers Peter and Robert O'Leary, have maintained their top ten overall at the Bacardi Cup in Miami yesterday. The Royal Cork duo lie eighth overall, six places ahead of Royal St. George Yacht Club's Max…
Brexit Negotiators Asked by ESPO to Prioritise Impact for Ports In Potential Post-Brexit Scenarios
6th March 2018 Ports & Shipping
#Ports&Shipping - European Sea Ports Organisation (ESPO) has developed a position paper to submit to the negotiators now that Brexit has entered the second phase. With this paper, ESPO calls on the Brexit negotiators to prioritise transport and more in…
#ClipperRace - Skippers in the Clipper Race were reporting relief this morning (Tuesday 6 March) as winds and boat speeds picked up — though with the high level of fishing fleets around, teams are also on high alert in this opening…
#Property - Dun Laoghaire Harbour Company has now launched the procurement process for its plans to develop ‘floating homes’ on the waterfront, as promised in January. The tender published to the State’s eTenders website is “seeking proposals for the development…
#FerryNews - As Afloat reported yesterday, ropax Stena Horizon starts Dublin-Holyhead sailings tonight to enable a fleemate to be drydocked, however additional freight-only capacity is already in place, writes Jehan Ashmore. The larger of the two routine ferries on the…
Efficient travel between the Ilen Boat-Building School in Limerick and Liam Hegarty’s boatyard at Oldcourt near Baltimore, where work continues on restoring the 56ft 1926-built ketch Ilen, has been a key factor in progressing the project writes W M Nixon.…
There have been a number of warnings about seamanship and navigational issues in the past few weeks that are important as the sailing season draws nearer. I wonder if the boating community takes enough notice of them? Gail McAllister, who ran…
In what might be the first competitive meeting since the controversial 2008 Olympic Star selection trials – that ended up in front of an Olympic Council of Ireland Appeal hearing – two of Ireland's 2008 keelboat campaigners Peter O'Leary of Baltimore and…
During the latter half of last week few would have expected that by Sunday it would be “warm” enough to permit racing in Dun Laoghaire Harbour for the Frostbite Series hosted by Dun Laoghaire Motor Yacht Club. While the “Beast…
Winning With North Sails Onboard a Melges 32 at Chile's Regata Chiloe
6th March 2018 North Sails Ireland
Shane Hughes of North Sails Ireland left the cold Irish weather and the Northern hemisphere behind and headed south to Chile to compete in the biennial Regata Chiloe, one of Chile’s biggest and most prestigious regattas based around the beautiful…
The deck lights used by cruise ships have been identified as a potential navigation risk at sea at night, in the investigation of a complaint by a yacht Skipper following an encounter with a cruise vessel, writes Tom MacSweeney. It…
#FerryNews - Fresh from a Falmouth dry-docking, Stena Horizon arrived in Dublin Port today, not Rosslare from where the ropax routinely operates on the France route to Cherbourg, writes Jehan Ashmore. The reason for the call to the capital of…
In Howth, sailing life goes on after the destructive shock of Storm Emma on Friday, with its Force 12 onshore east to northeast winds, and the serious damage to the roof of the end-of-pier shed in which the classic gaff-rigged…
