Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

The winner of November's Viking Marine Rash'R vest competition is Eileen Dooley of Dublin.  Congratulations to you, Eileen! Your prize of a Rash'R vest will be winging its way to you shortly!  Stay tuned for more prize competitions on Afloat.ie!  Rash'R…

#Rescue116 - British SAR contractor Heli Operations has named its latest helicopter in tribute to Capt Dara Fitzpatrick, who died in the Rescue 116 tragedy earlier this year. The Westland Sea King HAS.5, codenamed ZA116, will bear the name Dara…

#RNLI - Independent.ie reports that a fisherman with a hand injury was hospitalised after his rescue from a trawler off Salthill by Galway RNLI yesterday afternoon (Saturday 9 December). The volunteer lifeboat crew launched within 10 minutes of the alarm…

#Rowing: The awards season is proving a fruitful one for rowers. Mark O’Donovan and Shane O’Driscoll were honoured at the Canon Hayes Centre awards and fellow Skibbereen man Paul O’Donovan has been nominated for the RTÉ Sportsperson of the Year…

#Rowing: The All-in-a-Row charity event on the Liffey drew a flotilla of varied craft to the Liffey in central Dublin today in aid of the RNLI and the Irish Underwater Search and Recovery Unit (IUSRU). There were over 40 boats…

#MarineScience - Millions of tiny particles of plastic have been detected in European waters in groundbreaking scientific research conducted as part of the Volvo Ocean Race. Using data collected by Turn the Tide on Plastic, which features Ireland’s own Annalise…

#StarWars - Tourism Ireland’s latest ad campaign for the Wild Atlantic Way has gone literally stratospheric, as RTÉ News reports. Skellig Michael is front and centre in what Irish tourism chiefs are calling their ‘first space tourism campaign’, which saw…

#ClipperRace - As the close racing continues in the Southern Ocean, the Clipper Race leaderboard positions continue to change, with Qingdao retaking the lead on day seven of the The Clipper Telemed+ Tasman Test. With only 22 nautical miles separating…

#VOR - Vestas 11th Hour Racing and Dongfeng Race Team traded blows throughout the first half of the Cape Town In-Port Race course this afternoon (Friday 8 December) before the Chinese-French team grabbed the lead midway through the race and…

Irish Sailing is drawing attention to recent developments with the Racing Rules of Sailing, including important decisions made at the 2017 Annual Conference. 'Having reviewed the implementation of the new rules concerning support persons in the 2017 – 2020 Racing Rules…

#ExportersBrexit - Exporters from Ireland that go through Britain to get their produce to mainland Europe or further afield should still be able to do so after Brexit, the Revenue Commissioners expect, writes The Independent.ie Michael Colgan, head of Revenue's…

In a year which has seen sailing headlines frequently dominated by uniquely French events like the Vendee Globe, the Mini-Transat and the Transat Jacques Vabre, we find ourselves analyzing yet again just why France’s special take on our sport seems…

The 2018 Notice of Race for Volvo Cork Week, which will take place at the Royal Cork Yacht Club from the 16th to the 21st of July, 2018 has been published (and is downloadable below) A Super Early Bird entry…

Students from Ringsend College reveal their take on Dublin as part of an exciting new photo exhibition entitled ‘My Port, River, City’ which opens to the public today at the CHQ Building. The exhibition which runs until Sunday 10th of…

#Angling - Sean Kyne, Minister with Responsibility for the inland fisheries sector, has welcomed Inland Fisheries Ireland’s intention to take on five new ‘Fisheries Projects Animators’. These new recruits will assist community organisations nationwide in realising ambitious angling projects and…

#VOR - The seven teams competing in the 2017-18 Volvo Ocean Race will test their offshore Volvo Ocean 65s on a close-quarters race course later today (Friday 8 December) during the Cape Town In-Port Race, under the shadow of the…

The Annual General Meeting of the 2017 West of Ireland Offshore Racing Association (WIORA) took place at the Dromoland Inn in Co. Clare earlier this week. Among the items discussed on the night was the combined 2018 WIORA ICRA Championships which…

#Rowing: Mark O’Donovan and Shane O’Driscoll, the world champions in the lightweight pair, have decided to go heavyweight. “We have to do this. We want to go to an Olympics and this is the best way of going," O’Driscoll told The…

The Beaufort Cup returns in 2018 and with entry level already surpassing 2016 it is gearing up to be a great success. Three English teams have already committed to take on the challenge and there’s also interest from Wales, America,…

#GBShaw/QE – The shipyard currently constructing an Irish Naval Service OPV, also contributed in building the UK’s Royal Navy’s largest warship, HMS Queen Elizabeth, an aircraft carrier that is to be commissioned into service at 12 noon today, writes Jehan Ashmore.…