Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

When Irish mountaineer Frank Nugent hiked to the top of a Greenland ice cap last week, he was shocked to observe the extent of the thaw writes Lorna Siggins. Nugent, who has been to Greenland before, observed rapidly melting ice…

Conor Doyle’s Xp 50 Freya from Kinsale – which placed tenth in Class IRC 1A - looks to be the 2019 winner of the Gull Salver for the best-placed Irish boat on corrected time overall in the current Rolex Fastnet…

Olympic keelboat helmsman Mark Mansfield of UK Sailmakers Ireland discusses headsail options  If you go back 20 years, or even 15, most designs coming out had large overlapping (headsail goes outside the shrouds) headsails to give them power in the light airs.…

While there was again an early start planned at the GP14 UK National Championships at Abersoch with the First Start Gun scheduled for 10:30, the wind had other ideas and the fleet was kept ashore. Racing cannot start unless there is…

A 180-degree wind shift to the east from the previous two days of westerlies, presented Calves Week race officer Alan Crosbie with a problem on how to get fleet to the Fastnet and back, without forming a large reaching procession…

There was a strong turnout tonight of 126 boats for Dublin Bay Sailing Club Thursday night racing given the holiday season. It was a boisterous evening on the bay with one boat dismasted. DBSC Results for 08/08/2019 Cruiser 0 IRC:…

Site investigation works are to be carried out at Rossaveal Fishery Harbour Centre in Co Galway from mid August. The works will comprise drilling multiple boreholes at the locations detailed in Marine Notice No 28 of 2019, subject to minor…

A seabed debris clearance, environmental baseline and habitat assessment site survey will take place in licence SEL 1/11 (Barryroe) from later this month. Barryroe is located in the North Celtic Sea, some 50 kilometres south of the Port of Cork.…

According to the British Ports Association they have welcomed the UK's Government’s announcement of “up to 10 new freeports” (Noting Afloat adds see related story on the Irish Sea Port of Holyhead, Wales).  The BPA has developed ambitious complementary Port…

The Loughs Agency is teaming up with the Foyle Association of Salmon and Trout Anglers (FASTA) to host an evening salmon conference in Omagh, Co Tyrone next month. Our Foyle Salmon – The Upstream Battle at the Mellon Country Inn…

Nearly a quarter of all children in Great Britain — a whopping 2.28 million — have never been swimming in the ocean, and 35% have never been in a boat on the sea. That’s according to new research commissioned by…

Operator Brittany Ferries have formally submitted an offer to buy Condor, the French ferry company’s president has said, reports Jersey Evening Post.  Speaking to French newspaper Ouest-France, Jean-Marc Roué confirmed the news but said he thought that other businesses would…

National 18 sailors converged in usual strong spirit at the Royal Findhorn Yacht Club, to compete in their annual UK and Ireland Championships that were held last week writes Chris Bateman With the event officially kicking off on Sunday (28th…

The first Irish Sailing Pathfinder Women at the Helm regatta takes place next week 17 & 18 August at the National Yacht Club in Dun Laoghaire writes Treasa Cox of Irish Sailing. Women have been sailing against each other for…

The weather gods certainty decided to be kind to Schull today for the second day of Calves Week, by providing a sun-filled summers day with a steady 15 knots of a warm westerly wind, and a long inter-island interesting course…

Workers at Harland & Wolff have seen a deluge of support - from donations of suncream and food to performances by local celebrities. As the Belfast Telegraph reports, the workforce continue their occupation of the historic shipyard even as the…

After two second place finishes yesterday, Sam Watson and Andy Thompson are still holding first place overall at the GP14 UK Nationals in Abersoch North Wales writes Andy Johnson. Jim Hunt and Liz Senior are in second, however conditions today…

#Rowing: Ireland’s Molly Curry and Rhiannon O’Donoghue won their repechage and qualified for the A/B semi-finals at the World Junior Championships in Tokyo.  The Ireland junior women’s double overhauled Hungary in an impressive move. With 300 metres to go they…

#Rowing: The junior men’s coxed four gave Ireland its first A finalist at the World Junior Championships this morning. In a thrilling finish to their heat, they took the second qualifying spot behind China.  Three boats had charged for the…

The “Wimbledon Effect” is pretty well complete with the Rolex Fastnet Race generally, and with the 2019 event, in particular, writes W M Nixon. As with Wimbledon tennis itself, the English organize a jolly good event with this classic offshore challenge,…