Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

With light to moderate breezes anticipated for much of this year’s Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta 2017 which starts tomorrow afternoon, savvy sailors will be cognisant that the Full Moon, which occurs early in the morning of Sunday July 9th, will…

Safehaven Marine’s Frank Kowalski and his team on the Rockall-rounding challenger Thunder Child are closing in on their vital refuelling pit-stop at Broadhaven in Mayo, and expect to be at Ballyglass Pier about now, as their speed has gone up…

#MarineWildlife - Dusty the dolphin earned a measure of infamy in previous years after attacking a number of bathers at her former home in Doolin. But the Wild Atlantic Way’s other resident bottlenose – after Dingle's celebrated Fungie – was…

#Brexit - Britain’s withdrawal from the London Fisheries Convention could be “catastrophic” for the Irish fishing fleet — with fishermen in Northern Ireland being the “big losers” in the end. That’s the stark warning from fisheries organisations noted in Independent.ie’s…

Ireland’s biggest sailing event, the Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta, which takes place from tomorrow until Sunday, 9th July 2017, is set to be an exciting four days of racing in Dublin Bay. There will be a fantastic festival atmosphere across…

#TrySailing - Galway skippers, scouts, clubs and centres volunteered their time during SeaFest 2017 to give 555 children and adults a Try Sailing experience on Galway Bay. Over 100 volunteers represented the likes of Galway Bay Tours, Galway Bay Sailing…

Director of Racing Con Murphy has signalled a series of changes to the Sailing Instructions for tomorrow's first race of Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta, Ireland's biggest sailing event. Over four days, 290 races for a mix of cruiser–racers, one-design keelboats…

#Tallships - Following the successful Seafest held in Galway the wooden sailing ketch Brian Boru has set sail from the mid-west port as the last ship to depart from the event. The Brian Boru is specifically modified for carrying passengers…

Due to the postponement of the Lyver Race last weekend it has be announced that the Royal Dee Jack Ryan Whiskey Irish Sea Offshore Championship will be decided by the four Offshore Class races of the Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta to…

Frank Kowalski’s team from County Cork’s Safehaven Marine with their futurstic record-maker Thunder Child now have Rockall well astern in their counter-clockwise Round Ireland and Rockall Record bid writes W M Nixon. After their first re-fuel on Ireland’s north coast…

#Pollution - RTÉ News reports that a swimming ban was lifted yesterday on bathing spots at Seapoint and Killiney on Dublin Bay’s southern shore after high levels of E.coli were detected last Friday (30 June). The bathing ban remains at…

B21S - 1. CHINOOK (A BRADLEY), 2. ISOLDE (B MULKEEN & J MARTIN), 3. YIKES (P CARROLL)= COMBINED CRUISERS TUESDAY - 1. Elandra (J Conway), 2. Windjammer (L Casey & D Power), 3. Borraine (D Butler) CRUISERS 3 Tuesday -…

#Rowing: Here is the Trinity eight which won the Ladies Plate at Henley Royal Regatta in 1977 ‘rowing over’ 40 years later. The current captain of Dublin University Boat Club, Cian Flynn, coxed the crew on Saturday as a stand-in…

Rosslare Harbour RNLI rescued three men yesterday evening (Monday 3 July) after their boat ran aground. The volunteer lifeboat crew was requested to launch their all-weather lifeboat at approximately 4.30pm following a report from the Irish Coast Guard that a…

With Frank Kowalski’s Safehaven team in Thunder Child in the midst of their challenge for the Round Rockall & Ireland Record, it’s timely to remember that one of the entries in the Classics Division racing for the Kingstown 200 Trophy…

No matter what Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta organisers did it was never going to be easy to get a quart into a pint pot. Tomorrow's first race will now see 33% of all competing IRC boats in class one. It's…

#Cruiseliners - Last year Derry/Londonderry welcomed nine callers and 3,727 passengers visiting the 17th walled city according to CruiseEurope.com This year there are eight booked bringing 4,697 on vessels including those from Princess Cruises, Oceania Cruises, Saga and Noble Caledonia.…

The first annual championship ever to be staged in the Aran Islands in the forty year history of the West of Ireland Offshore Racing Association gets under way tomorrow at Cill Ronan on Inish Mor. There’s a busy programme afloat…

Hello, Tom MacSweeney here, and thank you for tuning in to the MacSWEENEY PODCAST. As a marine correspondent I’m fortunate to meet great people who do amazing things… One of them is Frank Kowalski, the Managing Director of Safehaven Marine…

Safehaven Marine began a speed record attempt around Ireland and Rockall this morning, starting from the Old Head of Kinsale writes Tom MacSweeney. The Cork company designs and builds naval and military craft, pilot and patrol boats and has been…