Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

#BringViolaHome - Afloat.ie last year reported on an ambitious project by SMS Towage to bring back to the UK an abandoned trawler now 109 years old from South Georgia, the remote South Atlantic island. The Viola, a derelict North Sea…

#Liffey - An emergency operation in Dublin city centre this afternoon (Monday 5 October) saw a body recovered from the River Liffey, as TheJournal.ie reports. The body of a man was taken from the water around 2pm less than four…

#Shackleton - As Shackleton's cabin arrives in Connemara for restoration, an intrepid young Irish woman is setting out to retrace the pioneering explorer's Antarctic footsteps. According to The Irish Times, the 'sea bedroom' where Ernest Shackleton died of a heart…

#NewChiefofStaff - Vice Admiral Mark Mellett DSM* will formally be appointed the new Chief of staff of the Defence Forces, from midnight tonight, having previously been proposed by the Minister for Defence Mr Simon Coveney TD and accepted by the…

#Missing - Naval Service vessels have joined the search for a fisherman missing off Mayo since last Friday 11 September. As The Irish Times reports, 23-year-old Daniel Doherty is thought to have got into difficulty while baiting lobster pots on…

#Missing - Rescue services have formally stood down their search for a missing Japanese tourist off Co Clare after three weeks, the Irish Examiner reports. As of yesterday (Tuesday 15 September) there has been no sign of Ushio Azaki (61),…

#SafeTrx - Users of the ISA's SafeTrx app are advices that the system will be unavailable tomorrow morning and afternoon (Tuesday 15 September) for an upgrade. During the planned upgrade from 6am to 3pm, the SafeTrx apps for iOS and…

An Garda Síochána are contesting the International Coppers Cup (ICC) 2015 in Croatia. The ICC is a sailing regatta consisting of 24 teams from International Police Forces. Although the regatta previously held in the Netherlands it ended two years ago but…

#Missing - Independent.ie reports on an ongoing search for a lobsterman feared missing off the Mayo coast since yesterday evening (Friday 11 September). A fishing vessel was spotted on the beach at Benwee Head close to where the lone fisherman…

Afloat.ie, the Irish sailing, boating and maritime website, has reached a high water mark this summer, informing and entertaining a larger boating audience than ever before. Based on analytics, Afloat.ie readership was up ten per cent on the same period…

Now, why would I raise such a question.....?I have been writing and broadcasting about maritime matters for over 20 years, an experience that at times fills me with hope for the future – that our maritime resources will be appreciated…

#Shannon - Two men have died while working on a crane performing bridge works on the River Shannon in Limerick city yesterday afternoon (Saturday 29 August). As BreakingNews.ie reports, the men were in a cage attached to a crane being used for remedial…

#Missing - Emergency teams have reportedly found a body in the search for two Japanese tourists missing off the Clare coast for more than a week. As previously reported on Afloat.ie, Eiji Takagi (61) and Ushio Azaki (61) have not been…

#Missing - Searching resumed today (Wednesday 26 August) for a Japanese couple missing since the weekend. As BBC News reports, a car hired by the tourists in their 60s was found yesterday at Byrnes Cove in Kilkee. But it's believed it…

#stolendrascombe – A Drascombe Lugger dinghy fitted with an outboard engine has been reportedly stolen from Carrigaloe, Cork Harbour last night. Details are on the attached facebook post above.