Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

After a forced pandemic suspension, the Cruinniú na mBád festival of traditional craft returns this weekend to Kinvara, Co Galway. The opening ceremony tonight, Friday, August 12th, will include speakers Dr Karen Weekes, the first Irish woman to row solo…

When the highly-respected Organising Chairman Dr Mick Brogan declared - in May 2020 - that the annual Cruinniu na mBad - the Gathering of the Boats - could not be held in August at Kinvara in face of the spread…

An historic race involving the rare Belderrig currach resulted in a victory for Mayo emigrants over the August bank holiday weekend. Oarsmen with Mayo links from Currachaí na Sceirí, a club based in Skerries north Dublin, secured first place in…

For those missing the annual Dublin-Mayo clash on the GAA pitch, there is a substitute of sorts on water this weekend. A friendly clash between the Dublin-based Mayomen of Skerries and the Mayomen of Belderrig in the north of the…

The Lough Erne Landscape Partnership focuses on the conservation and promotion of Lough Erne’s landscape character and unique heritage, and it recently celebrated, along with the Belleek Men’s Shed and West Island Cot Heritage Group, the launch of community-built traditional…

The first appearance of a Galway Hooker on the Dutch canals is likely to create a lot of attention and there may even be links found between the traditional West of Ireland boat and historic vessels in Holland  The ‘Galway…

Sailing into Wellness, which offers educational and therapeutic programmes for “at-risk” young people and adults, has been recognised for its expansion as a result of a Rethink Ireland Sports to Impact Fund award. It is one of three national sports…

Let’s face it, most classics need a bit of a breeze to give of their best, and there’s nothing more disagreeable than rolling about in windless frustration under a rig that rattles. Thus for exactly half of the Classics Division,…

If you wondered how Harold Cudmore went to Saint-Tropez with the Royal Cork YC’s in-house Cork Harbour OD Jap last Autumn and duly came home with the glitziest classics prize, then the first two days of Volvo Cork Week 2022…

Down in West Cork, they have a way of quietly getting on with things until a major waypoint is inevitably passed in the project, and then we’re into new territory. For two or three years now, Liam Hegarty and his…

The 36ft yawl Ainmara, designed and built in 1912 by the talented self-taught naval architect John B Kearney in Murphy’s Boatyard beside his family’s home in Ringsend, played a key role in Irish sailing north and south until 2018. She…

Royal Cork Yacht Club will host a Classic Yacht Regatta for the first time this year as part of Volvo Cork Week Regatta starting next Monday. The 37-foot classic yacht Persephone, the 1919 classic Erin, the famous Opposition (Ex Morning…

Sally O'Keeffe, the 25ft re-interpretation of the Shannon Estuary's traditional sail-driven cargo-carrying cutters which could usefully find their way into the smallest ports along both sides of the majestic waterway, is this year celebrating ten years of quietly useful service…

Rowing a currach across Kerry waters features in one of five TG4 projects to be screened at this year’s Galway Film Fleadh, which opens this week. Four of the actors in the film, entitled Tarrac, take to their oars on…

National Historic Ships UK, a government-funded independent organisation that advises the British government and others on matters relating to historic ships, has appointed four vessels, among them a ferry to act as its Flagships for 2022. The annual Flagship of…

Weather has once again forced the postponement of Féile an Spidéil, the regatta for traditional craft in Co Galway. The regatta, which was originally set for June 12th off An Spidéil on the northern shores of Galway Bay, had been…