Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

A cold and fresh westerly wind attracted a larger turnout for week three of the RS400 Winter Series at Royal North of Ireland YC on Belfast Lough. The lucky streak of glamour sailing conditions continued for another weekend. The forecasted…

The National Maritime College of Ireland (NMCI) has announced its third annual Seafarers’ Conference, ‘Realising Ireland’s Maritime Ambition’, which will take place on 22 February 2024 in the Castletroy Park Hotel in Co. Limerick. The conference, sponsored by Simply Blue…

The European Union (Registration of Persons Sailing on board Passenger Ships) Regulations 2019 (SI No 677 of 2019), transposing Council Directive 98/41/EC as amended by Directive 2002/84/EC, entered into force on 19 December 2019. It requires the reporting of persons…

Galway Bay Sailing Club (GBSC) has shared with Afloat.ie photos of before and after its clean-up operation following the devastation caused by Storm Debi last week. As previously reported on Afloat.ie, some 20 boats and dinghies parked at the club…

A light southerly breeze and bright sunshine accompanied the 156 yachts in the 38th Atlantic Rally for Cruisers as they departed Gran Canaria bound for Saint Lucia, 2700 nautical miles away. Leading the ARC 2023 fleets were Pierre de Saint-Vincent’s…

Irish offshore islands are used to having to wait, whether it is for safe piers or electricity decades ago. However, they are being prioritised for pure fibre links under the national broadband plan. Three West Cork islands are due to…

Peter O'Leary and Stephen O'Sullivan took a third win in a row this morning to be firmly atop the leaderboard of the IRC White Sails Division of the O'Leary Insurance Winter League 2023 in Cork Harbour. Blustery conditions off Roches…

Although Sunday morning's third race of the AIB-sponsored DBSC Turkey Shoot racing for cruiser-racers went ahead off Dun Laoghaire Harbour, this afternoon's Viking Marine-sponsored DMYC dinghy Frostbite Series at the same venue has been cancelled due to westerly winds in…

When they broke the finish line of the 30th-anniversary edition of the Transat Jacques Vabre Normandie Le Havre off Fort-de-France, Martinique in the inky darkness of this Sunday morning at 0202hrs local time, (0602hrs UTC), Thomas Ruyant and Morgan Lagravière…

Following their fellow Northern Ireland lifeboat volunteers in Larne, as reported last month on Afloat.ie, the crew at Carrybridge RNLI will feature in the latest series of Saving Lives at Sea on BBC Two at 8pm next Thursday 23 November.…

Scoil Chaitríona Junior in the Galway city suburb of Renmore has been crowned the national winner of the Explorers Ocean Champion School Awards 2023 for the Healthy Ocean project, ‘Caring for our Ocean’. It marks the second year the prize…

There are winners and losers in every game — and never more so in the Ocean Globe Race. The 11 yachts that slipped lines in Cape Town on 5 November and who are now surfing down the five-metre waves towards…

Warning signage is being removed from locations around Lough Neagh following this past summer’s blooms of toxic blue-green algae. But as BBC News reports, it could be years before the ecological impact on the lough is fully understood. Ulster Angling…

Ferry crew working for the Isle of Man Steam Packet, BBC News reports are to be balloted on whether they would support strike action in a row over employment conditions. Seafarers who are members of the trade union, Nautilus International…

After a successful demo weekend at the end of October, a full container of twelve Melges 15s will be heading to Howth Yacht Club for Spring 2024 to supplement the existing boat there. Family is a predominant theme amongst the…

Robert Rendell's Oyster 565 'Tir Na nOg' from Howth Yacht Club is among over 250 international yachts that have gathered in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria this month for their transatlantic adventure to the Caribbean with the annual ARC rally.…

The former Pigeon House Hotel at the mouth of the River Liffey has a special place in Dublin's maritime history, as does the unused Pigeon House Harbour beside it. The Inland Waterways Association's Dublin Branch has come up with a…

Tributes have been paid to a Naval Service seaman who was found dead on board the patrol ship LÉ Roisín while it was docked in Cork Harbour. Leading Seaman Conor Kiely (39) was found in an “unresponsive state by crewmates”…

Twin newbuild ferries that are delayed and overbudget at a shipyard in Scotland and which are to serve Caledonian MacBrayne (CalMac) could be worth a “fraction” of the £360m taxpayers have spent on them when they are finally completed, MSPs have…

After 50 years, there is a major change in sailmaking at Crosshaven, Cork Harbour’s dominant sailing centre..Outside the village, the loft associated with the legendary Des McWilliams and family is no longer a sailmaking centre. Barry Hayes and his wife,…