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Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

Irish Sailing and Yacht Club News. Regattas, Race Reports & Results
Black November Deals Now On at CH Marine
Black November is now on at CH Marine, with the Cork chandlery offering a fantastic 25% off all clothing on a range of top brands. Save big on marine apparel from Musto, Rooster, Zhik, Gill, Jobe, Oakley and Typhoon —…
Stephen O’Shaughnessy
The Royal Cork Yacht Club have welcomed the appointment of club member Stephen O’Shaughnessy as racing manager at Irish Sailing. The Cork city native has extensive sailing experience, from the Mirror dinghies of his youth to the the ILCA7 team racing in the…
Clogherhead RNlI volunteers on their all-weather lifeboat meet their counterparts from Kilkeel RNLI in their inshore vessel at the scene of two drifting boats near the entrance to Carlingford Lough on Thursday 16 November
Clogherhead RNLI volunteers were tasked by the Irish Coast Guard on Thursday 16 November to come to the aid of two drifting vessels. Following the request at 1.48pm to assist the two drifting vessels near the entrance to Carlingford Lough,…
September's ICRA National Championships kickstarts three weeks of top-class cruiser racing at the Royal Irish Yacht Club in 2024, with the J Cup Ireland and IRC European Championships also being staged by the Dun Laoghaire Harbour club
In 2024, the Royal Irish Yacht Club (RIYC) in Dun Laoghaire Harbour will host a unique schedule of major sailing championships, promising three weeks of 'premiere keelboat racing', representing a major boost to sailing on the capital's waters.  ICRA Nationals 2024…
Passenger service expands on DFDS' Rosslare-Dunkirk route, part of the pan-European ferry company’s extensive network including the Baltic Sea, North Sea, English Channel and the Mediterranean. The enhanced service is operated by the Visentini shipyard built ropax Optima Seaways, which Afloat reported in 2021 in launching the direct Ireland-mainland Europe route against the back-drop of a surge in freight demand due to Brexit.
DFDS direct Ireland-mainland Europe ferry route of Rosslare-Dunkirk, as from today have special deals available to passengers booking in advance for travel in 2024. The Ireland-France service, offers tourists, with up to 50 cabins available for customers to book on…
Sandown class mine-hunter HMS Penzance (M106) named after the seaside town of Penzance in Cornwall, England, is the fourth vessel to bear the name, is visiting Dublin Port this weekend. The mine-hunter is seen on 9 November at Oban, west Scotland from where it departed.
A Sandown-class minehunter of the UK’s Royal Navy, HMS Penzance (M1O6) which departed Oban in west Scotland is on a visit to Dublin Port having arrived this morning, writes Jehan Ashmore. During the week the 500 displacement tonnes HMS Penzance…
The Port of Galway reported a record year for 2022, and this year is expected likewise, due to a boom in importing wind-turbine components that has kept the western port busy. Above a port caller, Jaguar carries such cargo and is operated by Amasus Shipping B.V. Delfzijl in the Netherlands.
The Port of Galway which gave a presentation held at the City Hall this week, has outlined the port’s strong bounce-back following COVID-19. Currently the port has a single dock, however as The Connacht Tribune writes, there are plans in the…
Ger O’Rourke of Limerick’s Cookson 50 Chieftain slicing her way through the Solent at the start of the 2007 Rolex Fastnet Race, from which she emerged as overall winner
The Cruising Group can often emerge as the backbone of any sailing club, particularly in the winter. Back in the day when the new Howth Yacht Club premises opened in March 1987, fresh concepts were needed to ensure that the…
Thibault Vauchel-Camus and Quentin Vlamynck (Solidaires en Peloton) crossed the finish line of the Transat Jacques Vabre Normandie Le Havre off Fort de France, Martinique today at 19:07:47hrs local time (00:07:47hrs UTC Friday) to take first place on the Ocean Fifty race
In heavy rain at the end of a day which had been interspersed with squalls and long calm periods, Thibault Vauchel-Camus and Quentin Vlamynck (Solidaires en Peloton) crossed the finish line of the Transat Jacques Vabre Normandie Le Havre off…
Ireland's Green Armada Team racing in Switzerland in May. The team qualified for the SSL Gold Cup Finals in Lanzarote this month
The SSL Gold Cup, sailing's much-hyped equivalent of the "Football World Cup," taking place in Gran Canaria from November 10th to December 3rd, 2023, is without the qualified Irish team for its final due to crew commitments elsewhere. As regular…
Wicklow's Simon Johnson will be racing on Black Star Racing (right) at the final of the 2023 44Cup in Lanzarote next week
The fifth and final event of the 2023 44Cup takes place for the high-performance, owner-driver one-designs in the familiar waters off Lanzarote’s Puerto Calero next week. Irish sailors are in action and in a buoyant mood after strong October performances…
Shipbuilders at Sydney, Australia as H&W Group’s chief executive John Wood, Austal chief Paddy Gregg, chief operating officer Ian McMillan and H&W chief sales officer Oliver Morton attend the 2023 Indo Pacific Maritime Exposition which was held in the coastal city. AFLOAT adds with a display model of Austal’s evolved 58m Lethal Cape Class Patrol boat.
Shipbuilder, the Harland & Wolff Group has entered a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Austal, an Australian firm, to aid their pursuit of aluminium shipbuilding opportunities. In Sydney the MOU was signed at the 2023 Indo Pacific Maritime Exposition. The…
Santoña, Brittany Ferries newest E-Flexer series cruiseferry as seen at Rosslare Europort having completed its maiden ‘Irish’ port of call from Cherbourg. In addition the newbuild which entered service this year for the French company, is now also operating to Spain but on the ‘temporary’ winter Rosslare-Bilbao route due to infrastructure works at Bilbao.
The third and newest E-Flexer class of Brittany Ferries, Santoña which entered service this year, has made its maiden ‘Irish’ port of call, having completed a crossing from Cherbourg to Rosslare Europort, writes Jehan Ashmore. According to Rosslare Europort, Santoña…
Due to the ongoing crew crisis, LÉ William Butler Yeats, is one of only two Naval Service patrol vessels currently operational up to the end of this year, with the remaining majority of vessels tied-up in Cork Harbour, however the Government is to double a Patrol Duty Allowance effective of 1st January, 2024 in an effort to get the patrol vessels back to sea.
Naval Service crew are to see their allowance payment doubled as the Government has announced such payments will take effect, but only after ten days are spent at sea, reports RTE News. Currently, the Patrol Duty Allowance (PDA) is paid…
After completing successful flight tests, the Candela P-12 ferry enters serial production in Stockholm. The world’s fastest electric passenger vessel is anticipated to cut operational costs by 50% compared to diesel vessels, speeding up the shift to sustainable transportation on water. On its inaugural route, it will slash commuting times in half thanks to an exemption from speed limits
In a breakthrough advancement for sustainable maritime transport, Swedish tech company Candela Technology AB announced today that the Candela P-12, the world's first electric hydrofoiling passenger vessel, has successfully completed test flights in Stockholm. It is now progressing into serial…
Top of the Nacra 17s - Anna Burnet and John Gimson’s bid for Paris 2024 gold enjoyed a timely boost as they were crowned Nacra 17 European champions for the second time in three years
The UK catamaran pairing that set the fastest cross-channel time between Northern Ireland and Scotland in September have become European Champions in the mixed Nacra 17 class. Great Britain's Anna Burnet and John Gimson clinched the title at a light-weather edition…
RORC member Peter Bacon skippered the Xp44 Lucy Georgina to a win in IRC 2 in the  2019 Transatlantic Race. The New York Yacht Club and the Royal Ocean Racing Club, in partnership with the Royal Yacht Squadron and the Storm Trysail Club, have announced the Transatlantic Race 2025
One of offshore racing’s great adventures will return in 2025. The New York Yacht Club and the Royal Ocean Racing Club, in partnership with the Royal Yacht Squadron and the Storm Trysail Club, have announced the Transatlantic Race 2025, which…
The Black-legged Kittiwake has declined by 42% since the last census, but the population in Northern Ireland “bucks this trend” and shows an increase of 33%, according to a published census
Over three-quarters of seabird species breeding in Ireland have increased, with only two species declining, according to a census just published. The “Seabirds Count” census shows that Ireland is particularly important for species such as Roseate Tern and European Storm-petrel…
Charlie Enright, skipper of 11th Hour Racing Team, receives the Team of the Year Award from World Sailing CEO David Graham at the 2023 World Sailing Awards in Málaga on Tuesday 14 November
The Ocean Race 2022-23-winning 11th Hour Racing was named Team of the Year at the World Sailing Awards ceremony in Málaga, as previously reported on Afloat.ie. And skipper Charlie Enright was on hand to pick up the prize on Tuesday…
The flotilla in support of the Fund Britain’s Waterways campaign gathered outside the Palace of Westminster on Tuesday 14 November
A flotilla of boats delivered a visual and vocal message to Westminster on Tuesday (14 November) that funding cuts for Britain’s canals and rivers are unacceptable and damaging. Cheered on by a group of supporters on Westminster Bridge, the mix…