Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

There were 173 teams from 24 countries competing at the International 29er Europeans in Sweden in August, but the five crews sent from Ireland punched way above their weight in a challenging and complex boat, which isn’t for the faint-hearted.…

The rise in the international solo offshore sailing reputation of Tom Dolan, who has been known to describe himself as “an escaped farmboy from north Meath”, has been one of the great Irish sailing sagas of our time. For more…

Back in the dark latter days of the Pandemic, high-flying rumours began circulating about a new Botin 52 being completed in New Zealand. Normally, the multi-titled 52 class sees only incremental improvements as the latest boats take up this ultimate…

John Minnis of Royal Ulster YC and his longtime helm Gareth Flannigan will look on Dublin Bay as their Happy Hunting Ground. For although the previous Minnis boat, the First 31.7 Final Call, and her distinguished successor, the very optimised…

An initially-discouraging weather pattern and an expanding fleet placed special demands on the organisers for the post-pandemic resumption of the biennial Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta. But the broad shoulders of longtime administrator and current Chairman Don O’Dowd backed the efforts…

Although the bulk of the Howth 17 Class’s 125th Anniversary visit to West Cork took place in the final week of June when the weather was already deteriorating into its adverse July pattern, the last of these historic little boats…

Steadily rising star Sienna Wright from Howth recorded a formidable tally in the Under 17 Division in the ILCA 6s at two major regattas in Poland during July. The Youth Worlds early in the month saw her take the silver…

Fifteen-year-old Rory Whyte of Waterford Harbour SC started his Topper 4.2 Worlds campaign at his alternative home club of RCYC at Crosshaven in less-than-perfect style, with an OCS in Race One. After such a score, the only way is up,…

The attractive Sunfast 3300 Cinnamon Girl made an impressive post-pandemic impact with last year’s Inishtearaght Race from Kinsale. But for 2023, her hand-in-glove team of Cian McCarthy and Sam Hunt made an international impression with fantastic coordination and impressively high-speed…

Boats may be inanimate objects, but those who sail them seldom see them that way. The classic Half Tonner Swuzzlebubble certainly arouses special emotions, for there are senior sailors in Ireland who sailed her to success as ISORA Champion in…

With a racing machine as complex as the canting-keel Cookson 50, crew and boat management demands are raised to a fresh level. But when Ron O’Hanley of the New York Yacht Club arrived with the already hyper-successful Privateer for the…

Time was when the name “Swan 36” meant a semi-classic Olin Stephens design that introduced one of the world’s most famous yacht marques, way back in 1967. These days, a Swan 36 is a white-hot day-racing boat that looks totally…

Those of us who have found it challenging enough to get a sailing dinghy with a purpose-designed road trailer into a road-ready and race-ready condition was in awe this week of the achievements of Aongus Ó Cualáin of Connemara and his…

University College Dublin is on such a roll in the 2023 Team Racing season that their captain Jack Fahy already took an SoM for the squad’s win of the Top Gun at Oxford back in February. And they still have…

Twenty years ago, the thought that the two Conor O’Brien-designed and Baltimore-built ketches – the 1922 42ft world-girdling Saoirse and the 1926 56ft trader-ferry Ilen - would be sailing together at their birthplace in 2023, the Centenary Year of the…

Irish classic boatbuilders and owners are no strangers to the podium at the annual International Classic Boat Awards in London, and 2023’s ceremony in April was no exception. Simon O’Keffe of Schull – the current family owner of the 1902…