Historic Boats
Ireland’s Leading Creator Of One-Design Racers Was The Very Scottish Alfred Mylne
25th February 2023 W M Nixon
We’re accustomed to thinking of successful and long-lived local One-Design keelboat classes as being a distinctive feature of Irish sailing. Thus we tend to overlook the fact that one particular Scottish designer created more of these Irish boats than anyone…
1000 Years of the Strangford Ferry, Just One of Eleven Lectures at Bangor Maritime Heritage Conference
23rd February 2023 Historic Boats
A full turnout of Maritime Heritage enthusiasts from around Co. Down gathered last weekend in the Bangor City Hall Chamber for a Conference to hear eleven illustrated presentations on subjects ranging from 1000 years of the Strangford Ferry to new…
Restoring Ballyholme Yacht Club's 70-Year-Old Insect Dinghies
15th February 2023 Northern Ireland Waters
Insect dinghies are like buses. You wait for ages (in this case, years), and then two (or more) turn up at once. The exciting aspect of this is that Insect dinghies are over seventy years old and a testament to…
A Future for the Naomh Éanna - Islander Michéal Ó Goill's Proposal
14th February 2023 Wavelength Podcast
Aran island resident Micheál Ó Goill was all of six years of age when he saw the Naomh Éanna making its first sailing in from Galway to Inis Mór. That was April 1958, and in August of that year, it…
Reopening of HMS Caroline to take Place After Almost Three Year Closure
12th February 2023 Historic Boats
Among Belfast’s leading visitor attractions is HMS Caroline which is set to reopen in the city’s harbour after almost three years of closure. The WWI C-class light-cruiser HMS Caroline, which is the only surviving ship from that war’s Battle of…
St. Ayles Skiff Racing at Skiffiefest 2023 Returns to Strangford Lough This Summer
5th February 2023 Coastal Rowing
A country park doesn’t readily come to mind as a venue for a weekend of St.Ayles Skiff racing, but Delamont lies on the shores of Strangford Lough near Killyleagh and has proved an ideal base for this activity in the…
Cork Harbour's Ocean to City race is taking entries from February 15th for its 19th annual event on June 3rd. Over 500 people participated in last year’s event, which returned after a two-year break due to Covid-19. The all-inclusive rowing…
Fifty Skiffs, River Outriggers, Kayaks, Canoes, Dragon Boats and Currachs Smash 1,000km Target to Eaise €20,000 for RNLI Lifeboats and the Irish Underwater Search & Recovery Unit
31st January 2023 Currachs
The All In A Row Liffey Challenge was held in early December on the capital’s River Liffey with the challenge for the rowers to smash a 1,000km target in eight hours. Fifty skiffs, kayaks, canoes, dragon boats and currachs were…
Urgent Calls to Remove At Risk Capsized Former Aran Islands Ferry from Dublin Dry-Dock
27th January 2023 Historic Boats
There have been calls to "urgently remove" a capsized former Galway-Aran Islands passenger and freight ferry that was left to rot in a Dublin dry-dock reports Dublin Live. As Afloat reported earlier the veteran vessel had taken in water ingress during the…
Heritage Foyle Punt to be Built by Northern Ireland Student in Basque Boatyard
25th January 2023 Historic Boats
The Portaferry and Strangford Trust (PAST) is a charity, based in Portaferry at the mouth of Strangford Lough in Northern Ireland, which aims to promote an awareness of the rich maritime heritage and natural environment of the Lough and the…
Irish boat restoration projects are no strangers to the annual International Classic Boat Awards, the most recent being April 2022's accolade for Stephen Morris of Kilrush and his work on the Dublin Bay 21s for Fionan de Barra and Hal…
Celebrating Conor O’Brien’s Pioneering Voyage Around the World 100 Years On
7th January 2023 Conor O'Brien
The Journal has highlighted the upcoming centenary of Irish yachtsman Conor O’Brien’s pioneering circumnavigation. In June 1923, Limerick man O’Brien set off on his yacht the Saoirse — named after the then newly created Irish Free State — on the…
Classic Yacht Fans Get Christmas Present With News Of Eleanora Re-build
20th December 2022 Historic Boats
The 160ft schooner Eleanora, a modern classic based on a 1910 design, is in the long process of rising from what seemed to be a permanent watery grave after she was T-boned in Tarragona Harbour in June by a hefty…
Handmade Crafts and Other Great Christmas Gift Ideas at Galway Hooker SC Pop-Up Shop This Weekend
14th December 2022 Galway Hookers
Galway Hooker Sailing Club will be running its final pop-up shop in Galway city this weekend, 16 and 17 December — just in time for the run-up to Christmas. Once again the shop is being hosted on the premises of…
Global Circumnavigator Pat Murphy Posts Himself An Erskine Childers Centenary Stamp
2nd December 2022 Historic Boats
Time was when the launch of commemorative stamps by An Post was done with considerable fanfare. But these days it seems that they believe good work is best done by stealth, as the launching last week of stamps to mark…
Asgard Restoration Lecture in Cork by Marine Conservationist John Kearon
28th November 2022 Historic Boats
John Kearon described in one of several interviews I had with him during the conservation of Asgard at the National Museum how he had “crawled in desperation to the aftermost beams, hoping to find some evidence to prove the beams…