Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

Larne RNLI came to the aid of a swimmer who got into difficulty half a mile from Portmuck Harbour on Wednesday afternoon (4 October). The station’s volunteers were requested by Belfast Coastguard to launch both their all-weather and inshore lifeboats…

The enticingly named RS Feva Final Fling and Social on Saturday afternoon (7th) is being held at the Royal North of Ireland Yacht Club on the south shore of Belfast Lough. Four of the nine boats entered were from Ballyholme…

The UK has been fined €32m by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for allowing pleasure boats to use red diesel before Brexit came into effect. Under EU law, only commercial boats can use lower-tax dyed diesel, following a ruling…

The Loughs Agency recently welcomed a marine science delegation from Korea to the North West as part of a two-day workshop focusing on transboundary cooperation for sustainable ocean and coastal areas. The workshop was organised and sponsored by Queen’s University…

For the second year in a row, East Antrim Boat Club top crewman Andy Thompson hit the sailing headlines by winning a major Fireball dinghy title with ace UK helmsman Tom Gillard.  In 2022, Gillard and Thompson scooped the world…

Taking off from Ballyholme Yacht Club in Northern Ireland a day ahead of Storm Agnes' arrival, Mixed Catamaran Olympic Medalists, John Gimson and Anna Burnett sailing a foiling Nacra 17 have beaten the previous record (subject to ratification) for a…

The first of the annual GP14 Hot Toddy events listed in the class calendar will be held this weekend (30th September -1st October) at the Royal North of Ireland Yacht Club on Belfast Lough. The event originates at East Antrim…

Antrim Boat Club (ABC) in Northern Ireland has taken a step towards bringing back dinghy sailing after a long absence with the purchase of five RS Zest dinghies to develop a new training centre. Training has already started. The Club…

Lough Neagh “isn’t just dying, it’s been killed” by a combination of human-made factors, one conservationist has declared as the crisis around toxic blooms of blue-green algae continues. Speaking to The Irish Times, Friends of the Earth NI director James…

In early September, five boats from the Leisure 17 class at East Down Yacht Club in Northern Ireland, along with a Leisure 20, a Drascombe Long Boat, and a Golden Hind 26, embarked on a 15-mile journey from Strangford Lough…

Robert Hume, the Admiral of the Royal North of Ireland Yacht Club, has authored a comprehensive history of the club, with invaluable contributions from many others. The 180-page hardback book is richly illustrated and covers the club's beginnings and development…

Ballyholme Yacht Club on the south shore of Belfast Lough will be the start point for a record-breaking trip across the North Channel to Portpatrick on the Mull of Galloway in Scotland during the week beginning 25th September. Team GB…

Tom Gillard and Andy Thompson of Larne in Northern Ireland have won the Fireball European Championship at Portroz, Slovenia. The pair scored three bullets during the final day of racing in spectacular conditions with winds typically around 18 knots but…

Two archbishops of Armagh have called for a joint task force to save Lough Neagh from “an environmental disaster”. Catholic Primate Archbishop Eamon Martin and Church of Ireland Primate Archbishop John McDowell have issued a joint statement in which they…

Causeway Coast and Glens councillors have echoed growing concerns over the state of the aquatic environment following recent blooms of toxic blue-green algae, as the Belfast Telegraph reports. Alliance Councillor Peter McCully tabled a motion at last week’s Environmental Services…

They’ve been part of our sailing furniture for so long that you could be forgiven for thinking Ireland’s historic local classes might just quietly fade away through being barely noticed. But you’d be very much mistaken. 2023 has been a…