Afloat – Ireland's Sailing and Boating Magazine
Lough Derg Lifeboat Assists Three on Cruiser Run Aground in Scarriff Bay
7th September 2026 RNLI Lifeboats
On Sunday evening (6 September), Valentia Coast Guard requested Lough Derg RNLI to assist three people on a 33ft cruiser that had suffered engine failure and run aground in Scarriff Bay near Mountshannon Harbour. At 3.46pm, the inshore lifeboat Jean…
Ireland’s Eve McMahon lies 12th overall after three top-ten finishes on the opening day of the ILCA 6 Women’s World Championship in Dún Laoghaire. The Howth Yacht Club sailor scored a sixth, fourth and eighth across Monday’s three qualifying races,…
Skerries RNLI volunteers had a busy weekend with the coastguard requesting they launch their Atlantic 85 inshore lifeboat three times within 24 hours. Shortly after 5.30pm on Saturday (5 September), Dublin Coast Guard tasked Skerries RNLI to respond to reports…
Portrush RNLI Lifeguards Rescue Bodyboarder in Flash Rip Current and Walker Trapped After Fall
7th September 2026 RNLI Lifeboats
RNLI lifeguards rescued a bodyboarder who got caught in a flash rip current off Portrush East Strand on Sunday (6 September) while, further along the coast, their lifesaving colleagues came to the aid of a walker who slipped and fell…
Irish sailor Shane Diviney has made a perfect start to the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup in Sardinia, with the newly launched North Star III scoring two bullets from two races on her competitive debut in the Rolex IMA Maxi Grand…
The Manx Information Commissioner has partly upheld a complaint relating to a freedom of information (FoI) request about the Liverpool Ferry Terminal, used exclusively by the Isle of Man Steam Packet. A request for an FoI was made for a…
Alan Carr and Orlaith Connolly racing Starfish (Sutton DC) have secured the 2026 IDRA 14 National Championship at Lough Erne Yacht Club after a closely fought six-race series was decided on countback. Sixteen boats of this 1946-founded lapstrake-built class travelled…
Pat Lawless of Limerick lies third as Golden Globe Race Enters Day 2
7th September 2026 Golden Globe Race
Despite the fact that his hefty Silvermines Hydro-sponsored Saltram Saga 36 is racing against a fleet which includes provenly-slippy Rustler 36s as raced to Globe victory in times past by Jean Luc van den Heede,Pat Lawless of Limerick is currently…
Sligo Bay RNLI volunteers carried out a medical evacuation from Coney Island on Friday afternoon (4 September) after being tasked by the Irish Coast Guard. The station’s inshore lifeboat was requested to launch at 2.45pm and was underway from Rosses…
Irish Mercantile Marine Memorial to Honour Men of ‘The Long Watch’
7th September 2026 Ports & Shipping
A new Irish Mercantile Marine Memorial plaque and plinth will be unveiled in Irishtown, Dublin, later this month to remember the merchant seafarers who served during the Second World War. The dedication ceremony will take place at 11 am on Saturday,…
British yachtsman Mike Slade OBE, whose 100ft supermaxi ICAP Leopard 3 took line honours and set a new Round Ireland Race record in 2008, has died. Slade completed the Wicklow-to-Wicklow offshore classic in 2 days, 17 hours, 48 minutes and…
Ireland’s Eve McMahon and Olympic silver medallist Annalise Murphy are among 108 sailors from 44 countries preparing to start racing in the 2026 ILCA 6 Women’s World Championship on Dublin Bay on Monday (September 7th). The championship was officially opened…
Conor Haughton’s Jupiter has won the 2026 J24 National Championship at Foynes Yacht Club after taking six race victories from the nine-race series on the Shannon Estuary. Foynes Yacht Club celebrated a home success as Darragh McCormack and his crew aboard…
Aurelia, White Mischief and Windjammer each completed IRC and ORC doubles in Dublin Bay Sailing Club's Saturday Series on September 5, as a south-easterly breeze provided racing across the cruiser divisions. The main DBSC fleet raced in generally light conditions,…
Ross McDonald and his Howth Yacht Club crew on Atara have won the 2026 1720 European Championship at Lough Derg Yacht Club, finishing nine points clear after a ten-race series. McDonald, sailing with Julian Hughes, Robbie English, Paddy Good and Rory O’Sullivan,…
The U.S. SailGP Team has won the Valencia Grand Prix to move into third place in the 2026 championship standings and strengthen its challenge for a place in the US$2 million Abu Dhabi Grand Final. Taylor Canfield's all-American crew defeated…
One of Carrick-on-Shannon’s best-known waterside pubs has reopened after a four-year refurbishment following a fire at the premises in 2022. Gings Riverside Bar, beside the town’s main bridge and overlooking the River Shannon, has reopened after owner Brendan Whelan undertook…
Barry Cunningham’s Royal Irish Yacht Club J/109 Chimaera has won IRC 1 at the Welsh IRC National Championship at Pwllheli, completing a notable late-season sequence of victories following her successes at Cork Week and Greystones. The Dublin Bay yacht emerged…
Jean-Eudes Renier’s French Pogo RC Midnight Blues, racing double-handed with Joe Lacey, has won the Nautical Cloud Cherbourg Race, taking IRC Overall and Monohull Line Honours after a close 75-nautical-mile contest across the English Channel. As Afloat reported ahead of…
A sizeable Irish sailing contingent will be spread across some of the leading international campaigns when the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup gets under way in Porto Cervo, Sardinia, on Monday (7 September). At least 16 sailors with Irish connections are…
