Afloat – Ireland's Sailing and Boating Magazine
Fresh conditions in Cork Harbour provided the backdrop for the annual Naval Race on Saturday (September 19th), the third and final racing fixture of the 2026 Hibernia Line Cork Harbour Triple Crown. The race followed the opening Blackrock Race on…
Orient Express VI has completed a remarkable comeback to win the 25th anniversary Bosphorus Cup as 47 yachts raced through the heart of Istanbul on one of international sailing's most distinctive racecourses. The Turkish Farr 55, owned and skippered by…
New Galway City Logo With Maritime Theme Criticised By Councillors
20th September 2026 Galway Harbour
A new logo for Galway City Council with a maritime theme has caused a stir among city councillors. The design draws on Galway's civic and maritime heritage, the city council says. The lower-case ‘g’ reflects the form of the hull…
Interim Report Into Death of Donegal Fisherman Says Exact Circumstances Uncertain At This Stage
20th September 2026 MCIB
An interim report of the investigation into the death of Donegal fisherman Kevin McCloskey in Donegal Bay on September 25th, 2025 says the “exact circumstances of the incident cannot be determined with certainty”. The five page interim report has been…
Sailing Clubs Urged to Review DBS Supervision Changes for England, Wales and Northern Ireland
20th September 2026 Youth Sailing
Following a recent change in UK Government legislation, the rules on regulated activity changed from 1 September 2026, such that supervision no longer automatically excludes an individual from being considered to be undertaking regulated activity. As a result, anyone who…
Portsmouth RNLI Station Off Service Amid Security Concerns Over Far-Right Threats
20th September 2026 RNLI Lifeboats
Portsmouth’s RNLI station has been closed amid security concerns arising from recent far-right anti-migrant protests. As Marine Industry News reports, the lifeboat station in Eastney has been off service since 7 September, a day after its volunteers helped bring some…
Gusty westerlies and a flood tide provided a lively test for Dublin Bay Sailing Club (DBSC) fleets on Saturday afternoon (September 19th), as the 2026 Saturday series moved into its penultimate fixture. Conditions varied across the race areas, with race…
Heading into Saturday night (September 19th), the two leading boats in the Golden Globe were midway between the Canary Islands and the Cape Verdes. But while Pat Lawless sailing the Saga 36 SilverminesHydro may have logged the better mileage on…
Racing was abandoned at Rosses Point on Saturday (19 September) on the opening day of the GP14 Autumn Open and Youth Championships at Sligo Yacht Club. The two-day event had been scheduled to begin with two Autumn Open races from…
Larne RNLI came to the aid of one person onboard a boat that suffered mechanical failure off the County Antrim coast on Friday afternoon, the 18th of September. The volunteer crew launched the all-weather lifeboat Machiko Nancy at 2.54 pm…
Strong Mistral conditions have tightened the battle for honours across the Rolex Swan Cup in Porto Cervo, with most classes still undecided going into Saturday’s final day. The third and penultimate day of the 23rd edition brought 16-knot winds for…
George Creighton and Jack Ryan emerged as the Senior and Junior champions at the 2026 IODAI Optimist Connacht Championships, hosted by Galway Bay Sailing Club over the weekend of 12th and 13th September. The Senior and Junior Main fleets completed…
On the North Sea is where a long-awaited return of a ferry service linking Scotland and mainland Europe is now dead in the water after a port group pulled out of plans to revive the direct route to the continent.…
Emirates Team New Zealand has named its two AC40 crews for next week's Louis Vuitton 38th America’s Cup Preliminary Regatta in Naples, retaining the combinations that raced at the opening event in Cagliari but introducing a planned positional switch in…
Double Olympic champion Martine Grael will take the wheel of the US SailGP Team at this weekend’s Rolex Switzerland Sail Grand Prix on Lake Geneva as the Americans attempt to defend third place in the championship standings. Grael’s late call-up…
The Sun Fast 3600 Bellino, which raced around Ireland double-handed in June before taking Dublin and Cork sailors on the 1,805-mile Round Britain and Ireland Race, has completed its 2026 campaign by winning the Royal Ocean Racing Club (RORC) Season’s…
Sam Hall of Pata Negra has won the inaugural ISORA Under 25 Sailor Prize after a first season that attracted 35 young sailors across eight boats in the Irish Sea offshore racing fleet. Thirteen sailors qualified for the season-long prize,…
The start of the next generation of CalMac seafarers has been embarked on their maritime careers after landing a berth on the Scottish domestic ferry operator's Modern Apprenticeship scheme. A total of sixteen young people from Scotland's west coast communities…
Swords Sailing and Boating Club's Pawel Trojanowski and Sean Dorenbusch have been crowned Irish Multihull Association (IMA) National Champions for 2026 after a six-race series on the Broadmeadows Estuary. The Swords pair finished the two-day championship on 10 points, just…
The Bosun Bob’s and Rockshore RS400 Winter Series will celebrate its 20th anniversary at Royal North of Ireland Yacht Club (RNIYC) this winter, with the RS200 fleet returning to the Cultra event for the milestone edition. The eight-Sunday series begins…
