Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

#rshyrc – Super maxi Comanche lived up to all the hype today when she lead the Rolex Sydney Hobart fleet out of the Harbour in one of the most spectacular, high speed starts in the race's history. Designed for fast…

#rshyr – With less than 24 hours  left to the start of the 70th edition of the Rolex Sydney to Hobart Race, Irish sailors, Barry Hurley, Catherine Halpin, Alexander and Kenneth Rumball sailing aboard the First 40 BREAKTHROUGH are completing…

#rnli – Clifden RNLI lifeboat crew had their first callout in their new all weather lifeboat last night (Tuesday 23 December) to bring a local GP to provide urgent and immediate medical attention to an elderly resident on Inishturk Island.…

#rshyr – A strong wind caution has put the Sydney to Hobart race fleet on notice but a predicted lull has increasingly-fancied American newcomer Comanche. A number of Irish sailors are among the crews competing.  A long-range weather briefing on…

#vor – 'This is an extreme sport. Extreme things happen', says Team Vestas Wind Navigator Wouter Verbraak in his first interview since November's Volvo Ocean Race shipwreck in the Indian Ocean. The images and subtitles are courtesy of NOS Sport.

#sb20 – The Irish SB20 fleet has voted to remove the obligation to carry an outboard engine and fuel on the six–metre sportsboat class during racing. The class has also ditched the crew weight limit. According to class president Justin…

#lobster – The Minister for the Marine, Simon Coveney T.D., has signed into law, conservation measures as part of an integrated package to protect the long-term sustainability of lobster and shrimp stocks. Lobster & Shrimp stocks are vital stocks for…

#dublinport – Dublin Port Company marked the end of a successful cruise season for 2014 as the final cruise liner to visit Dublin this year, the "Boudicca", docked in Dublin Port early on Saturday morning. Cruise liners carrying over 135,000…

#rshyr – In Sydney, forecasters have revealed that a southerly breeze will play in to the hands of smaller boats – including a number of Irish sailors –  for Australia's 70th Rolex Sydney Hobart race that starts on St. Stephen's…

#dmyc – Due to an adverse forecast and being the Sunday that it is, the last before Christmas, today's DMYC dinghy sailing Frostbite racing was cancelled yesterday evening. It is the third such cancellation in a row for the popular…

#clipperrace – The Cruising Club of America (CCA) has confirmed that its 2014 Rod Stephens Trophy for Outstanding Seamanship will be awarded to Sean McCarter, skipper of the Clipper 2013-14 Round the World Yacht Race Northern Irish entry Derry-Londonderry-Doire. The…

The Commissioners of Irish Lights are seeking feedback from users on the visual and radar detection performance of new buoys in varying states of weather and sea state on the Irish East Coast.  As previously reported on Afloat.ie, the 'Spar'…

#vor – Team Vestas Wind skipper Chris Nicholson (AUS) has flown back to a remote Indian Ocean reef to help oversee a complicated operation to retrieve his stranded boat after it was grounded there during Leg 2 of the Volvo…

#fishing – A small fishing community in West Cork is hitting the video headlines this week following the intervention of a five times US Grammy Award winner about a song of hers they recorded to raise money for a local…

#waterski – Among the highlights made in today's Federation of Irish Sport annual review is a report that participation in water-skiing and wakeboarding increased from 3,000 to 8,500 at a time when many other water based sports, such as sailing, face a…

#islandnation –  I have told my wife that my boat is not an inanimate object, that it does talk to me, which has generated the response that it costs enough, but does it ever explain why? It may not be…

#vor – There is to be an independent report into the grounding of Team Vestas Wind's boat on a reef in the Indian Ocean has been set up by the Volvo Ocean Race. A panel, to be chaired by Rear…

#mayflowerII – The American–based historic replica ship Mayflower II arrived at Mystic Seaport on Sunday for a restoration at the southeastern Connecticut museum's Henry B. duPont Preservation Shipyard. The original 110 ft. overall Mayflower was the 15th century ship that transported…

#whitefish – Following 48 hours of intensive negotiations the Minister for the Marine, Simon Coveney T.D., said tonight that he was relieved that he had successfully managed to turn an extremely worrying proposal from the European Commission into a much…

#navy – The Flag Officer Commanding Naval Service, Commodore Hugh Tully, will attend the passing out parade of Recruit Class "John DeCourcy" at the Naval Base in Haulbowline on Thursday 18th of December at 2.00pm. The thirty-six recruits successfully completed…