Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

#middlesearace – Irish interest in class four of tomorrow's Middle Sea Race in Malta centres on three boats inlcuding last year's winner Otra Vez, a J122 with Ireland's top offshore sailing duo Liam Coyne and Brian Flahive, the August winners…

#rcyc – Royal Cork Yacht Club (RCYC) is eyeing up a return to the celebrated 'Dinghy Weeks' of thirty years ago after buoyant turnouts this season for a number of key open events including September's RS class Open and the…

Fastnet – The 100 foot (30.47m) LOA monohull limit set by a number of the classic 600 mile races such as the Fastnet, Sydney Hobart and Middle Sea races has been lifted by the Royal Ocean Racing Club and the…

#star – Ireland will rejoin the Star sailing circuit when Peter O'Leary's former crew Stephen Milne from the Beijing Olympics teams up with British Finn superstar Giles Scott for the Star Sailors League Finals, organised by the Nassau Yacht Club for December…

#vor – Team Vestas Wind, with Kerry's Brian Carlin onboard, gambled – and lost big time – during a night of movement and a lead change in the fleet. Now the lead is taken by pre race favourite Abu–Dhabi with Cork bowman…

#dublinbay – A regular swimmer at the popular bathing place in Sandycove, Co. Dublin was hospitalised after being rescued from the sea this morning. The man had been swimming from the 40-foot shortly after 9am when he encountered difficulties in…

#budget – In today's budget €10 million has been allocated next year to ocean energy research, development and demonstration, following the publication of the Offshore Renewable Energy Development Plan earlier this year. This funding will facilitate the development of the…

#budget2014 – The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Simon Coveney TD today announced details of his Department's 2015 budget. Emphasising that despite the fragile recovery in the economy, he had secured an increase in funding for the first time…

#gp14 – The GP14 Hot Toddy 2014 has been won by Ruan O'Tiarnaigh & Mel Morris writes Curly Morris. The forecast seemed promising with warm weather and some wind. However although the autumn warmth was there, Newtownards' sheltered position surrounded by low…

#fishing – Minister Simon Coveney TD, at today's EU Fisheries Council, secured the agreement of the Council and the Commission to bank a portion of this year's fishing quotas and transfer them into 2015. This measure will give the fishing…

#middlesearace – A record-breaking 123 yachts from more than 20 countries will cross the starting line of the Rolex Middle Sea Race on 18 October, reflecting the international stature of this popular offshore race organised by the Royal Malta Yacht Club.…

#dublinport –  The Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Paschal Donohoe, TD, today officially opened Dublin Port Company's new trade car terminal. The new terminal is located at East Wall Road and will cater for 2,500 vehicles at a time,…

#islands – On Thursday, October 9, not enough TDs turned up in the Dáil to create a quorum for the business of our national Parliament. The Opposition accused the Government parties of being responsible and of showing lack of commitment…

#inlandwaterways – When English writer LTC Rolt made a round trip from the Shannon to Dublin in 1946, traversing the Grand and Royal Canals, he was considered an eccentric. In the 1940s commercial traffic on the canals and rivers of…

#navy – Ten new recruits to the Naval Service Reserve completed their training in a ceremony in the Naval Base on Haulbowline yesterday. The 10 recruits, 9 from Cork and 1 from Dublin endured 3 weeks of intense training where…

#islandnation – This month, Caitlin Ni Aodha, widow of the Skipper of the Tit Bonhomme who drowned in that trawler tragedy in West Cork, talks to us on the pier at Howth in County Dublin as she launched the new…

#hyc – Howth Yacht Club's (HYC) leaderboard showed some small changes to the leaderboards yesterday within the nine classes, but no change to the idyllic conditions after week five of the MSL Park Motors Mercedes-Benz sponsored event that has enjoyed for every…

#shannonblueway – Leitrim, Roscommon and Cavan have many kilometres of walking trails, looped, linear, long and short distance, all linked by one thing – the waterways. There are over 100km of water trails radiating from Carrick-on-Shannon which link these existing…

#royalcork – Today was another wonderful October day for the CH Marine Autumn Series writes Claire Bateman. There was bright sunshine after a night of dense fog that cleared exactly as had been forecast. The wind in the outer harbour…

#blueway – Minister Heather Humphreys TD, and actor & producer Carrie Crowley joined with over 300 walkers and paddlers to open the Shannon Blueway today in Drumshanbo, Co Leitrim.As previously reported on Afloat.ie, the Shannon Blueway runs from Drumshanbo through…