Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

Newbies to the Ballyholme suburb of Bangor on Belfast Lough tend to call the shops at a crossroads The Village, and now there is another village at Ballyholme – at the Yacht Club –  the ILCA 6 Euros Competitors' Village…

Gavin Vaughan of Royal North of Ireland Yacht Club on Belfast Lough has always wanted to sail around Ireland but not in the famous race. So spurred on by the death of his longtime friend and crew Neale McCullough, who…

Northern Ireland's Strangford Lough Yacht Club, on the western shore of the Lough, is looking forward to a big turnout for its two-day event on Saturday and Sunday, August 24th and 25th.  The competition is open to IRC and YTC…

Belfast Lough Sailability is a non-profit organisation run entirely by dedicated volunteers. It exists for sailing and boating to disabled and disadvantaged people across Northern Ireland. Operating from Carrickfergus Marina on the north side of Belfast Lough, it has a…

An exhibition celebrating the 200th Anniversary of the RNLI is currently running in the Long Gallery at the North Down Museum in Bangor on Belfast Lough. Over the years, the charity’s volunteers have answered the call to rescue day or…

Jessika Robson from Hillsborough has won the annual Open House Festival Pickie to Pier Swim in Bangor on Belfast Lough for the third time. Previously winning in 2022 and 2021, Jessika was pipped to the post at last year's event…

This week, the football Euros—in two weeks, it will be the ILCA 6 Euros at Ballyholme on Belfast Lough in Northern Ireland on July 27th. The Club on the east side of Bangor on Belfast Lough has hosted many successful…

It's been two years since the River Foyle in Ireland's northwest hosted one of the country's biggest nautical celebrations. Traditionally held in July, the Derry festival was brought forward a month to coincide perfectly with the start of the school…

The crew of Merryjack defied their age at last week's Bangor Regatta on Belfast Lough competing in Class six YTC and taking third overall. Crew man and poet Glen McMahon on the Oceanis 37 might never be Poet Laureate but…

In like a lion and out like a lamb is said to mean that the month of March should end with quiet weather compared to a lion. But this is June, and the Belfast Lough weather hasn't reached the lamb…

Patience is a virtue they say and that is what was needed this morning when Belfast Lough was like a mirror and the Bangor Regatta fleet was motionless in the Marina. However word was that this forced stoppage was very…

Never mind what's going on elsewhere In Ireland this weekend; with Shania Twain in Belfast's Ormeau Park, Taylor Swift at the Aviva, the All-Ireland Quarter GAA Finals in Croke Park and the Foyle Maritime Festival in Derry, there was plenty…

June at Antrim Boat Club on the north shore of Lough Neagh has been a busy month with the conclusion of the Rolo's Summer Series, the annual regatta and the Interclub event The Cat's Cradle. Unfortunately, the scheduled Races 5…

The same strong winds that brought home many of the SSE Renewables Round Ireland fleet at pace down the Irish Sea to Wicklow arrived on time for the first day of the Bangor Regatta. (Thurs 27th June). Predicted by this magazine's…

The 'largest sailing ship in the world' and probably one of the largest ships to anchor in Belfast Lough at 138 metres in length arrived in the Norhern Ireland port on Tuesday, (June 18th). She is the youngest of the…

The Ailsa Craig race has for 62 years been the highlight of Royal Ulster’s offshore sailing programme. The 80-mile race from Bangor on the north down coast, round the Rock in the Firth of Clyde and back to Bangor, is…

Northern Ireland's Killyleagh Yacht Club lies on the western shore of Strangford Lough on Cuan Beach, close to the town. On June 29th and 30th, it will host its annual fund-raising charity event. This year, the event will aid the…

It certainly wasn’t champagne sailing last weekend for the Ridgeway RS Feva Northerns at Royal North of Ireland YC in Belfast Lough. The persistent strong on shore winds gusting 29 knots at times didn’t let up on Day 1 so…

Portaferry on the east shore of the Strangford Narrows at the mouth of Strangford Lough is preparing for a four-day Festival of Sailing, Water activities and Competitions from 5th till 8th July. The Narrows Series is one of the biggest…

The growing RS Feva class in Northern Ireland is still going strong and will have yet another open event next weekend (8th/9th June) when the Northerns will take place at Royal North of Ireland Yacht Club at Cultra on the…