Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

What started off as a challenge in Royal North of Ireland Yacht Club on Belfast Lough by Gordon Patterson's Sigma 362, Fanciulla, a heavy 36-footer, to Gavin Vaughan's new Jeanneau 349, a 34-foot light displacement boat, in a race to…

For a very long time, the Snipe class Dinghy Ranger languished in the Boathouse at Crom Castle on Upper Lough Erne, but after lengthy restoration by Fred and George Ternan, Ranger has been afloat twice recently and last weekend (18th…

Their names will be forever associated with Ballyholme Yacht Club's Laser class. Instrumental in getting the class going in 1974 were Ron Hutchieson and Trevor Millar. Ron persuaded Trevor to leave Newtownards SC and come to Ballyholme. And Ron bought…

East Antrim Boat Club on Larne Lough on the Antrim coast welcomed 60 Optimists from all over Ireland to the Ulster Championships last Saturday and Sunday 18th and 19th September. A stalwart of the club, Tom Jobling, reckons it may…

At Ballyholme Yacht Club, they call it the Icebreaker- it's for dinghies - and at Strangford Lough Yacht Club, they call it the Frostie Series (it's for big boats). The club lies on the eastern shore of Strangford Lough in…

A huge fleet of 121 dinghies took to the waters of Belfast Lough from Carrickfergus Sailing Club on the north shore on Saturday and Sunday (11th and 12th) for the Royal Yachting Association NI Youth Championships. The 137 youth sailors…

In late August, the Snipe dinghy Ranger, restored by Fred and George Ternan after sixty years lying abandoned on the Crom Estate, County Fermanagh, had her second outing on Upper Lough Erne at Crom. Ranger was one of two Snipes…

Come Saturday 18th September, cruising boat owners from Royal North of Ireland Yacht Club on Belfast Lough will be sailing north on the club's inaugural 'Glenarm Challenge'. Glenarm is a small village on the famous Antrim Coast Road on the…

Snoopy, the Joubert/Nievelt designed Quarter Tonner with bases at Courtown Sailing Club in Wexford and Royal Ulster on Belfast Lough can most certainly be classed Top Dog after Marty Mahon's consistent top three performance at the ICRA Nationals in Dublin…

Five boats based at Northern clubs are making their way to Dun Laoghaire Harbour for this weekend's three-day ICRA championships hosted by the National Yacht Club, which has attracted 77 entries. Two of the northern contingent are by the same…

Nearly 200 swimmers took to the waters of Ballyholme Bay on Belfast Lough in perfect weather on Saturday 28th August, marking the culmination of a very successful season of regular Monday night swims off the Club slipway. Of the huge…

The Fairy class from the Royal North of Ireland fleet at Cultra on Belfast Lough and the River class-based at Strangford Lough YC have raced since 1960 for a special trophy called the Friver Cup. The Rivers, designed by Alfred…

The keelboat weekend held at Royal Ulster Yacht Club on Belfast Lough on 21st and 22nd August is a new venture and benefitted from generous sponsorship by Shortcross Gin. The nine-strong fleet included five visitors, and of these two were…

That's the thing about an unstable weather system – testing conditions in Belfast Lough, which threatened the race programme for the Irish Topper Championships this weekend. Hosted by Carrickfergus Sailing Club on the north shore of Belfast Lough over three…

It has been a busy August for several young Laser sailors from Northern Ireland clubs who have competed at a high level in the RYA Youth Nationals at Plymouth, the UK Laser Association Nationals at Weymouth and the World Laser…

The Snipe class dinghy Ranger appears to be first listed in the Ballyholme Yacht Club 1953 Regatta programme in Belfast Lough, owned by a Mr J Morrison. But by 1956 she had moved west and found a home in Lough…

For a relatively small club, Antrim Boat Club certainly achieved its aim of introducing to sailing and other water sports, many people who had never experienced the sport before – 150. Antrim Boat Club lies on the northeast shore of…

Belfast Lough Sailability held a very successful regatta out of Carrickfergus Marina last Saturday (7th August) and welcomed visitors from Lough Foyle in the North West and Lough Erne in County Fermanagh, making eight boats in all. Sailability gives access…

Glenarm Marina now has a new fully serviced pontoon increasing the berthing capacity of this Blue Flag popular spot to 50 within the picturesque village's historical limestone harbour on the east coast of County Antrim. Glenarm lies at the foot…

It was worth the wait for Ballyholme Yacht Club on Belfast Lough to stage a full-on Topper Northern Ireland Championships over the past weekend. Sixty-nine young sailors came from the length and breadth of Ireland; from Royal Cork and Waterford…