Betty Armstrong
Betty Armstrong is Afloat and Yachting Life's Northern Ireland Correspondent. Betty grew up racing dinghies but now sails a more sedate Dehler 36 around County Down
River Class One Designs: A Century Old & Still Racing on Strangford Lough
11th September 2020 Historic Boats
Scottish yacht designer Alfred Mylne designed the River Class in 1920 at the behest of eight members of the Royal Ulster Yacht Club (RUYC) in Bangor on Belfast Lough. Next year the design is celebrating its 100th anniversary. In all…
Donaghadee Sailing Club's Oisin McClelland Secures Top 25 position at European Finn Championships
9th September 2020 Northern Ireland Waters
Irish Tokyo 2021 solo campaigner, 27-year-old Donaghadee Sailing Club member Oisin McClelland has clinched a personal best, claiming 23rd spot at the Finn European Championships at Gdynia in Poland. The event ran from 1st to 6th September and was the…
New Lease of Life for Small Clinker-Built Dinghy on Lough Erne
8th September 2020 Northern Ireland Waters
Last year Jonny Clements took part in a boating event in Lough Erne in a mixed fleet of craft from canoes to sailing boats. Having been impressed by the sailing dinghies and not having ever sailed before, he bought a…
Ards & North Down Mayor Welcomes Teen Solo Sailor to Bangor Marina
6th September 2020 Northern Ireland Waters
Mayor of Ards and North Down Councillor Trevor Cummings, visited teen solo sailor Timothy Long onboard his yacht Hunter Impala yacht, Alchemy to welcome him officially to Bangor. As Afloat reported previously, fifteen-year-old Timothy aims to become the youngest person…
Ballyholme Yacht Club To Deliver First Paddleboarding Association (BSUPA) Instructor Course in Northern Ireland
5th September 2020 Northern Ireland Waters
Ballyholme Yacht Club is to bring Dom Moore from Surf Sanctuary, Newquay in the UK to deliver the first British Stand Up Paddleboarding Association (BSUPA) Instructor Course in Northern Ireland. Dom is currently putting 16 students and two instructor assessors…
RYA Northern Ireland to Run Restricted Youth Championships This Month
4th September 2020 RYA Northern Ireland
The Royal Yachting Association Northern Ireland Youth Championships on 19/20 September will feel the ongoing effect of the Covid-19 pandemic in that a restricted Youth Sailing Championships will be run on the 19th and 20th September at Ballyholme Yacht Club…
15-Year-Old Solo Round Britain Sailor Arrives in Bangor on Belfast Lough
1st September 2020 Belfast Lough
Timothy Long from Buckinghamshire in England is only 15, and by the time he finishes his fundraising solo sail around Britain, he will have 1,600-miles under his belt. In his Hunter Impala 28 'Alchemy' Timothy covers around 45 miles a…
A Notice to Mariners issued on 29th August by Bangor Harbour on Belfast Lough warns that the slipway in front of the Lifeboat house has been closed due to a sunken vessel. On Wednesday night (26th August) the owners of…
Big Welcome for Cruising Association as Boats Revisit Northern Ireland Waters
25th August 2020 Cruising
It's only 160 km by road but the passage north from Dublin Bay for the twelve Cruising Association of Ireland crews who set out for Belfast Lough was a great deal more. With stopovers in Carlingford Lough and Ardglass on…
Topper Traveller Comes to Belfast Lough, Northern Ireland's First Open Event of the COVID-Hit Season
23rd August 2020 Topper
In what is understood to be the first open event in Northern Ireland this year, 41 Toppers including two from Dublin Bay, raced at Ballyholme YC on Belfast Lough yesterday (22nd August) for what turned out to be a lively…
Irish Multihulls & a Weekend of Speed for Ballyholme Yacht Club in October
22nd August 2020 Belfast Lough
The last of three Irish Multihull events this year will be the Northerns at Ballyholme Yacht Club on Belfast Lough on 17th and 18th October. It also has the grand title of Weekend of Speed, rescheduled due to COVID 19.…
An appropriate title for a GP 14 event to be held (hopefully) in October at the Larne club. The word toddy comes from the toddy drink in India produced by fermenting the sap of palm trees and its earliest known…
Line Honours for Mikey Ferguson on Pip Hare's 'Medallia' in Lonely Rock Race
19th August 2020 Vendee Globe
Belfast Lough's Mikey Ferguson found the Lonely Rock Race on Pip Hare's Open 60, Medallia, shorter than planned due to the impending storm. The race director decided to shorten the course with the turn at Wolf Rock off Land's End…
Twelve celebrities are taking part in the challenge of a lifetime, to row the entire length of Britain, in a brand new, epic adventure series called 'Don't Rock The Boat'. The 5 x 60-minute series will see 12 famous faces…
The all-weather RNLI lifeboat from Donaghadee on the North Down coast launched at 3 am this morning (Tuesday18th) to the Belfast Coastguard's request to assist a 15m fishing boat with one person onboard. The boat, which was on passage from…
Hundreds of Lions's Mane Jellyfish Washed Ashore on Ards Peninsula (Video)
18th August 2020 Northern Ireland Waters
Portaferry Coastguard Rescue Team on Strangfrod Lough in Northern Ireland has warned of hundreds of Lion's Mane jellyfish washed up on the shore at Cloughey on the eastern coast of the Ards Peninsula. It's a small village with a beautiful…
The minehunter HMS Ramsey under the command of Lieutenant Commander Joel Roberts, arrived into Bangor Harbour on Belfast Lough over last weekend on an exercise visit. The 53m vessel is moored alongside the Eisenhower Pier, so-called as before departing for the…
Down Cruising Club is celebrating a return to the water with a Members' Day next Saturday (22nd August). Located at Ballydorn, near Whiterock on Strangford Lough, DCC occupies an unusual clubhouse, the old Lightship, Petrel. It was built in 1915…
Belfast Lough's Mikey Ferguson Joins Pip Hare's IMOCA Medallia Campaign
15th August 2020 Vendee Globe
Northern Ireland sailor Mikey Ferguson from Bangor in County Down has joined Pip Hare's IMOCA campaign and they will start the Lonely Rock Race tomorrow (Sunday 16th August), from near Ryde in the Eastern Solent in Medallia. As well as being…
Royal Ulster Yacht Excession Heads for Fastnet 450 Race & Cork 300 Celebrations
14th August 2020 Northern Ireland Waters
John Harrington will carry the flag again for Royal Ulster Yacht Club, as he is off again south in the IMX38 eXcession! In a racing schedule arranged with military precision, John and a football team sized crew will tackle the…