Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

Where other Irish harbours face the sea, Kinsale embraces it. And this generous geographical reality helps to provide a genuine sense of community interaction when any initiative at the hospitable south Cork port is put together to help get young…

You don’t want to run out of Marmite, butter or Guinness on board a yacht in a remote part of Greenland. One piece of advice from a very elated Richard Darley, who sailed the 3,300 nautical mile trip by Danú…

In 2002, the ingenious Laser SB3 was unleashed on an unsuspecting world by Performance Sailcraft as one of several innovative craft that enabled the leading Laser builders to offer loyal Laser sailors – already in their several thousands with the…

The International J/24 European Championship getting under way this weekend in Howth leads inevitably to thoughts of a special drama afloat two months ago. The crunch finish period of the SSE Renewables Round Ireland Race 2022 at Wicklow on Friday,…

So where are they? The hurricanes, we mean. Or more accurately, the “decaying tropical storms” which occasionally make their ominous and often unpredictable way towards Ireland as the Summer progresses and morphs into Autumn. For as it happens, back in…

The Last of the Light is a collection of memories, short stories and beautiful images from the Loop Head peninsula by Kilkee writer Marc Ó Riain. The author aimed to capture “the images, sounds and smells, the very taste of…

“Irish people of the sea have called for generations on the Blessed Virgin Mary as a guiding spirit while they are at sea.” That aspect of Irish maritime tradition refers to the use of the name Stella Maris on boats.…

The inland waterways will be celebrated at Killaloe next month, the quintessential waterways town on the River Shannon in Co.Clare. Called ‘LUA’, it will be “a celebration of wild water at the ancient settlement of Killaloe, which is a gift…

In recent days, we’ve seen celebrations honouring the super-star young sailors who have brought major international sailing medals of gold, silver and bronze home to Ireland and their rightfully-delighted families and cheering local clubs. These are sailors whose special talent…

In some ways, Howth Yacht Club has it easy. It isn’t hampered by being the senior sailing centre in Ireland. That particular burden has been carried since 1720 by Cork. Nor is it sailing’s premier centre. Since the active first…

Dublin Port’s chief executive Eamonn O’Reilly is moving on after 12 years at the helm. He does so at a time when the port reports a return to almost pre-pandemic and pre-Brexit trading levels, with overall volumes growing by 10.1…

The unique 18ft Shannon One-Designs have lived through some decidedly mixed times in Ireland during their hundred years of setting the sailing pace on the great lakes of our lordly river. And the two special Centenary Regattas at their main…

The first appearance of a Galway Hooker on the Dutch canals is likely to create a lot of attention and there may even be links found between the traditional West of Ireland boat and historic vessels in Holland  The ‘Galway…

The pace of this first full post-pandemic sailing season in Ireland has been such that when we reached what might be thought of as the mid-point around July 15th, there was a real need for a rapid re-charging of the…

The mast is everything to Pat Lawless. So, before his yacht, Green Rebel, went back into the water this week on Valentia Island and he headed for Dingle in “a nice light breeze” on his final preparations to take part…

Time was when the Hill of Howth was the only part of Ireland above water. Admittedly that was about 600 millions years ago, and our rare old Howth rocks were down around where Australia is now located before they took…