Blogs

Dublin Bay 21 'Naneen' Sails Again as Howth 17s Celebrate Restoration in Growing Irish Classics Revival
6th December 2019 Shannon Estuary Sunshine in December imparts a surreal look to everything it illuminates with its vivid low-angled delineation. And for anyone who happened to be on the Shannon Estuary between Kilrush and Scattery Island on Monday afternoon this week, the sense of…

“They are drop dead gorgeous.” Those words came to mind this week when, amongst the collection of many Emails, phone texts and post that arrive each week there was a photograph which nicely illustrated those words. Stephen Morris sent me…

SCORA Success of Lady Commodore & Why There Are No Spills on Murphy's Shelly D
30th November 2019 Cork Harbour I attended the SCORA annual meeting this week. I was seeking a particular answer about boats. The attendance at the meeting was the biggest in some years, a tribute to the work which the South Coast Offshore Racing Association’s Commodore…

The International Dragon Class and Kinsale seem to have been made for each other. When the Dragon Gold Cup is staged at the glossy south coast port next September, there will undoubtedly be a natural harmony to the event. With…

A Beacon of Memory for Edward Bransfield, Discoverer of Antarctica
22nd November 2019 Tom MacSweeney The well-known beacon at the entrance to Baltimore Harbour in West Cork has provided the idea for the memorial to the Irishman who discovered Antarctica. In the cold, icy waters of the Southern Ocean, Edward Bransfield was keeping a lookout…

2020 Irish Sailing Fixtures Preview: The Year of the Irish Sailing Club
21st November 2019 Northern Ireland Waters Nobody seems yet to have nominated the already very special 2020 as The Year of the Sailing Club, or more accurately as The Year of the Irish Sailing Club. So here in Afloat.ie we’re just going to do that very…

Irish Sailing’s Annual Rhythm is Structured Through 'Sailor of the Month' Awards
15th November 2019 W M Nixon The Irish sailing and boating season seems to get longer and more complex with every passing year, yet the vast majority of us would like it all to happen on days of floating summery perfection, with the ideal weight of…

As a new lifeboat arrived in Lough Ree on Tuesday an envelope arrived on my desk from the RNLI, painting a perspective of the lifeboat service from a different viewpoint. As Afloat reported earlier, the new Atlantic 85 on Athlone’s…

World Sailing’s Bermuda Decisions Will have Longterm Significance as Young People Become the Real Adults
8th November 2019 Youth Sailing What’s with today’s teenagers? Time was when your average teen aspired to sleep for 24 hours every day. The reason they slept for 24 hours every day was there were only 24 hours in the day. Move the dial-up to…

Round the World Sailor Damian Foxall Catches Up on Learning at Poolbeg
8th November 2019 Tom MacSweeney When Henry Cromwell in 1654 as then Chief Justice of Ireland, decided to rid the city of Dublin of everyone of Irish blood by ordering them to move two miles outside the capital, his decision gave the impetus which created…

Following the interest in last week’s Podcast on the question – Why Do We Own Boats – and the views on the topic expressed by Brother Anthony Keane of Glenstal Abbey, I’ve been intrigued by the number of people who…

Irish Sailing Preview: Royal Cork’s Tricentenary Makes 2020 the Year of Years
1st November 2019 Cork300 You thought 2019 was quite the busy sailing year in Ireland? Believe me folks, after writing last Saturday’s marathon review of one very special season, we went through the weekend in a state of mental meltdown which wasn’t helped by…

Scribbler, my Sigma 33 yacht, was hauled ashore this week. Now she stands in her cradle in Castlepoint Boatyard in Crosshaven in Cork Harbour for her out-of-the-water winter rest. It is the annual end-of-season ritual. There are owners who don’t…

Irish Sailing 2019 Review: Mixed Weather & Fortunes in 'Seven Week Scrunch-up'
24th October 2019 W M Nixon With two World Championships on the agenda, and Ireland’s biggest sailing event – the Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta - making its biennial appearance at mid-season, 2019’s sailing programme couldn’t be anything other than interesting as it also included the increasingly…

Mayo’s Joan Mulloy Racing Two-Handed to Brazil as Middle Sea Race Departs Malta
18th October 2019 Vendee Globe Solo sailor Joan Mulloy of Mayo has teamed up as co-skipper with France’s Alexia Barrier on the latter’s veteran IMOCA 60 4Myplanet to become the only all-female crew in the 30-strong IMOCA 60 Class in the 12,000 mile Transat Jacques…

When I walked into Adrian O’Connell’s office in Kilrush Boatyard on the edge of the Shannon Estuary in County Clare, a photograph on the wall caught my attention – a boat sailing at speed, red sails dramatic atop a black…