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Cork Harbour-based Jakub Ziemkiewicz building his Globe 5.80 SV Bibi, his entry for the ‘Mini' Globe Race
Jakub Ziemkiewicz tells me he was “born to sail but forced to work.” He is working as I talk to him - on the yacht he is building in a shed at Aghada in the northeast corner of Cork Harbour…
“A mystery to himself as to everyone else” – pioneering global circumnavigator Conor O’Brien of Foynes as portrayed by his wife Kitty Clausen
A hundred years ago next Tuesday, June 20th, Conor O'Brien (1880-1952) of Foynes took his departure with some fanfare aboard his 42ft Saoirse from the harbour her skipper preferred to call Dunleary, though most of its citizens saw it as…
Barryroe Star of the Sea National School Pupils with Capt and Chief Officer and Rory Jackson
Captain Jacek Berenek of the container ship, ‘Independent Horizon,’ on its regular monthly call to the Port of Cork’s Deepwater Berth at Ringaskiddy, explained to the pupils of Barryroe National School from West Cork where he would launch their mini-boat…
Howth fishing port in County Dublin - fishermen are concerned about being squeezed out of Irish sea areas by wind farms
The Government’s promise of consultation and involvement of the fishing industry in the development of offshore wind farms is not being delivered on according to South East Coast fishermen, who claim that consultation and discussion, which was promised, has turned…
The Sunfast 3300 Cinnamon Girl (Cian McCarthy, Kinsale YC) under her 2023 cutter rig with lengthened bowsprit shortly after the start of the Volvo Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Race on Wednesday, June 7th
It was that noted offshore yachtsman and rail travel enthusiast Vladimir Ilyich Lenin who observed that ten years can go past with no significant history occurring at all, and then suddenly ten years of hectic history can happen in just…
There are 42 entries for Wednesday's biennial Volvo Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Race, which started in 1983
“They are missing a lot of berths down there, but we’ll get everybody in by hook or by crook! The words of Adam Winkelmann, chairman of the Dun Laoghaire-Dingle Race, speaking about Dingle’s marina. A collision by a French fishing…
Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Race defending champion Nieulargo (Royal Cork YC) racing southward out of Dublin Bay
There’s more than a few of us around who well remember the launching of the new 280 nautical miles Dun Laoghaire to Dingle race by the ideas-filled duo of Martin Crotty and Peter Cullen of the National Yacht Club. It…
Royal Cork Yacht Club cancelled its regular Thursday night league racing this week and called members to a safety briefing in Crosshaven instead following a shipping incident
The Royal Cork Yacht Club cancelled its regular Thursday night league racing this week and called members to a meeting instead to discuss an incident between some boats in the racing fleet on the previous week’s Thursday and a tanker…
Round the world solo sailor Bill King with family on board his homecoming launch in 1973 in Plymouth
“There’s a Japanese man coming, it’s probably revenge..would you just go away, I’m old; I don’t mind dying “ “I came back three hours later and they were on their third bottle of white wine..” That’s one of many memories…
The Manx Nobby White Heather is the latest addition to the Irish Old Gaffer fleet, having recently been brought by Gary Lyons to Strangford Lough from Peel in the Isle of Man. To add interest to her sailing, every time you tack White Heather the rig obliges you to dip the main and mizzen yards so that they are always on the lee side of their masts
This weekend sees ancient gaff-rigged and other craft of multiple vintages gathering at Poolbeg Yacht and Boat Club in Ringsend in the heart of Dublin Port, within sight of some of the most modern ships afloat. It’s the 60th Anniversary…
Preserving maritime tradition at Baltimore in West Cork
Wooden boats will dominate Baltimore Harbour this weekend when the West Cork village welcomes back the annual gathering of traditional vessels. Like many other events the Baltimore Wooden Boat Festival, which had been held annually for seventeen years from 2002,…
The spirit of the Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta and Dublin Bay sailing encapsulated in one vivid image as a historic classic boat puts to sea past the East Pier Lighthouse headed for some rugged racing in the Bay. It is the 2015 VDLR, and the Uffa Fox-designed Jack Tyrrell of Arklow-built Flying 30 Huff of Arklow of 1950 vintage, originally commissioned by Royal St George YC Commodore and IDRA President Douglas Heard, has been brought back - superbly restored – from Dartmouth to her original home port by owner Andrew Thornhill to race the Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta every day. Thanks to the continuous post-race up-dating of every set of results, the enthusiasm with which Huff is sailed is to be rewarded with her winning the “Boat of the Regatta” trophy
There’s a remarkable inherited experience of staging regattas in Dun Laoghaire, reinforced by the shared skill in running races of appropriate type and length, which comes through from the unrivalled memory bank of what is and isn’t reasonably possible, passed…
Working on the Atlantic Challenge Boat in Bantry in West Cork
The Atlantic Challenge group at Bantry is working on a new development project for a marine centre in the West Cork town which would encourage more young people to become involved in the maritime sphere. The Atlantic Challenge International began…
Mairtín Óg Mac Donnacha, Joe and Michael Barrett on board Sruthán Buí in preparation for their sea to river Corrib challenge on May 19th, weather permitting.
Sruthán Buí is a 17-year-old gleoiteog based in Lettermullen, south Connemara, which will embark on an unusual trip later this month. Its owner Mairtín Óg MacDonnacha, his cousins Joe and Michael Barrett and several others will set off on May…
Molly Childers at the wheel of Asgard. As a talented helmswoman, she was often in this role. But the disadvantage is that during a sea day of heavy showers, you have to stick at it however unbecoming your sou’wester, while the rest of the crew may have escaped to the dry below until the rain passes over
Whatever you may think about the historic gun-running by Erskine & Molly Childers’ Asgard into Howth on July 26th 1914, there’s no denying the fact that this was one of the most significant interactions of sailing as a sport with…
Sperm whales in Irish waters
The ‘spatial squeeze’ is an issue that has been coming increasingly to the fore in recent months as more concern is expressed about the pressure being exerted by offshore wind farm developers for planning approval of their proposals. There are…

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