Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

Reigning all Ireland Junior sailing champion Chris Bateman swapped his local waters of Cork Harbour for Lough Ree Yacht Club's 'Double Ree' double-handed dinghy regatta last weekend and provides this report for Afloat On the last weekend of August 2020, Lough…

Waterways Ireland advises masters and users of vessels on the Royal Canal that the inland waterway is closed between Balroe and Ballynacarrigy in Co Westmeath. Navigation will be prohibited between the 34th and 35th locks for the next two weeks…

"The seas is for sailing and the lakes are for fishing". Quite. It's a gross over-simplification to put any analysis of the Irish public perception of our use of waterways into such crude terms. But we didn't get where we…

Water-skiing is just about the only waterborne activity for which the Afloat.ie style-book permits the use of exclamation marks (or screamers as we call them in the trade, and there are much rougher words with crude canine associations, but we…

Instream works to install floating jetties downstream of Roosky Bridge on the Shannon Navigation have begun this week and will continue until Wednesday 30 September. Waterways Ireland advises that delays to bridge lifts and lock operations on the inland waterway…

Waterways Ireland has announced the reopening of Lock 15 on the Shannon-Erne Waterway at Tirmactiernan in Co Leitrim as of Thursday 27 August after a temporary closure for safety reasons. The lock has been closed due to the high volume…

Waterways Ireland’s jetties have reopened at Clonmacnoise, Shannonbridge, Shannon Harbour and Banagher on the Shannon Navigation following the lifting of coronavirus restrictions on counties Laois and Offaly. Meanwhile, visiting moorings on the Grand and Royal Canals, Barrow Navigation and Barrow…

Waterways Ireland has given notice of upcoming closures on the Lower Bann in Co Antrim and the Grand Canal in Dublin. On-location filming will see the Lower Bann closed to all boat traffic from the downstream side of Portglenone Bridge…

A unique collection of short stories celebrating individual connections with Ireland’s rivers, lakes and beaches has just been published. Stories from the Waterside is the result of a national story writing competition of the same name held in April and…

Waterways Ireland advises users of the Barrow Navigation that the towpath will be closed in two locations to facilitate works on the Barrow Blueway. The sections between Milltown Bridge, Athy and Ballymanus Bridge in Vicarstown, and between the 20th Lock…

Claims of speeding RIBs and jet skis over the weekend have prompted a call for a no-wake notice for Terryglass Harbour on Lough Derg. One boater said the powered vessels caused “large wakes in very close proximity to moored cruisers…

Once a Commodore, always a Commodore. And though it’s quite some time since Alan Algeo was Commodore of Lough Ree Yacht Club, in this its Quarter Millennium Year he feels that the frustrations of the COVID-denial of the full celebrations…

Waterways Ireland has closed a number of jetties and visitor moorings on its inland waterways in counties Laois, Offaly and Kildare due to the localised coronavirus restrictions imposed by the Government from yesterday evening, Friday 7 August. The affected jetties…

Works on phase one of the Barrow Blueway are now set to commence this month after the original start date was pushed back by three weeks. As previously reported on Afloat.ie, the scheme, when complete, will provide a multi-activity 46km…

Royal Ulster Yacht Club members John and Sally McKee played a crucial part in their motor cruiser in a dramatic incident on the Shannon waterway last Saturday. A private cruiser from Limerick was making a passage northwards on Lough Ree…

Waterways Ireland and Fáilte Ireland are encouraging staycationers to ‘make a break for it’ on the Shannon Navigation this summer. And the latter has compiled a list of all currently open places to eat along with things to see and…