Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

The Galway man who is regarded as a leading light in the revival of interest in Irish turf trading craft has been immortalised in his home harbour writes Lorna Siggins Figurative sculptor John Coll has designed a plaque depicting the…

After a week of thinking maybe too much about modern and ultra-modern boats contesting the Fastnet Race and Calves Week at Schull, it’s a comforting relaxation to settle gently into contemplation of this weekend’s annual Crunniu na mBad (The Gathering…

When Kerry Blasket islanders built the naomhóg for fishing, they would never have dreamed the same craft might transit Nova Scotia writes Lorna Siggins However, four Irishmen have now rowed and sailed a similar design across Cape Breton in northern Canada.…

The traditional 56ft Limerick trading ketch Ilen will shortly begin her long return voyage from west Greenland to the Shannon Estuary, following the successful completion of the several strands of research and exploration in the Ilen Project’s Salmons Wake programme writes…

In one of the most international regattas for the International 12 Foot Dinghy of recent years, entries came from Uganda, Holland, Canada, England and Ireland. This historic dinghy class permits either a crew of one of two. There is no…

In recent podcasts I’ve reported on the Cork Harbour T Boats, a Class now extinct apart from the restored original boat, which I highlighted last week here; the successful revival of the Rankins; the restoration underway of the gaff-cutter Lady…

While the restored 1926-built 56ft traditional trading ketch Ilen of Limerick may have arrived in the Greenland capital of Nuuk last weekend in harsh weather – albeit with a favourable southerly wind – since then conditions have become much gentler,…

After a swift but cold 26-hour run up the Labrador Sea along the southwest coast of Greenland from Paamuit, Limerick’s restored 1926-built 56ft ketch Ilen reached her primary destination, the Greenland capital of Nuuk, late this morning (Friday) writes W…

There is satisfaction in being associated with a good news story about sailing, so the latest step in the Rankin dinghy development, which we have followed for four years on the Afloat website is the announcement that the revived, restored…

The restored 56ft 1926-built traditional ketch Ilen lingered in the southwest Greenland port of Paamuit for the past couple of days while a vicious southerly gale blew itself out in the Labrador Sea writes W M Nixon. It was an…

The Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Josepha Madigan TD, has announced the inclusion of Ireland’s Floating Heritage in the National Inventory of Intangible Cultural Heritage. The National Inventory is intended to raise awareness of, and respect for, our…

The restored 1926 Limerick trading ketch Ilen continues to make steady progress on her Salmons Wake voyage to the Arctic writes W M Nixon. She is now port-hopping along the southwest coast of Greenland towards Nuuk, with the rough conditions…

After an arduous voyage of constant fog and one serious storm en route to Greenland, Ireland’s oldest sailing trading ketch Ilen has encountered its first clear evidence of climate change. “When our skipper, Paddy Barry, was approaching Cape Farewell on…

There’s a finishing buoy in there somewhere (see above) as Hal Sisk in Colleen Ban (26) chases Dermot O’Flynn in Colleen Deas (28) for the final few yards in the first racing for Colleens in Dublin Bay in 114 years.…

How many coats of varnish would you put on a wooden dinghy? “Ten if I had the chance,” so Owen O’Connell answered when he told me the story of the Cork Harbour ‘T’ Boats. “And there’s ten years. in time,…

The Mullaghmore Sailing Club Old Gaffer 'Purple Haze' skippered by Kevin and Heather Collins leads a 12-boat Classic Keelboat fleet at Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta. Born out of 2017's Dun Laoghaire Harbour bicentenary celebrations, the 2019 classic keelboat fleet includes three gaff-rigged Colleen replicas that…