Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

President Michael D Higgins wished further fair winds for the historic ketch Ilen when he and his wife Sabina went aboard the newly-restored Conor O’Brien ketch during his visit to Limerick writes W M Nixon. Ilen has been brought back…

Limerick was in celebratory mood once more as another long wait ended with the arrival of the historic sailing vessel Ilen, which first sailed Shannon waters some 92 years ago. As Afloat.ie previously reported, In an autumn of great homecomings…

The grace, power and complexity of classic schooners engender great passion in all who see these wonderful examples of naval architecture, mostly heralding from that golden age of yacht construction in the first decades of the 20th century. In recent…

On the 22nd and 23rd September, as a major part of Festival Lough Erne, two regattas for Lough Erne Cots were organised in Enniskillen by Lough Erne Heritage. Lough Erne Heritage is a registered charity formed as a constituted group…

The restored Ilen has arrived in Limerick. She was sailed there over the weekend from West Cork, reports Tom MacSweeney. Conor O’Brien’s historic 1926-built tradition ketch, the last of Ireland’s wooden schooners, originally built in Baltimore, was restored in a…

The restored Conor O’Brien ketch Ilen may have had her first sailing sea trials as recently as yesterday off Baltimore in West Cork, but the current spell of settled weather in the southern half of the country has been too…

The Conor O’Brien-designed 56ft ketch Ilen sailed for the first time in twenty years today off Baltimore writes W M Nixon. Originally built in 1926 at the picturesque West Cork port, and recently restored at nearby Oldcourt by Liam Hegarty’s…

The eclectic new exhibition in the Hunt Museum in Limerick, which outlines the Shannonside city’s maritime connections, its traditional local boats and its links to the historic sail training ketch Ilen, has been proving popular with local schools and their…

Unfortunately, the weather in Hellerup, near Copenhagen for the past two days has not been suitable for racing in small dinghies. However, event PRO Peter Stephensen Lubeck (DEN) was wise enough to predict this scenario, and doubled up the number…

Royal St. George's Mark Delany is in eighth place at the Vintage Yachting Games in Copenhagen while clubmate George Miller in 11th overall. Four races were held for the 12 Foot Dinghy Class on Thursday, because there is a large…

Dublin Bay's George Miller moved up to sixth and Mark Delany is tenth but yesterday saw many 12 foot dinghies retiring from the racing at the Vintage Yachting Games due to the weather conditions off Hellerup in Denmark. The dinghies…

Royal St. George's George Miller is lying ninth overall at the vintage yachting Games in Copenhagen while Mark Delany is 12th after one race sailed. It must be remembered that when the International 12–foot dinghies competed in the Olympic Games…

The successful ten-year restoration of the 1926 Baltimore-built 56ft trading ketch Ilen, originally constructed by Tom Moynihan and his shipwrights in West Cork to designs by pioneering global circumnavigator Conor O’Brien of Limerick, has been a continuing story in Afloat.ie…

#Lecture - In this centenary year of the great disaster that struck RMS Leinster, the Dun Laoghaire Borough Historical Society is hosting next week an illustrated lecture titled "The Sinking of the Leinster". Presenter Cormac Lowth will outline the disaster…

The fourth edition of the Vintage Yachting Games takes place in Copenhagen from 16-22 September 2018. The Vintage Yachting Games provide an opportunity for a high-level international regatta for the classes which were once Olympic Games equipment or Paralympic Games…

The term ‘vintage’ is rarely used in respect of racing dinghies, however, in 1920 the Olympic Federation were felt that a suitable dinghy should be used in addition to the 40m.2, 30m.2, 15m., 12m., 10m., 8m., 7m., and 6m. keelboat…