Afloat – Ireland's Sailing and Boating Magazine
Defending champion Pat Kelly's Storm from Howth Yacht Club is three points clear at the top of the J109 leaderboard after the first three breezy races at the National Yacht Club. In a testing opening day on Dublin Bay, winds…
#Rowing: The Ireland gold medallists Mark O’Donovan and Shane O’Driscoll and Paul O’Donovan are due to arrive back in Ireland tomorrow (Sunday). They are due in Dublin Airport at about 10 o’clock. They will travel to Skibbereen for a special…
Meitheal Mara, the Cork boatyard and maritime community organisation which has carried out many years of development work highlighting Cork’s maritime and boat-building tradition has protested the exclusion of boat access to Haulbowline Island in the €60m remediation plan for…
Howth Yacht Club's Aoife Hopkins Stays in Top 20, Finn Lynch 35th at Laser Europeans
6th October 2017 Laser
19–year–old Aoife Hopkins from Howth Yacht Club started the her first day in gold fleet at the Laser European Championships in Barcelona with a mid-fleet result in race one followed by a 31st (discarded) in race two. Hopkins currently lies 20th…
70th Anniversary of Championship of Champions at Mullingar Tells us Much About Irish Sailing
6th October 2017 W M Nixon
It has had at least two different event descriptions since it was first sailed all of seventy years ago. Back then, Irish sailing was finding its feet in the late 1940s, becoming re-energised in the exciting developmental world of modern…
#Rowing: The Ireland team which brought the country glory at the World Rowing Championships in Florida are the Afloat Rowers of the Month for September. In that month, Ireland took two gold medals through Mark O’Donovan and Shane O’Driscoll in…
#Connemara - Galway Bay FM reports that a shellfish research centre in Connemara was damaged in a fire earlier this week. The blaze broke out in a section at the centre in Carna dedicated to studying the control of sea…
#MarineWildlife - A retired coastguard volunteer has spoken of the “amazing” experience of helping a stranded whale to safety in Northern Ireland on Tuesday (3 October). As BBC News reports, commercial diver John Lowry diverted from his commute home to…
It's a New Dawn It's a New Day As Arklow Acquires Former Flinter Group Cargoship
6th October 2017 Arklow Shipping
#ports&shipping - In a break from the norm Arklow Shipping has acquired secondhand tonnage following a splurge of newbuilds delivered over recent years, writes Jehan Ashmore. The latest addition, Arklow Dawn brings a revised fleet total to 52 multipurpose vessels.…
#MarineNotice - The latest Marine Notice from the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport (DTTAS) advises that that a cable recovery operation is scheduled take place from next Monday 9 to Wednesday 25 October at locations off the South West…
#Navy - The LÉ Niamh is headed for the Mediterranean today (Friday 6 October) for the Naval Service’s first ever role in an operation directly targeting human traffickers. As BreakingNews.ie reports, the EU mission Operation Sophia aims to intercept boats…
The leaders of the Mini-Transat 2017 are now at the latitude of Lisbon, but well offshore in trying to keep in a line of the fading north to northeast wind writes W M Nixon. The pace in this first 1350-mile…
Operator to Withdraw RMS St Helena from Unique South Atlantic Service Seeks Buyer for Passenger Cargoship
5th October 2017 Ports & Shipping
#RMSstHelena - Operators of one of just four of the world's surviving Royal Mail Ships, St Helena Line has announced today, that it is to withdraw the passenger cargoship RMS St Helena from service in February 2018. The ship has…
#ports&shipping - A record-breaking 50% rise in profits has been announced by Foyle Ports and the news has led to the company's "strongest financial performance" in its 162-year history. The Irish News reports that the Derry port reported its fifth…
#ClipperRace - PSP Logistics is returning to Punta del Este today (Thursday 5 October) after a collision with a whale in the first 24 hours of the Clipper Race’s second leg caused damage to the starboard rudder. All crew on…
Dublin sailors Aoife Hopkins and Finn Lynch currently lead Irish hopes at the Laser European Championships in Barcelona after a delayed start this week. Racing started yesterday with two races completed. Yesterday was cloudy and the sailors launched in a…
#RYANI - Richard Honeyford has been appointed as the new full-time chief operating officer of the RYA Northern Ireland. Previously performance manager for the RYANI for the last 11 years, Honeyford “has played an integral role in the organisation” during…
Tom Dolan Now 14th, Mini-Transat Fleet May Run out of Windpower Towards Canary Islands This Weekend
5th October 2017 Tom Dolan
A large area of lighter winds and calms currently developing around the Canary Islands may hamper the closing speeds of the Mini Transat fleet as they near the finish of their 1350-mile race from La Rochelle through this weekend and…
#dublinport- Lands in Dublin Port must not be “reallocated” by Dublin City Council for uses not associated with strategic port activities, business representative group Ibec has said. Ibec was responding to a decision by the council this week writes The…
#Coastguard - Castletownbere’s Irish Coast Guard team was alerted on Friday night (29 September) by Valentia Coast Guard to a medevac scheduled for the early hours of Saturday. FV Argeles, a French fishing vessel, had an injured crewman onboard and…