Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

#Rowing: Paul O’Donovan has qualified for the A Final of the men’s Open single sculls at the Sydney International Rowing Regatta in Australia. The Skibbereen man finished second in his semi-final. The Skibbereen pair of Mark O’Donovan and Shane O’Driscoll…

ICRA Commodore Simon McGibney has issued the agenda for tonight's EGM to be held at 7.30pm Maldron Hotel in Portlaoise. The meeting will vote on new candidates for the ICRA executive and will also vote on a new constitution.  The final…

You Will Turn the Tide! That is the message from Northern Ireland's Big Wave Surfer Al Mennie in his new book 'Overcome or Succumb'. Al Mennie is best known for tackling gigantic waves in the wildest of weather and in doing…

#Coastguard - Next year’s commemorative stamp programme from An Post will feature a tribute to the four coastguard crew lost in the Rescue 116 tragedy one year ago. RTÉ News reports that Caitriona Lucas, the coastguard volunteer who died during a…

#RNLI - Arranmore  RNLI in Co Donegal assisted a fisherman who got into difficulty off Gola Island at the weekend when his small boat ran aground on rocks. The all-weather lifeboat was called out at 11am on Sunday 18 March and…

A former Dun Laoghaire Harbour based Sailing School instructor will lead a new Oyster Yachts management team following the purchase of the luxury boat builder after it went under in February, according to British media reports. YBW.com reports here, that Richard Hadida…

There’s something about the magnificent West Coast of Ireland that produces larger-than-life characters of prodigious energy writes W M Nixon. And James Cahill of Mayo is one of them. Way back in 1974, he sailed round Ireland in a 13ft…

#Rowing: Paul O’Donovan and Gary O’Donovan won their heat of the Open double sculls at the Sydney International Rowing Regatta in Australia. The Skibbereen duo had the fastest time of the two heats. They will compete in the A Final…

#Fisheries - The Irish News writes that a former DUP minister was told by officials of her department’s obligation to recognise Irish and Ulster-Scots months after she claimed it had adopted “single language policy”. Details emerged after the Department of…

#MaritimeFestivals - A month-long festival in Belfast Harbour is to start in the end of March at the Titanic Quarter. Dockside Festival runs from 27 March to 20 April and as The Irish News reports the festival will be held…

As entries continue to grow for the 2018 Round Ireland Yacht race, with 30 boats currently entered, Wicklow Sailing Club have announced a new trophy/category for the 2018 race – yet to be named – to recognise the best armed…

#Ports&Shipping - Exporters from Ireland writes the Independent.ie are pumping more of their products into the UK despite Brexit, a survey shows. Around the time of UK's EU referendum in June 2016, just under a third of exporters said they…

Cork Harbour will have a new name in sailing this season - the Great Island Sailing Club, formed to ensure the continuance of sailing at Cobh, following difficulties which arose in Cove Sailing Club as it attempted to build a…

“Only connect” urged the novelist E M Forster writes W M Nixon. But his idealistic concepts of emotional connection would be at some remove from the curiously coincidental nautical connections between writers Roddy Doyle and Jennifer Johnston, who are in…

JB Braun is the North Sails Director of Design and Engineering and one of the world’s leading sail designers. His designs have won the America’s Cup and Volvo Ocean Race, as well as Olympic medals. JB Braun loves making sailboats…

The Newry and Portadown Branch of the Inland Waterways Association of Ireland (IWAI) has just been presented with the Special Recognition Award by the Industrial Heritage Association of Ireland (IHAI). The presentation was made in Dublin on March 14th at…

#VOR - An intense start saw the seven-boat Volvo Ocean Race fleet – back up to full complement with the return of Vestas 11th Hour Racing – sail straight into a 30-knot easterly just hours after the leg start on…

A weather–hit DBSC Spring Chicken Series will sail an extra weekend between Saint Patrick's weekend and Easter in order to complete the series. Total calm last Sunday was 'not forecast or expected' which means only three races have been sailed…

#RNLI - Minutes after participating in the local St Patrick’s Day parade on Saturday 17 March, Clifden RNLI joined a full-scale search and rescue operation for two spear divers reported missing. Clifden’s all-weather and inshore lifeboats were tasked alongside Achill…

Irish solo sailor Tom Dolan has revealed further details of plans to compete in the hotly-contested Figaro class in 2018 – a move that takes him one step closer to his ultimate goal of the Vendee Globe. Dolan will join…