Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

Who gets your vote as Afloat Sailor of the Year 2017? The past year, in the view of Winkie Nixon, has produced some 'extra-special sailors', and over the past 12 months we have picked out 28 individual sailors and pairings who have excelled in…

Professional sailor Conall Morrison, from Derry-Londonderry, was given a standing ovation at the official Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race (RSHYR) Prize Giving in Australia yesterday evening after not only skippering his HotelPlanner.com team to its first race victory, in the…

The exemplary rescue by Lough Swilly-trained skipper Conall Morrison (35) in the Clipper 70 Class in the early stages of the Rolex Sydney-Hobart Race has been rewarded with a full two hour redress by the International Jury for the time…

The runaway success of Irish-Australian sailors in the Rolex Sydney-Hobart Race 2017 ended the year on an unprecedented high. Gordon Maguire of Howth may already have had two overall wins under his very experienced belt, but his third with the…

Finn Lynch (21) of the National Yacht Club (NYC) is the Afloat.ie “Sailor of the Month” (Olympic) on the strength of his Silver in the Lasers in the Gran Canaria Olympic Week in mid-December, sailing nine races in light to…

#Seafarers - Over three million seafarers, both men and women live in the twilight world of big shipping according to the Seamens Christian Friend Service (SCFS). Seafarers are responsible for most of the goods you will of had acquired over the Christmas…

#ClipperRace - After being last into Sydney in the fourth leg of the Clipper Race, HotelPlanner.com has been declared the winner of this week’s Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race Clipper 70 Class after being granted a 120 minute redress for…

#Irish/GlobalWaste - The global waste industry is about to be thrown into turmoil as China is set to implement its threat to shut its door on almost all categories of plastic and poor quality cardboard and paper. It is the…

#Rowing: Damian Browne is back on track in the Atlantic Challenge rowing race. The solo oarsman covered 36 nautical miles (67 km) in the 24 hours to midday on Saturday and heads into the third week of the race from…

#MarineScience - Delivered by ten centres around Ireland is The Explorers Education Programme, that met up to 15,000 primary school students, worked with over 500 school teachers and trained in excess of 100 teachers and student teachers on the east…

#RNLI - Baltimore RNLI launched twice in the space of a few hours yesterday (Friday 29 December) — firstly to provide a medevac from Heir Island, and later to assist bodyboarders in difficulty at Barleycove. The volunteer crew launched their…

#Weather - Barely a month after Storm Caroline, a Status Orange gale warning is in effect on all Irish coastal waters and on the Irish Sea as Storm Dylan is forecast to sweep over the country this evening (Saturday 30…

#Rowers of the Year: The Afloat Rowers of the Year for 2017 are Shane O’Driscoll and Mark O’Donovan. The two formed the Ireland lightweight pair which won European and World Championship gold. They also won gold in each of the…

Here on Afloat.ie, in recent weeks we’ve carried several formalised reviews of the 2017 sailing season at home and abroad in its many aspects, and have looked forward to what 2018 may bring, and what it should bring. Yet as…

#Rescue116 - The Irish Aviation Authority has appealed to SAR and other pilots to help correct its latest aeronautical chart introduced this past summer, as The Irish Times reports. The updated visual flight rules chart was published in response to…

#VOR - Earlier today (Friday 29 December) Dongfeng Race Team announced that Franck Cammas, skipper of 2011-12 Volvo Ocean Race winner Groupama, would stand in for injured navigator Pascal Bidegorry for Leg 4 of the current race. “Franck is joining…

As Afloat.ie indicated yesterday here, Matt Allen’s Ichi Ban with Howth Yacht Club's Gordon Maguire onboard has been confirmed as the overall winner of the 2017 Rolex Sydney Hobart. With 28 races under his belt, this is the culmination of…

Volunteer lifeboat crew with Red Bay RNLI were called out this evening (Thursday 28 December) to reports that two walkers were stranded on the Boulder Field at Fair Head, Antrim, in freezing temperatures. Red Bay RNLI located the missing walkers…

#Rowing: Damian Browne twice capsized and suffered facial injuries but has continued to row in the Atlantic Challenge race. The Galway man, who competes as Gullivers Travels, posted a remarkable video on his Facebook page below telling of how he…

#BelfastLough - A 'drunk' captain found in charge of his ship at Belfast Port on Boxing Day has been fined £1,000. The Irish News writes that Patryk Tetzlaff (38) was four times over the limit while in charge of a…