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Afloat – Ireland's Sailing and Boating Magazine
Actress Joanna Lumley OBE opens the Sunseeker stand at the London Boat Show 2017, Excel, London.
Actress Joanna Lumley OBE opened today's 2017 London Boat Show at Excel. The Capital city's iconic Show has over 300 exhibitors showcasing the best the marine world has to offer, anticipated debuts to the World and European stage, as well…
Colin Wong (left) with his Kayak4Kuwait teammates
#Kayaking - A Cork man is in the midst of an epic kayaking expedition along the Persian Gulf to raise awareness of the region’s marine environment, as the Evening Echo reports. Colin Wong from Bishopstown is close to Abu Dhabi…
Cruiseship Boudicca became the first caller to visit Dublin Port in this New Year of 2017
#CruiseFirst - A pair of Fred Olsen Lines sisters marked both the last cruise call to Dublin Port in 2016 and as the first of the New Year, writes Jehan Ashmore. The conservative yet handsome profile of Boudicca sailed into…
Enda O'Coineen was dismasted 180 nautical miles south east of Dunedin in New Zealand
#VendeeGlobe - Enda O’Coineen says “it's a real possibility to finish what I started” despite the devastating mast break that took him out of the Vendée Globe on New Year’s Day. The Kilcullen Voyager helm was forced to cut the…
49erFX sailor Saskia Tidey has confirmed her switch to Team GBR as she trains for the Tokyo 2020 skiff event
#SaskiaTidey - Saskia Tidey has begun training with Team GBR with a view to representing Great Britain at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, as The Irish Times reports. The move comes after the retirement of Tidey’s 49erFX skiff partner Andrea…
At the keel-laying ceremony of the RSS Sir David Attenborough,after whom the ship is named, at Cammell Laird Shipyard, Birkenhead, Merseyside. In recent days Irish Ferries flagship, Ulysses berthed in the wet basin to await dry-docking for routine annual maintenance overhaul.
#Shipbuilder - UK shipbuilder Cammell Laird saw profits and sales fall last year – but the shipyard on Merseyside which Afloat has noted is where Irish Ferries flagship Ulysses awaits drydocking, remains upbeat that it will win more new contracts.…
#CruiseBerth - The Save-Our-Seafront Dun Laoghaire group was yesterday granted leave by the High Court to challenge An Bord Pleanala’s decision to approve cruiseships docking in the local harbour. As The Irish Times reports, the group, which is an environmental…
The weather Gods are smiling favourably with ideal sailing conditions forecasted for the week at Tralee Bay
Tralee Bay Maritime Centre have over 50 boats on the water this week at Fenit in County Kerry. Brian O'Sullivan, Centre Principal, told Afloat.ie he is delighted with the response to the performance coaching clinic, led by Thomas Chaix, with…
Brittany Ferries announce letter of intent for a new ferry with the same German yard that is constructing ICG's new €144m cruiseferry for Irish Ferries. The announcement from the French operator to have the cruiseferry powered by LNG will be their first such vessel and confirms a commitment to improve on reducing harmful sulphur emissions which has led to the Cork-Roscoff flagship Pont-Aven fitted with 'scrubbers' last year.
#NewLNGbuild - Irish Continental Group (ICG) parent company of Irish Ferries, in May 2016 announced an order for a new cruiseferry in a German shipyard in which Brittany Ferries have also signed a letter of intent with the same yard to…
Satellite view of Lough Neagh, the largest freshwater lake in the island of Ireland
#LoughNeagh - Friends of the Earth (FoE) is appealing a ruling against its claims that Stormont is “turning a blind eye” to sand dredging in Lough Neagh, as the News Letter reports. The environmental group brought the issue before the…
#DryDockings – A former Irish Sea ferry Stena Nordica that served the busy Dublin-Holyhead service has returned albeit deputising as routine ships undergo annual winter dry-docking, writes Jehan Ashmore. Stena Nordica (2000/24,206grt) as relief ferry for the operator’s Irish Sea…
Humpback whales like this one off the US coast are regular visitors to Irish waters
#MarineWildlife - Whale watchers off the Sunny South East believed they’ve photographed Ireland’s first humpback whale sighting of 2017, as TheJournal.ie reports. South Coast Charter Angling skipper Martin Colfer was out with photographer Myles Carroll yesterday (Wednesday 4 January) when…
Applegreen to pay €15.7m to buy a 50pc stake in a fuel terminal at Dublin Port.
#FuelTerminal - Applegreen, a forecourt retailer has agreed to pay €15.7m to buy a 50pc stake in a fuel terminal at Dublin Port. The Joint Fuel Terminal writes The Irish Independent is currently equally owned by Valero Energy (Ireland) and…
Save our Seafront claims November’s decision by An Bord Pleanála restricted the size of ships (250m long) but left open the possibility of Dún Laoghaire Harbour being usurped by cruise liners. Afloat adds the above computer generated image is of a giant cruiseship of the 'Freedom' class (338m long) berthed within the harbour.
#CruiseBerth - The Irish Times writes that a judicial review of An Bord Pleanála’s decision to approve facilities for cruiseships in Dún Laoghaire Harbour will be sought in the High Court on Thursday. The campaign group Save our Seafront, which…
New 49er combination Matt McGovern and Robbie Gilmore in training
London and Rio Olympic 49er crew Matt McGovern is moving to the position of helmsman in a new campaign for Tokyo 2020. Ballyholme Yacht Club (BYC) say the Belfast Lough star, who split from sailing partner Ryan Seaton at the…
Former Topper  World Champion Liam Glynn from Ballyholme Yacht Club
Ballyholme Yacht Club on Belfast Lough in Northern Ireland will host its first ISA Youth Sailing Pathway National Championships incorporating the first leg of the IODAI 2017 Optimist Trials in April. The event will be hosted from Thursday 20th to…
IDEC SPORT Halfway Round The World in Less Than 20 Days
The IDEC SPORT maxi-trimaran will this evening complete the first half of the round the world voyage. It will be around 1800hrs UTC that they will have sailed the 11,160 theoretical miles representing half of the total distance between Ushant…
Out on her own – Nicole Hemeryck in top form at the KBC Laser Youth Worlds in Dublin Bay in July.
With a 7th overall in the mega-large fleet at the KBC Laser Worlds in Dun Laoghaire in July followed by December’s 9th overall in World Sailing’s Aon Youth Sailing Worlds in Auckland, Nicole Hemeryck – who turned 18 in December…
When the going was good – Enda O’Coineen at an early stage of his Vendee Globe campaign
For months now, Enda O Coineen’s campaign in the Vendee Globe with the veteran IMOCA 60 Kilcullen Voyage has captured public imagination as the resilient 60-year-old lone sailor has battled the challenge of a lifetime in the most demanding sailing…
Gavan Hennigan
#Rowing: He has new rivals for his placing, but Gavan Hennigan remains in the top three of the Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge. Facing It, a South African trio have taken over from American Oarsmen, also a trio, in fourth place.…

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