Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

Afloat.ie in association with Dubarry brings you a bi-monthly nautical crossword competition (No. 177). Win a pair of Dubarry Commodore X LT or Sailmaker X LT deck shoes! Complete the crossword below and add your details below and the first…

St. Michael’s Rowing Club, Dun Laoghaire are hosting the official launching and blessing of their new east coast rowing skiff on Saturday, the 2nd of February 2019. The event will take place at 11 am in Coal Harbour, Dun Laoghaire…

41–year old Dutch sailor Mark Slats and his Rustler 36 Ophen Maverick took second place overall in the 2018 Golden Globe Race last night, and despite the late hour, received a rousing welcome from Dutch, French and British supporters there…

Irish Tokyo Olympic trialist Finn Lynch admits that after a tough day in gold fleet racing, Miami's World Cup medal race may now be out of reach for the Irish Laser sailor. We had three races today and I scored…

#MarineWildlife - Galway residents have a great opportunity to see a wild dolphin close to the city centre with the return of regular visitor to the Nimmo’s Pier area this week. Nicknamed Nimmo, the solitary bottlenose dolphin was first sighted…

Shipwrecks off the Irish coast are acting as artificial reefs for corals usually found much deeper in the Atlantic. That’s according to NUI Galway ocean scientist Anthony Grehan, who told the Irish Examiner about his recent surprising find at the…

#MarineWildlife - Spanish researchers have identified a link between a ban on the use of sonar in waters around the Canary Islands 15 years ago and a reduction in whale strandings in the same region. The Independent reports on the…

The Port of Cork reports total traffic through both the Port of Cork and Bantry Bay Port Company reached 10.6 million tonnes in 2018, an increase of 3% compared to 2017. Total imports increased by 8% while exports increased by…

#Lifeboats - RNLI volunteers at Lough Ree have launched their sixth Lap of Lough Ree charity cycle which will take place this year on Sunday 28 April. The annual 85km cycle raising funds for the lifesaving service in Athlone will…

#ferries - Ferry giant, Stena based in Sweden and tanker firm Stolt-Nielsen which is Bermuda registered, are reviewing their UK-registered ships ahead of Britain’s departure from the EU, the two leading transport companies told Reuters separately on Wednesday (yesterday). Such…

I enjoyed watching world sailing history being made this week as 73-year-old Jean-Luc Van Den Heede became the oldest man ever to complete and win a solo non-stop round-the-world race. After 212 days alone at sea he won the Golden…

After two days of shifty qualifying rounds and dealing with a neck injury, the National Yacht Club's Finn Lynch is through to gold fleet racing in the Laser class at the Miami World Sailing Cup as he describes here Day two…

The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Michael Creed T.D., today was presented with the ‘Strategy for the Irish Inshore Fisheries Sector 2019-2023’. The strategy is the first industry-led blueprint for the Inshore Sector and was presented to the…

The 2019 Volvo Dun Laoghaire to Dingle “D2D” Race starts from the National Yacht Club in Dun Laoghaire on Wednesday, June 12th 2019. The 300–mile race along the Irish coastline is a great mini-offshore challenge for cruisers and racing boats…

#Lifeboats - Bangor RNLI was delighted yesterday (Tuesday 29 January) Yesterday afternoon, Bangor RNLI was delighted to welcome a delegation led by Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence, Chairman of the RNLI Operations Committee. Sir Tim and other top RNLI officials met…

Sail Training Ireland will hold its seventh annual prize-giving and season launch event this Saturday 2 February at the Mansion House in Dublin, courtesy of Lord Mayor of Dublin Nial Ring. The event will see awards being presented to trainees…

Two crew members with suspected head injuries were airlifted from a fishing vessel off Dingle yesterday (Tuesday 29 January), as the Irish Examiner reports. The Irish Coast Guard’s Shannon-based helicopter Rescue 115 was tasked to the scene some 60 nautical…

There was a solid start for both Irish Lasers competing in the first two races of the World Sailing Cup in Miami yesterday. Finn Lynch is sitting in 16th overall and teammate (and rival for the single Tokyo berth) Liam…

Jean-Luc Van Den Heede wrote his name into the record books by not only winning the 2018 Golden Globe solo non-stop round the world race today, but becoming the oldest in history to complete such a race. The 73-year old…

North Sails Ireland enjoyed a great day out last Friday with the Royal Cork Yacht Club Under 25 Academy. We were looking at some new 1720 3Di Nordac upwind sails and the North 1720 T-6 Class spinnaker writes Nigel Young.…