Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

For the first time Brittany Ferries will not be operating a ship under the French flag when it starts its new ferry route, linking Cork directly to Spain, next month. As a result French maritime unions have accused Brittany Ferries…

#VOR - The Volvo Ocean Race celebrated 45 years of women in the race with a landmark event in Auckland on International Women’s Day, Thursday 8 March. The event, organised by the Magenta Project, and supported by Volvo Ocean Race…

#Ports&Shipping - Irish Continental Group (ICG) operates in two divisions; Irish Ferries which offers passenger and roll-on roll-off (ro-ro) freight services and the container and terminal divisions.  ICG issued today results for the year ended December 31st 2017 (see related…

#FerryNews - Fuel costs increased and a weaker sterling led earnings at Irish Ferries owner Irish Continental Group (ICG) to fall 3 per cent, results for the year ended December 31st 2017 show. As The Irish Times reports, despite revenue…

#MarineWildlife - Two killer whales spotted feeding off the Blasket Islands earlier this week have been identified as members of a unique pod from Scotland. “Killer whale sightings in any Irish waters are rare events, and they seem to be…

Wicklow Sailing Club's Volvo Round Ireland Committee has announced the appointment of Hal Fitzgerald as Race Director following the decision of Theo Phelan to stand down from the role, as Afloat.ie reported yesterday.  Fitzgerald is an ex-commodore of Wicklow Sailing…

Belfast Lough's offering as a maritime heritage destination has been given a major boost today as two iconic attractions – the Great Light and Titanic Walkway – officially opened to the public in Titanic Quarter.  The opening event was also…

Ireland has two sailors among the ninety-six Finn sailors from 33 countries counting down the days to next week's Open and U23 Finn European Championship in Cadiz, Spain.  Oisin McClelland from Donaghdee Sailing Club and Fionn Lyden from Baltimore Sailing…

With the recent damage to Dun Laoghaire Harbour by Storm Emma adding to the seriousness of the problem, last night’s decision regarding harbour management by the Council - and the comments issued this afternoon by the Save Our Seafront organisation…

It’s the end of an era. Theo Phelan of Wicklow, who has been intimately involved with the organsation of the biennial Round Ireland Race since 2008, has stood down from his demanding and time-consuming position after ten years in roles…

#Navy - The Naval Service has posted to its Facebook page a remarkable video captured by drone of the LÉ William Butler Yeats carefully berthing in its home port at Haulbowline in Cork Harbour. The €66 million vessel, which was…

#ClipperRace - It’s been a busy 24 hours in the Clipper Race onboard HotelPlanner.com, according to Derry-Londonderry skipper Conall Morrison. “As the wind has freshened significantly we are now on Yankee 3, staysail and reefs in and out of the…

#RNLI - Yesterday afternoon (Tuesday 6 March), a volunteer crew from Portaferry RNLI was tasked to go the aid of a woman stranded on one of Strangford Lough’s many islands. The woman had been walking her dog on Rough Island,…

Ireland's newest Star Class team, brothers Peter and Robert O'Leary, have maintained their top ten overall at the Bacardi Cup in Miami yesterday. The Royal Cork duo lie eighth overall, six places ahead of Royal St. George Yacht Club's Max…

#Ports&Shipping - European Sea Ports Organisation (ESPO) has developed a position paper to submit to the negotiators now that Brexit has entered the second phase. With this paper, ESPO calls on the Brexit negotiators to prioritise transport and more in…

#ClipperRace - Skippers in the Clipper Race were reporting relief this morning (Tuesday 6 March) as winds and boat speeds picked up — though with the high level of fishing fleets around, teams are also on high alert in this opening…

#Property - Dun Laoghaire Harbour Company has now launched the procurement process for its plans to develop ‘floating homes’ on the waterfront, as promised in January. The tender published to the State’s eTenders website is “seeking proposals for the development…

#FerryNews - As Afloat reported yesterday, ropax Stena Horizon starts Dublin-Holyhead sailings tonight to enable a fleemate to be drydocked, however additional freight-only capacity is already in place, writes Jehan Ashmore. The larger of the two routine ferries on the…

Efficient travel between the Ilen Boat-Building School in Limerick and Liam Hegarty’s boatyard at Oldcourt near Baltimore, where work continues on restoring the 56ft 1926-built ketch Ilen, has been a key factor in progressing the project writes W M Nixon.…

There have been a number of warnings about seamanship and navigational issues in the past few weeks that are important as the sailing season draws nearer. I wonder if the boating community takes enough notice of them? Gail McAllister, who ran…