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Afloat – Ireland's Sailing and Boating Magazine
Paul O'Donovan and Gary O'Donovan
#Rowing: Ireland’s Paul and Gary O’Donovan took bronze at the World Cup Regatta in Lucerne today. Olympic champions France, as has been the pattern this season, took the lead early and never relinquished it. Italy chased them all the way…
Larne RNLI's all-weather lifeboat
#RNLI - Larne RNLI responded to two consecutive calls for help off the Antrim coast yesterday afternoon (Saturday 8 July). The volunteer lifeboat crew was requested to launch their all-weather and inshore lifeboats at 2.17pm after Belfast Coastguard reported that…
#Rowing: Sanita Puspure took third in the B Final of the women’s single sculls at the World Cup Regatta in Lucerne, ninth overall, while Monika Dukarska was three places further back, in sixth (12th overall). Puspure was part of a…
VDLR 2017 Boat of the Week is won by Joker II from the Royal Irish Yacht Club. The J109 skipper, John Maybury, is joined onstage by all other trophy winners
Ireland’s biggest sailing event, the Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta, came to a gentle close this afternoon after an exciting four days of racing in Dublin Bay with over 475 boats and almost 2,500 sailors competing. A light sea breeze of…
Liam Burke’s Farr 31 Tribal crew are 2017 WIORA champions with five straight wins
The WIORA Championships concluded yesterday in the Aran Islands. First gun time was delayed on the final day to 1155 to allow competitors to see the Lions match before heading out racing. The forecasted light winds thankfully didn’t materialise and…
Paddy Gregory's Flashback took the Offshore lead at Dun Laoghaire Regatta this afternoon
A sea breeze brought changes to the leader board in several classes in the penultimate day of Ireland's biggest sailing regatta, the Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta on Dublin Bay today. One contender for tomorrow's (Sunday) top prize of the 'Volvo…
#Rowing: Shane O’Driscoll and Mark O’Donovan won the A Final of the lightweight pair at the World Cup in Lucerne today. They swept past early leaders Britain in the third quarter and won well. Russia showed surprising pace late on…
Paul and Gary O'Donovan
#Rowing: Paul and Gary O’Donovan qualified for the A Final of their fourth major regatta this season when they finished third in their semi-final at the World Cup in Lucerne. They reached the top stage in World Cup regattas in…
Monika Dukarska cools down at Lucerne
#Rowing: Ireland’s Sanita Puspure and Monika Dukarska finished fourth and sixth in their semi-final today and will take part in the B Final at the World Cup Regatta in Lucerne. Magdalena Lobnig of Austria, Annekatrin Thiele of Germany and Vicky…
Fethard Inshore lifeboat
Fethard RNLI launched its inshore lifeboat yesterday evening (Thursday 6 July) to conduct a search after a member of the public reported seeing a kayak floating in the sea off Duncannon Beach in County Wexford. The volunteer crew was requested…
WIORA 'Round Aran' Class Two start
Day three of the Volvo WIORA Coast Championships continued off the Aran Island of Inís Mór with the Coastal Race with racing taking place around the spectacular cliffs of the Aran Islands, in fantastic conditions, through the Gregory Sound and…
Class One competitors jostle for position at the favoured pin end of today's coastal race of the Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta
As Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta 2017 reaches its halfway stage, overall leaderboards are shaping up across 35 racing classes. The so far light wind seventh edition of Ireland's biggest sailing event has produced some impressive performances on the water where…
#Rowing: Paul O’Donovan and Gary O’Donovan won their repechage to qualify for the semi-finals of the lightweight double sculls at the World Cup Regatta in Lucerne today. The Skibbereen men had not intended to be in the race – run…
#Rowing: Both of Ireland’s competitors made the semi-finals of the women’s single sculls at the World Cup in Lucerne. Sanita Puspure won her quarter-final, while Monika Dukarska took a comfortable third in hers. Puspure had tough opponents. She battled it…
The photo that says a thousand words. Periwinkle and Myfanwy approach Dun Laoghaire harbour towards the finish of the first race on the Kingstown 200 series. To celebrate the 200th Anniversary of Kingstown Harbour, this year’s Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta 2017 includes a significant fleet of Classic and Traditional vessels, racing for the Kingstown 200 Trophy. And the fleet is varied in the extreme.  Towards the end of their first race on Thursday - which concluded with an in-harbour finish close off the National YC where the classics are berthed - the leader on the water as expected was the superbly-restored Dublin Bay 24 Periwinkle (David Espey & Chris Craig), an Alfred Mylne design of late 1930s vintage.  But the final leg to the harbour mouth was a long reach in a pleasant sou’easter from the middle of Dublin Bay, and the Welsh visitor Myfanwy, a 36ft cutter designed by Alexander Richardson of Liverpool in 1897 (he also designed John Jameson’s legendary Irex in 1884) was going like a train. Owner Rob Mason recently restored her himself from virtual dereliction. He has given her a fine suit of sails to match her generous spread of canvas, and with a keen crew, Myfanwy was very much a contender, though Periwinkle did stave her off at the very end.  However, it has given us what could well be the photo that symbolises the Kingstown 200 within Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta 200. The splendid granite East Pier now looks as though it is a natural part of the environment – you could well imagine it in place when Dublin Bay itself was formed. The crisp, clean and generously-sized tricolour flying proudly tells us there has been a change of management, but one that increasingly respects all that we have inherited from the past. And coming in past the pierhead are two handsome yachts which speak eloquently of our rich sailing history and heritage, as the Dublin Bay 24s were a major and very successful class in the bay from 1947 to 2004, while Myfanwy is a direct link back to a period when John Jameson of Dublin Bay with his mighty Irex was the most successful yacht owner of his era. Photo: David O’Brien/Afloat.ie
The difference between an un-sailable calm and a light breeze which is just good enough to provide decent racing is enormous when you’re trying to get a very large regatta off to a successful start. So although the fleet racing…
Skerries RNLI’s inshore lifeboat
#RNLI - Skerries RNLI launched on Wednesday afternoon (5 July) after the coastguard received a report from lifeguards on Rush beach of swimmers in difficulty some 500 metres off shore and at risk of being pulled out to sea.  The…
Mark O'Donovan and Shane O'Driscoll.
#Rowing: Shane O’Driscoll and Mark O’Donovan finished well to take second in their lightweight pair exhibition race at the World Cup regatta in Lucerne today. Britain’s Joel Cassells and Sam Scrimgeour took over at the head of the field Ireland…
Shipping & Maritime Transport ‘Driving Ireland’s Blue Growth’
#Ports&Shipping - Ireland’s shipping and transport sector was the largest contributor in terms of turnover to the growth of the country’s blue economy’ in 2016. Shipping is also responsible for the FTE employment of 4,666 people, an increase of 6.7%…
The WIORA fleet assembled in the Aran Islands this week
#WIORA - With the forecast of light winds looming over the weekend, PRO Alan Crosbie opted to run three races on the second day of the Volvo WIORA Championships.  Racing started at a steady 10 knots which built to a…
Paul and Gary O'Donovan
#Rowing: Ireland’s Paul O’Donovan and Gary O’Donovan finished third in their heat and must come through a repechage if they are to qualify for the semi-finals of the lightweight double sculls at the World Cup Regatta in Lucerne. Just two…

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