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Afloat – Ireland's Sailing and Boating Magazine
TicTac, skippered by Peter Frazier (left) and Antrim Boat Club Antrim Winter Series overall winner, FA2 (Charlie McAllister and Jeff Harrison)
There is not much in the way of shelter when the wind is in the north on Lough Neagh, so the fleet from the Club in the north west corner was greeted for the first race of the second half…
Juliet Ryan was the Optimist 'Brassed-Off Cup' winner at Howth Yacht Club
The annual Brassed-Off Cup for Optimists which has been running in Howth for 21 years, was held on Sunday in breezy south easterly conditions over a relatively flat sea with some strong gusts to test the boat handling of the…
The J/122 Bulldog competing at the 2024 RORC Easter Challenge
The final day of the RORC Easter Challenge produced yet another variation in conditions with a medium-strong easterly breeze piping up to nearly 20 knots. The sturdy easterly going tide, built during the day, to create classic Solent chop.  After…
John (Johnny) Robinson RIP
It is with deep sadness that we heard of Johnny Robinson's passing on Thursday at the age of 87. He had been involved with Clontarf Yacht and Boat Club for over 70 years and was its longest-serving member. Johnny was known…
The WOW festival is an opportunity for women to try a variety of different activities on the water within a supportive environment and a chance to meet new friends whilst developing skills
This year’s Women on Water Festival will be held at the Royal North of Ireland Yacht Club at Cultra on the south side of Belfast Lough near Holywood. The date is 12th May. This event, hosted by the RYANI is…
Testing conditions. In the Irish Intervarsities Keelboat Champs at Howth in the final weekend of March, UCC Captain Michael O’Suillebhain has shown that he has maintained the skills that got him onto he podium in the J/24 Euros at the same venue
It’s more than 18 months now since Michael O’Suillebhain did some skilled helming to bring Kinsale YC’s J/24 Kinsailor onto the podium in the J/24 Europeans at Howth. But his skills were as sharp as ever as he led the…
Never mind the weather – UCD’s successful Intervarsity Dinghy Squad at Schull were Jamie McMahon, Leonie Judge, William Lacy, Tom Higgins, Peter Fagan, and Cian Lynch
The annual moveable feast that is the Irish Universities Annual Dinghy Team Challenge is not something to be undertaken lightly, as it aims to draw in more than 160 college sailors to some attractive venue that has to provide good…
March 2024 Sailor of the Month Rose Michael accepting yet another significant cheque on behalf of the lifeboats, this time from Cormac Lowth representing the annual “All In A Row” multi-boat event on Dublin’s River Liffey
In the third weekend of March, two nautical gatherings in the Cork area were painlessly relieved of around €5,000 for Irish lifeboats, with much of the background work to ensure that this went through smoothly being seen to by longtime…
Bronze Age Fort Identified in Clew Bay - Archaeologist Michael Gibbons says that initial surveys suggest the island was used for a fort dating from the late Bronze Age, and it is comparable to Inis Mór’s Dun Aengus
Archaeologists have discovered a prehistoric fort in Clew Bay which has been described as “very significant”. As The Irish Independent reports, the fort has been identified on Collanmore island, Co Mayo, which was once one of the Glenans Franco-Irish sail…
Enter the Afloat.ie online Crossword competition below to be in with a chance to win a pair of Dubarry Palermo High-Performance trainers in this free to enter competition
Afloat.ie in association with Dubarry brings you a bi-monthly nautical crossword competition (No. 208). Win a pair of Dubarry Palermo High-Performance trainers! Complete the crossword below and add your details below and the first correct entry out of the hat…
Paul O'Higgins' championship-winning JPK10.80 Rockabill VI from the Royal Irish Yacht Club is confirmed for the first ISORA Coastal Series Race from Dun Laoghaire on April 6th
Paul O'Higgins' championship-winning JPK10.80 Rockabill VI from the Royal Irish Yacht Club will be challenged by a smaller JPK 10.30 when the 2024 ISORA Viking Marine Coastal Series gets underway next Saturday morning at Dun Laoghaire Harbour. Coquine, a brand new…
It has not been seen aloft for more than 155 years, but the Royal Holyhead YC ensign may fly again before the end of 2024
When the Irish Sea Offshore Racing Association (ISORA) was in its rapid expansion stage in the 1970s, one of its most active clubs was Holyhead SC, the sea-going base for many from Merseyside, including leading Liverpool medics and Irish Sea…
GBR's Micky Beckett from Wales is gunning for a third ILCA 7 title at the Trofeo Princesa Sofía Mallorca
After nearly two weeks of strong winds and big seas that have prevailed for the hundreds of teams and Olympic-class sailors who have been training on Mallorca’s Bay of Palma, competitors at the 53 Trofeo Princesa Sofía Mallorca look set…
Restoration works in November 2023 on the casemate block which houses Camden Fort Meagher’s primary exhibitions
Camden Fort Meagher on Cork Harbour is set to reopen to the public in the coming weeks after extensive remediation works. As RTÉ News reports, the fort is “one of the finest remaining examples of a classical coastal artillery fort”…
Lough Derg RNLI’s inshore lifeboat Jean Spier en route to the stranded cruiser on Saturday 30 March
Lough Derg RNLI were requested to launch on Saturday (30 March) to assist a lone sailor on a 35ft cruiser with fouled propellers and adrift in Dromineer Bay. Following the request from Valentia Coast Guard, the inshore lifeboat Jean Spier…
Big breeze, big skies, changeable weather - classic late March weather for the Intervarsity Keelboat Championship 2024 at Howth
Always having the Friday and Saturday of the last weekend of March as the "fixed fixture" for your annual event is usually guaranteed to provide lively conditions and Howth YC's Scorie Walls's regular yearly staging of the University Keelboats team…
Originally serving in Italy as the Cartour Beta, the ropax Stena Horizon, which accommodates 1,000 passengers, 200 cars, and 120 freight units, is to resume Rosslare-Cherbourg route service in April, following annual dry-docking at A&P Falmouth, Cornwall. The former Celtic Horizon on this date a decade ago completed its final ever crossing on the Ireland-France connection for Irish operator Celtic Link Ferries, which Stena then acquired. The route is currently operated by the cruise ferry Stena Vision, which entered service less than a year ago, having been transferred following a career exclusively in Scandinavia and the Baltic Sea.
Stena Horizon, which recently left Stena Line’s newly opened freight-only Dublin-Liverpool (Birkenhead) route for annual dry-docking, had completed a previous career on this date a decade ago with an Irish ferry company, writes Jehan Ashmore. Operating albeit in freight mode,…
HYC Spring Warmers
Attention all keelboat sailors: Howth Yacht Club is running a one-day spring warmers event on Saturday 27 April for Cruiser Classes 1, 2, 3 and J80s. The club says this is a perfect opportunity to dust down the cobwebs and…
Windsurfing and wing instruction at Newtownards Sailing Club on Sunday 24 March
More than 60 sailors, instructors and centre principals from across Northern Ireland gathered at Strangford Lough Yacht Club and Newtownards Sailing Club for a recent weekend of RYANI training. The training day and windsurfing clinic allowed for all participants to…
Gavin Hydes (CEO of Porsche Centre Dublin), Neil Murphy (Commodore Howth Yacht Club), and Dave Cullen (Race Director, Wave Regatta), with friends at the announcement of the Porsche sponsorship of Howth’s Wave Regatta 2024
Porsche Centre Dublin, renowned for their commitment to excellence and luxury, will take centre stage as the headline sponsors for Howth Yacht Club’s Wave Regatta, scheduled from May 24th to 26th, 2024. Their support underscores the significance of this event…

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