Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

#Rowing: The Muckross Head of the River, fixed for the National Rowing Centre in Cork on Saturday, has been cancelled. The organisers say the bad weather forecast, including high winds, would have presented an unacceptable safety risk. The Head of…

#BelfastPort- In this year’s Northern Ireland Environmental Benchmarking Survey, Belfast Harbour has achieved platinum status – the highest scoring level. The achievement for Belfast Harbour came just before the United National Climate Change Conference COP21 in Paris began. Like the…

Recently appointed International Sailing Federation (ISAF) CEO Peter Sowrey is to depart the post this week. It is the latest in a series of high level departures from the world's governing body for sailing. An ISAF spokeswoman told Afloat.ie this evening…

#NewestShip - An 'Arctic Interior' makeover is how Hurtigruten have described the theme for the new look refurbishment on board four of their Norwegian coastal ships previously reported on Afloat.ie. In addition the newest vessel MS Spitsbergen will join the…

#HMScaroline - The Belfast Telegraph writes on the count-down for the opening of HMS Caroline in Belfast's Titanic Quarter. Following the award of a Heritage Lottery Fund grant of £11.5m and a further investment by Northern Ireland’s Department for Enterprise…

#Fishing - Two supertrawlers feared to have been "pillaging" fishing grounds off the West Coast have left Irish waters before the Naval Service could board them for inspection. According to The Irish Times, poor weather conditions over the past fortnight…

John Twomey will race in a record 11th Paralympic Games following his qualification for the Rio Games at today's World Para Sailing Championships in Melbourne. Twomey, Ian Costello and Austin O'Carroll have qualified for the Paralympic Games in Rio next…

I meet a lot of people as a maritime journalist, people who do and have done amazing things in the maritime sector, but meeting Ireland’s only ‘Flying Angel’ was particularly interesting. A nice chap whom I realised that I had…

Veteran Royal Irish YC sailor Tim Goodbody is the Afloat.ie “Sailor of the Month” for November for his enormous contribution to Irish and international sailing over many decades, both as an active participants, as a race organiser, and as an…

#Burke2Doyle - Burke Shipping, the marine agency and logistical services company will be changing name to the Doyle Shipping Group (DSG) with effect as of next week, writes Jehan Ashmore. The date for the name change is Monday, 7 December,…

Ireland are again in fouth place of the nine contenders for one of six remaining places on the start line at the Paralympics in Rio next year. In challenging conditions the Irish Paralympic Sonar Sailing team fell back two places…

#Rowing: The Head of the Shannon, fixed for Carrick-on-Shannon this Saturday, December 5th, has been cancelled. The organisers say that the rising water levels on the river, combined with the forecast for the weekend, has left them with no alternative.…

#IMDOreview -The Irish Maritime Development Office (IMDO) returns with its Weekly Market Review and among the following stories are outlined below. Irish Maritime News: Irish Continental Group Purchase Four Containerships -The Dublin headquartered Irish Continental Group as reported by loadstar.ie,…

VO65 Team Brunel has broken the ARC Course Record sailing from Las Palmas de Gran Canaria to Rodney Bay, Saint Lucia in an elapse time of 8d 7h 39m 30s. This is the third consecutive year that the Course Record…

Mairead McGuinness MEP and Vice-President of the European Parliament has described as "incomplete" an EU Commission list of Invasive Alien Species (IAS), which require action by Member States to eradicate. "These non-native species can cause economic/environmental harm or adversely affect…

As the book telling the story of the female crew, Team SCA and how they took on the world’s toughest ocean race – the Volvo Ocean Race 2014/5, a 40,000-mile race around the world – goes on sale in Ireland,…

The Irish Paralympic Sailors jump two places and lie second of nine contenders for one of six places on the start line in Rio next year. The Sonar Sailing team jumped two places today to 7th overall with a 4th in…

French America's Cup skipper Franck Cammas has had his right foot "partially severed" after he was run over by the rudder of his foiling catamaran after falling overboard. The accident happened as Team France began a training block in Quiberon…

#Angling - Minister for Natural Resources Joe McHugh has today (Monday 30 November) launched the public consultation on the National Strategy for Angling Development (NSAD). Prepared by Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI), the NSAD is the first comprehensive national framework for…

#Rowers of the Month: The Afloat Rowers of the Month for November are Barney Rix of Portora and Ronan Byrne of Shandon. The two young men set new Irish records in indoor rowing. Byrne set a new junior record of…