Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

#RespectTheWater – The RNLI is today launching its national drowning prevention campaign, Respect the Water, warning people that the coastlines and waters can be dangerously unpredictable. The campaign which will be run on radio, outdoor and online will also see two…

#CaernarfonSAR – The launch of the Caernarfon civilian UK search and rescue (SAR) helicopter service was marked today (Wednesday 8 July) in a ceremony held at the new SAR base at Caernarfon Airport in North Wales. Bristow Helicopters Ltd, is operating…

#irish49er – Belfast's Ryan Seaton and Matt McGovern took to Twitter this afternoon to declare 'The comeback is on' after posting strong results for the sole Irish 49er team at the European Championships in Portugal. The Northern Ireland sailing duo,…

#anglingcot – The Ilen School, Roxboro, are today celebrating a great River Shannon adventure. This adventure involved 180–miles of rowing from Belleek in Fermanagh to Limerick City, over a two week period, by a team of two Ilen School boatmen…

#historiccraft  – Already more than 70 entries have registered for Panerai British Classic Week 2015, which will take place from 18th – 25th July at Cowes Yacht Haven. Leading the international visitors are French America's Cup legend Bruno Troublé who…

#rorc – The RORC Season's Points Championship continues this weekend with the highly popular Cowes Dinard-St Malo Race. With 173 entries, the 151 nautical mile race will feature the largest RORC fleet since the 2013 Rolex Fastnet Race. For spectators,…

#MedTrafficker - The LE Eithne has picked up a suspected people smuggler amongst 646 desperate migrants has been arrested by Italian Police. Bairam Ltayef (24), a Tunisian national, was detained in the Sicilian capital Palermo after he was identified by…

#fastnet – One reason the Rolex Fastnet Race is the world's biggest offshore yacht race - at present 390 boats are entered - was the decision of the Royal Ocean Racing Club to include non-IRC offshore classes: Volvo Ocean 65,…

#CastawayWanted- A castaway is wanted to take over the running of a remote island off the coast of the Llŷn Peninsula, Wales according to the Daily News. Bardsey Island Trust wants a new manager who will spend 11 months a…

#orca – Crews from commercial and Royal Navy vessels have started training for the Orca Ocean Watch Week, an initiative by the whale and dolphin conservation charity ORCA, that is being launched at Portsmouth International Port this month. Between 25th…

#fireball – 'I see no flags' – To paraphrase Nelson, I saw no flags last night flying from the DMYC to signify that racing in the DBSC Tuesday Series was cancelled writes Cormac Bradley. This is intended only as an…

#matchrace – Howth Yacht Club's Diane Kissane and her crew are competing at this week's ISAF Women's Match Racing World Championship in Denmark, as Afloat previously reported back in May. Warm and sunny conditions with a strong southerly breeze today…

#49er – Belfast lough's Ryan Seaton and Matt McGovern are lying 30th at the 49er European Championships in Porto, the second city of Portugal. After four races sailed the Rio qualified pair's top result was a fourth in today's second race.…

#49erfx – Conditions were even lighter for day 2 of racing at the 49erFX Europeans. Andrea Brewster and Saskia Tidey improved slightly on yesterday's poor opening results but the Royal Irish pair admit they are 'still not quite getting to grips…

#CORKKingston – Belfast's James Espey lies 41st from 53 in the Gold fleet of the Laser Worlds in Canada and Cork's Fionn Lyden is 12th from 53 in the silver fleet. Both fleets have sailed three races of their final series.…

#sb20worlds – Shane Murphy, Daragh Sheridan and John Phelan of Howth Yacht Club lead Irish hopes at the SB20 Worlds in Italy. The Dublin trio are 20th in a fleet of 98 after six races sailed and might well have…

#Rowing: Boating equipment worth €150,000 has been recovered by gardaí investigating the theft of boat engines. The haul included 74 outboard engines, ten boats and eight boat trailers. The public is asked to access the Garda social websites or ring…

#CruiseConsultation - Gillian Mills of Inshore Ireland writes that Dún Laoghaire/Rathdown Independent Councillor, Victor Boyhan has called for an oral hearing of a planning application for a major cruise berth terminal that was lodged today (last Friday) by Dún Laoghaire…

#makaybella – A 62–ft custom cruising sailboat, the SY Makaybella, is to be auctioned in Cork at the end of this month. The sailing yacht was seized last September by the Irish Navy after it was intercepted in the Atlantic about…

#galwayhooker – Although the classic cutter-rigged Galway hookers are synonymous these days with Connemara and Kinvara, time was when there was a thriving boatbuilding community in the Claddagh in the heart of Galway city. But there hadn't been a substantial…