Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

Fastnet Race Day Three, 5pm:  After the first 30 hours or so with rather more wind - and headwinds at that - than most entrants sought, it looks as though the turbines may be slowed down or even turned off…

Fastnet Race Day 3 - 5 pm. Yesterday’s trickle of yachts arriving at the Fastnet Rock in this special 50th Rolex Fastnet Race last night turned into a torrent. Bryon Ehrhart’s monohull line honours favourite led the single-hulled fleet around…

Quiberon was the location for this year's WASZP European Championships, attracting 146 sailors from all over Europe. Over the course of seven days, nine qualifying races and 8 flight races took place. Sailing was challenging at times, with the wind…

Minister for the Marine, Charlie McConalogue T.D., held a 'positive' meeting with fishing sector representatives. The agenda included, among other items, an update on the implementation of the Seafood Sector TaskForce recommendation support schemes and advance preparations for 2024 fishing…

Castletownbere RNLI were launched last night just before midnight to assist a vessel taking water north of Dursey Island off the Beara peninsula in West Cork. Castletownbere lifeboat volunteer crew were requested to launch by Valentia Coastguard Marine Coordination Centre…

Four lifeboats from the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) were called out to a string of incidents in terrible conditions at the weekend as the 50th Fastnet Race got underway in boat-breaking conditions. The famous 695-mile yacht race started at…

The Irish Optimist Dinghy Association (IODAI) IDT Team is the International Development team which is aimed at sailors just below the World and European level, writes Brendan Foley of the IODAI The team is aimed at preparing sailors for international competitions in…

After a series of mainly double-handed and crewed races so far this season, Irish sailor Tom Dolan returns to solo racing mode this week when he takes on the 47th edition of the Solo Guy Cotten – Concarneau against high-calibre…

Fastnet Race Day 3 0800 - Northerly winds are now set in on the Fastnet race area between Cornwall and southwest Ireland, while the underlying breeze still has a westerly emphasis in the English Channel between Lands End and the…

A Sunday afternoon downpour might have delayed it, but the 2023 Topper Dinghy World Championships Opening Ceremony and Competitors Parade was a colourful sight (despite no pipe band rain due to the rain) as it passed through Crosshaven village in Cork…

Fastnet Race Day Two: Having been so dramatically pipped at the post by Maxi Groupe Edmond de Rothschild in the last breath of the 2019 race, François Gabart and his team, this time racing the giant 32m long flying trimaran…

Open water swims off Enniscrone Pier, Co Sligo, Belmullet, Co Mayo, Rathmullen, Co Donegal, and Roscommon’s Lough Key are being hosted by Swim Ireland over the next two months. The Enniscrone Pier Swim on July 29th offers a “festival of…

Fastnet Race Day Two 8 pm: After a tough first 24 hours in this 50th edition of the Rolex Fastnet Race, conditions have abated in the English Channel and Celtic Sea. This afternoon the Seven Stones light vessel between Land's…

Save the dates for 2023’s Eric Twiname Junior & Youth Team Racing Championships which will be held over the weekend of 7-8 October at Oxford Sailing Club on Farmoor Reservoir. Young sailors aged eight to 18 across Great Britain and…

Waterways Ireland advises masters of vessels on and users of the Grand Canal in Co Tipperary that the waterway will be closed from Campbell’s Bridge in Ballycommon adjacent to Lock 21 as far as Lock 22 for a short period…

It’s been a bumper month for Howth Yacht Club’s Sienna Wright on the international stage, with U17 silver medals in the ILCA 6 Youth Worlds and Europeans. Last week in Gdynia, Poland at the Youth European Championships (12-19 July), the…

The European Optimist Championship took place in Thessaloniki, Greece, last week and was represented by the Irish team; Abigail Murphy (Royal St George Yacht Club) Maeve Donagh (Royal St George Yacht Club / Lough Derg Yacht Club), Carolina Carra (Royal…

It's rowing gold and two silvers for Ireland in the 2023 U23 World Championships in Bulgaria. As Afloat reported earlier, the Irish crews pulled out all of the stops in today's A Finals and were rewarded with three podiums out…

Fastnet Race Day Two 2 pm - A brutal first night at sea in this 50th edition of the Rolex Fastnet Race has seen numerous retirements and many others seeking temporary shelter from the gale force conditions in the English Channel.…

Ferry operator Caledonian MacBrayne (CalMac) will be the focus of a new fly-on-the-wall T.V. documentary series which will show the work and life aboard their services to Scotand's west coast island communities that it connects. The first of the eight episodes…