Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

#powerfromthesea – Speaking in London at a debate hosted by the London Irish Business Society, Minister of State, Fergus O'Dowd T.D., said "Offshore Ireland has a significant potential for oil and gas finds. Recent discoveries and on-going petroleum research indicate…

#salmon – Salmon and sea trout from the North Sea will create Yorkshire's most valuable fishery worth at least £12 million a year - in a river barred to them for nearly 40 years. A barrage on the Derwent river,…

#sb20 – After last weeks abandonment due to too much breeze, for a short while this evening it looked like there would be an abandonment due to a lack of breeze... thankfully, the wind-gods smiled on the SBs once more…

#dbsc – BENETEAU 31.7 Echo- 1. Kernach (Eoin O'Driscoll), 2. Prima Nocte (Patrick Burke et al), 3. Levante (M.Leahy/J.Power) BENETEAU 31.7 - 1. Levana (Jean Mitton), 2. Magic (D.O'Sullivan/D.Espey), 3. Prima Nocte (Patrick Burke et al) CRUISERS 0 - 1.…

#FerryRoscoff - Irish Ferries Rosslare-Roscoff route reopened last weekend, the seasonal-only operated service brings to three routes the operator has between Ireland and France, writes Jehan Ashmore. In January, Irish Ferries launched the ro-pax Epsilon on the new direct Dublin-Cherbourg…

#InlandWaters - Waterways Ireland's recent report on consultation responses to the proposed changed to canal bye-laws is "an incomplete document" according to the Inland Waterways Association of Ireland (IWAI). In a statement, the IWAI listed its criticisms of the report,…

#Liffey - A parade of illuminated boats is set to light up the River Liffey in Dublin city centre this Saturday evening 17 May. Organised by the Dublin Branch of the Inland Waterways Association of Ireland (IWAI), the parade will…

#MarineNotice - The latest Marine Notice from the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport (DTTAS) advises that a geophysical cable route survey will begin off the Irish coast at Killala Bay on Wednesday 21 May. TE SubCom is scheduled to…

#islandnation – Welcome to the new monthly 'This Island Nation' radio programme on Community Radio Youghal, Cry104fm and podcast on Afloat.ie, Ireland's boating website. Click the play button above to hear the podcast. In this month's programme Marine Journalist Tom…

#OurOceanWealth - The Marine Co-ordination Group at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine has announced the first annual Our Ocean Wealth Conference taking place next month. The conference will be held at The Printworks in Dublin Castle on…

#watersafety – A unique Chain of Office was presented to the Chairman of Irish Water Safety (IWS), Breda Collins by the Kilkenny Water Safety Area Committee (WSAC) recently. It was designed and made by Liam Costigan of Kilkenny. It is…

#finn – These top Olympic sailors sure sure make it look easy but this is heavy weather Finn dinghy sailing at its finest. The six minute vid – complete with a head bashing sound track –  shows the level of…

#ChoirFundraiser –Why not come along to the hear excellence from the Ballinteer Male Voice Choir and at the same time raise funds for the National Maritime Museum. The fundraiser's two hour evening event (between 7.30 -9.30pm) on 22 May will…

#MaritimeFestival – The Docklands Summer Festival, which this year is sponsored by Waterways Ireland, is a celebration of the Grand Canal Dock next weekend (17-18 May) and where entertainment and competitions are held on the water and on dry land.…

#LESamuelBeckett- The newest Naval Service OPV, L.É. Samuel Beckett (P61), the first of a pair of OPV90 class newbuilds, is to be commissioned into service at a ceremony held close to Dublin city's Samuel Beckett swing-bridge on Saturday, writes Jehan…

#elmo – Irish sailing is mourning the loss of leading small boat sailor Graham 'Elmo' Elmes (39) of Dun Laoghaire who died tragically at the weekend. His funeral took place this morning. Warm tributes to the talented sailor are being…

#RNLI - Arklow RNLI's lifeboat Ger Tigchlearr and its volunteer crew launched at first light yesterday morning (13 May) to go to the aid of a local fishing vessel. Within minutes of the pager alert at 5.45am the lifeboat was…

#Fishing - Marine Minister Simon Coveney has announced a package of measures to develop the inshore fisheries sector. The package is targeted at the inshore fishing sector and consists of three parts including the establishment of a National Inshore Fisheries…

#fireball – With last Saturday lost to heavy weather, making two Saturdays lost in three weeks and an unseasonal Tuesday evening session last week, the weather for last night's DBSC Tuesday Series was much more in keeping with the time…

#CruiseLinersLiverpool – Thomson Spirit as previously reported on Afloat.ie, completed a circumnavigation cruise of Ireland this morning with an arrival of the vessel to Liverpool Cruise Terminal, writes Jehan Ashmore. Among the cruise calls of the 33,390 tons vessel operated…