Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

#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…

#Ports&Shipping –The latest IMDO Weekly Shipping Market Review includes the following stories as detailed below. Container Market: Reliability improves for first time this year - The reliability of container carrier lines improved for the first time this year in March,…

#cruiserracing – The current entry of 98 boats for the ICRA National Championships at the Royal Irish Yacht Club (RIYC) (sorted by club below) reveals a wide distribution of entries from all over the Irish coastline and beyond. Although some areas are…

#woodenboat – A short documentary (eight mins) about David Welsford, who has given up the luxuries of land in search for happiness and adventure on a 50–year old classic wooden boat he restored from a scrap heap. In March 2009…

#dbsc – CRUISERS 1 - 1. Powder Monkey (C Moore) CRUISERS 2 - 1. Borraine (Ean Pugh), 2. Bendemeer (L Casey & D Power), 3. Black Sheep (E Healy) CRUISERS 3 Tuesday - 1. Grasshopper II (K & J Glynn),…

#ROWING: A team of seven athletes have been selected to represent Ireland at the European Junior Rowing Championships in Hazelwinkel, Belgium on May 24th and 25th. This is the first time Rowing Ireland has sent a team to compete at…

#Angling - At recent sitting of Ennis District Court, father and son Peter and James Garrihy of Ennistymon, Co Clare were successfully prosecuted and fined €750 each by Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI) for illegally capturing salmon on the River Inagh,…

#SantaMaria - Christopher Columbus' voyage of discovery to the Americas more than 500 years ago is almost the stuff of legend today - but now marine archaeologists think they've found the remnants of his flagship, the Santa Maria. The potential…

#mayosailingclub – For two weeks in a row, Mayo Sailing Club has exposed loads of new people to sailing and fun on the water in the west of Ireland. If the smiles and peals of laughter are any gauge, the…

#WicklowPort – As a snapshot into the shipping activity of Wicklow Port, this morning saw the departure of Lehmann Baltic (1997/2,820grt) with a cargo of refuse derived fuel (RDF) bound for Bremen, writes Jehan Ashmore. RDF is mostly made of…

#BlueEconomy - The European Commission last week presented an Action Plan for Innovation in the 'Blue Economy' to help use ocean resources responsibly and sustainably as sources of food, medicine and energy, and drive growth and jobs in Europe. Marine…

#CorkHarbour - Marine Minister Simon Coveney yesterday (12 May) attended the contract signing for the remediation of bridge access Haulbowline Island, a €1.85 million deal that was awarded by Cork County Council to L&M Keating Ltd. Commenting at the signing,…

#cruiserracing – With a month to go, the Irish Cruiser Racer Association (ICRA) is to implement an amendment to its professional sailor rule for its Teng Tools sponsored national championships on Dublin Bay. As David O'Brien in the Irish Times…

#cruiserracing – The Irish Cruiser Racing Association (ICRA) has dropped plans to create a new handicap division at the bottom end of class 1 and the top of class 2 for its IRC national championships at the Royal Irish Yacht…