Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

#clipper – The Olympic Sailing Center in Qingdao, China provided the perfect backdrop today as the Northern Irish entry competing in the Clipper 2013-14 Round the World Yacht Race started Race 10 from Qingdao, China to San Francisco, USA .…

#canoe – An overnight trip to Salt Island ended prematurely when five Canadian canoes were swamped by waves as they crossed Strangford Lough in Northern Ireland.At just after 12 noon a member of the public called 999 to report that…

#ChildrensArt – As previously reported on Afloat.ie, the Children's Art Competition organised by the National Maritime Museum of Ireland, Dun Laoghaire has been a great success. The museum thanks all those who participated! It was a hard job for the…

#HSSprings -Stena Line's HSS fast-craft as previously reported, will return to the seasonal service of the Dun Laoghaire-Holyhead route on 9 April and continue operating for the next four months. The operator are running fares starting from €129 single for…

#fullirish – David Kenefick has finished 17th out of 35 starters in the Solo Maitre Coq race. The mid–fleet finish in the 270–mile opener to the 2014 season is a strong result for the Irish Sailor of the Year.  Here…

#FerryFortnight – National Ferry Fortnight, the annual campaign to promote ferry travel, gets under way today and runs to 29 March. During the campaign there are special offers from twelve ferry operator members of National Ferry Fortnight. Almost half of…

#NEWmaritimeMuseum – Foynes Flying Boat & Maritime Museum reopens today, this will be the first 'full' season to include the maritime section of the visitor attraction since its launch last September, writes Jehan Ashmore. As previously reported, the maritime museum…

#Lighthouses - TheJournal.ie reports on the rescue of a repairman left dangling 40 feet in the air from the side of a lighthouse in Northern Ireland after the scaffolding he was standing on collapsed. The NI Ambulance Service tweeted this…

#Award - Martin Black, author of Limerick publisher Peggy Bawn Press's GL Watson – The Art and Science of Yacht Design, was presented with the John Leather Award for Special Achievement at the recent Classic Boat Awards 2014 event in…

#dbsc – Ireland's largest yacht racing organisation is Dublin Bay Sailing Club (DBSC), which administers the regular weekly programme for the entire Dun Laoghaire fleet. It has been such an accepted part of sailing's furniture for so long that it…

#DublinBay – This St. Patrick' s weekend will see Dublin Bay Cruises running a network of excursions across Dublin Bay linking Dublin city centre with Dun Laoghaire and Howth Harbour's, writes Jehan Ashmore. The specialised sailings on Saturday, Sunday and…

#OilReview - Lorna Siggins of the Irish Times reports that the Shell to Sea campaign group claim that UK consultants Wood Mackenzie has 'close connections' to oil and gas industry. Shell to Sea have criticised a decision by Minister for…

#GermanNavy – A German Navy Training Task Group which docked yesterday in Dublin Port in the run-up to the St. Patrick' weekend has completed taking part in a NATO maneuver "Dynamic Goose" in the Norwegian Sea, writes Jehan Ashmore. To…

#torpedo – An investigation is under way after a 9ft–missile was fired from HMS Argyll at high security Plymouth nuclear submarine dockyard during a training drill this week.  A Royal Navy spokesman said: "We can confirm an incident occurred onboard…

#Cattleships- Express 1, an Ireland-Libya serving livestock-carrier which was detained in February by the UK's Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) has this week been on 'post-repair trails' in the English Channel, writes Jehan Ashmore. Having anchored overnight off the Cornish…

#solosailing – It seems there's nothing a helicopter can't handle in terms of recovery, even in a worst case scenario like the one above.This successful salvage lift of a Pogo 2 Mini 6.50 was completed at Bovisands beach on the east…

#Asgard - Round-the-world yachtsman Pat Murphy will give a special presentation later this month on what's perhaps the most famous yacht in Irish history, the Asgard. All are welcome to the talk at 6.30pm on 31 March at Donaghmede Library…

#FortyFoot - It's a big victory for women at the famous Forty Foot swimming spot in South Dublin as the adjacent - and formerly staunchly male-only - Sandycove Bathers' Association has decided to accept female members. The move follows more…

#PortRegulations - This week, MEP and Rapporteur, Knut Fleckenstein and the shadow Rapporteurs on the Ports Regulation Proposal have jointly decided not to vote on the Regulation before the EU elections. The EP key players on this proposal are stressing…

#fullirish – Sailing out of the iconic Vendée Globe canal in Les Sables d'Olonne, France today, Irish sailor of the year David Kenefick had a poor start to his first race of the 2014 season but there is still all…