Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

#SHANNON NAVIGATION – Carrick-on-Shannon Rowing Club "Head of River" race will take place on Sat 18th Feb 2012 from 09.00 hrs until 17.00hrs. Waterways Ireland has advised Masters of vessels to proceed at slow speed and with minimum wash when…

#LARNE LOUGH - Larne Council has looked into the concerns of local residents over a proposed £250 million (€300 million) natural gas plant at Larne Lough, the Larne Times reports. Islandmagee Storage Limited (IMSL) has applied for planning permission for…

#SURFING - Rachel Collins writes in The Irish Times recently of her experiences learning to surf in Portugal's sunny Algarve. "Thousands of hardy souls follow the waves around the Irish coastline," she writes, "but for rookies sacrificing themselves to the…

#LIFEBOAT – Wicklow Lifeboat took part in a joint training exercise with an Air Corp helicopter in Wicklow bay on Saturday morning. The Air Corp AW139 helicopter crew landed on the Castle near the lifeboat Station at Wicklow harbour for…

#RESCUE – Lifeboat crew with Howth RNLI spent over ten hours on Saturday (4 February 2012) assisting a 17 metre fishing tralwer, with seven crew onboard, 36 miles north east of Howth, which was rapidly taking on water. Howth RNLI…

#MARITIME EXHIBITION – The Loughshinny & Rush Historical Society is to host a maritime exhibition of artefacts next Thursday (9th February) at the Bracken Court Hotel, Balbriggan, Co. Dublin. Many items trawled in the locality of the fishing harbour will…

#KITESURFING - Ireland will be one of four stops on the 2012 Kite Surf Pro World Championship Tour to decide the best wave kitesurfers in the world, Surfer Today reports. Kicking off in Cascais, Portugal in June before heading to…

#ANGLING - Ciaran Reilly was awarded the title of best all-round fly-dresser for 2012 at the Connacht Youth Fly-Tying Championships in Loughrea, Co Galway recently, The Irish Times reports. The 12-year-old from Loughrea is now set to captain the Connacht…

#COASTAL NOTES - BBC News reports that construction has begun on a new observation tower on the Lancashire coastline with views over the Irish Sea. The new tower at Rossall Point, which will reach 14 metres (46ft) upon completion, will…

#ANGLING - Top angling photographer and TV presenter Harry Gibney will be among the guests at the first Ballybunion Angling and Marine Show from 23-25 March. According to The Kerryman, the show is the brainchild of local angler Mike Enright…

#SHANNON NAVIGATION – ESB Generation works at Cloonlara bridge at the Ardnacrusha Headrace will continue until the end of February. Further information may be had from the Civil Engineering Manager: Tel: +353 (061) 350509 Mob: +353 (087) 2381104 Fax: +353…

#IMERC CONFERENCE - The recently established Irish Maritime and Energy Resource Cluster (IMERC) which is to promote the country as a world-renowned research and development location, is to host next month its inaugural conference entitled 'Maritime Geostrategic Thinking for Ireland'.…

#PORTS & SHIPPING – Figures released by Belfast Harbour for the year 2011 show that tonnage rose by 7% to a record 17.644m tonnes. The increase for last year was driven by strong performances in break-bulk and ro-ro (freight vehicles)…

#CLIPPER – After a week-long stopover in spectacular Singapore, the ten yachts taking part in the Clipper 11-12 Round the World Yacht Race set sail this morning from the exclusive Marina at Keppel Bay, where they have been based since…

#INLAND WATERWAYS - Waterways Ireland is currently undertaking two new public consultations on improving safety standards for children, the elderly and people with disabilities on our inland waterways. Details for the consultation exercise on Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Policy & Procedures…

#COASTGUARD - The Irish Coast Guard has taken delivery of its new search and rescue helicopter at its Shannon base, The Irish Times reports. As previously reported on Afloat.ie, Sikorsky completed production of the new S-92 helicopter for the Irish…

#DALKEY ISLAND PROSPECT – Environment Minister Phil Hogan has rejected a call by Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore and others for a public inquiry into Providence Resources foreshore licence application to survey and drill for oil and gas in Dublin Bay, the…

#ANGLING - Ireland's south coast will play host to the first Irish Bass Festival this July. Created and organised by Absolute Fishing, the lure angling event is open to all shore anglers at various venues between Tramore and Dungarvan in…

#NEWS UPDATE - The search for two fishermen still missing after their boat went down off West Cork nearly three weeks ago will be wound down next week, The Irish Times reports. Search teams have been combing the area for…

#SAILOR OF THE MONTH – Sophie Browne of Tralee Bay and Royal Cork is Afloat.ie/Irish Independent "Sailor of the Month" for January after taking the Silver Medal in the Girls Division in the Optimist Worlds in New Zealand. She added…