Afloat – Ireland's Sailing and Boating Magazine
At precisely 12:00 on Sunday 14th August, the Race Committee fired the start signal of the third leg of the Solitaire du Figaro, 477 miles from Dún Laoghaire to Les Sables d'Olonne, as public crowded the pier to wave goodbye…
The record-sized Rolex Fastnet Race fleet set sail from Cowes in classic conditions - a beat westward up the Solent in a building west-southwesterly and sunshine, but with an ominous looking cloud line over the mainland. SCROLL DOWN FOR RICK…
The Royal Irish Shipman Whiterock skippered by Henry Robinson was the class winner of Saturday's Dublin Bay Sailing Club's (DBSC) race. Second was the National Yacht Club's Curraglas (John Masterson) and third was Christine Heath's Gusto. Full results from Saturday's…
The Irish Independent reports that some 100 bottlenose dolphins have made a new home off the Donegal coast in the past week. The pod of bottlenoses - a rare treat in Irish waters compared to the near ubiquitous common dolphin…
At nearly 100 years old, Norway's oldest tallship, the sail training three-masted steel barque Statsraad Lehmkuhl is to call to Dublin Port next week, writes Jehan Ashmore. Built in 1914, the 321" long vessel is also the largest, compared to the…
Breaking News reports that the Courtmacsherry RNLI Lifeboat towed a yacht to safety yesterday afternoon after it got into difficulties in poor weather. http://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/courtmacsherry-lifeboat-called-out-to-assist-stricken-yacht-516476.html http://www.afloat.ie/resources/organisations/rnli-ireland/ http://www.afloat.ie/safety/lifeboats/ The lifeboat was called out at 1.15pm to the 37ft yacht, with three people…
The largest, most diverse fleet of racing boats ever in offshore yachting set sail this morning in the Rolex Fastnet Race. http://www.afloat.ie/sail/events/fastnet-race/ The biennial flagship event of the Royal Ocean Racing Club, a tradition since 1925, will take the fleet…
Margins tightened for Ireland's top performers right at the end of the Weymouth test event and despite holding second overall in the Laser Radial and Star fleets for much of the event Team Ireland walked way from Dorset without any…
Tomorrow morning walkers at Dun Laoghaire Harbour's pier-heads will have close-up views of the departing Solitaire du Figaro race fleet and a French Navy patrol vessel, writes Jehan Ashmore. At 11 o'clock the third race-leg heads for Les Sables d'Olonne,…
The UK's shipping industry has rejected the European Union's new emissions trading scheme, claiming it is unworkable in a global business. http://www.afloat.ie/port-news/port-and-shipping-news/ The Guardian reports that campaigners have called for the inclusion of an emissions trading scheme as part of…
Denis O'Toole has spoken of his amazement at catching a record 16-pound sea trout from the Acova River in Co Wicklow. The angling hobbyist and professional fly dresser told the Bray People how he had spent the day fishing with…
This weekend the large German Navy salvage tug FGS Fehrmann (A1458) is on a visit to Cork City, writes Jehan Ashmore. The 1,289 gross tonnes auxiliary vessel built in 1967 berthed yesterday at North Custom House Quay adjacent to the…
Ireland’s two semi-finalists at the canoe slalom World Cup in Prague missed out on a place in the final. Just 10 of the 40 qualify from the K1 Men’s Semi-Finals: Ciaran Heurteau finished 14th today and Eoin Rheinisch, who had…
All are invited to take part in the All-Ireland Whale Watch Day next Sunday 21 August. The Irish Whale and Dolphin Group (IWDG) is organising 13 land-based whale watches from headlands around the Irish coast on the day from 2pm-5pm…
The Marine Institute will be hosting an ARCOPOL oil spill modelling workshop in Galway on Tuesday 13 September. This one-day workshop is an opportunity to discuss the development of common procedures, techniques and decision tools for the management of response…
Ireland's Ciaran Heurteau and Eoin Rheinisch finished in the top 40 in the heats of the canoe slalom World Cup in Prague today and qualified for tomorrow's semi-finals. Heurteau improved on a first run which put him 37th to finish…
Plans are afoot to power Edinburgh with a giant offshore windfarm, the Edinburgh Evening News reports. http://www.afloat.ie/resources/business/power-from-the-sea/ The £1.2 billion (€ billion) project proposed by Irish group Mainstream Renewable Power could see as many as 130 turbines generate power for…
A rare blue lobster has become and unlikely tourist attraction in Co Clare, the Irish Times reports. http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2011/0808/1224302024065.html The lobster - its blue hue believed to be caused by a genetic trait similar to albinism in humans - avoided the…
With just over two days left until the start of the Rolex Fastnet Race, a press conference was held yesterday in the Sir Max Aitken Museum in Cowes on the Isle of Wight. It was a case of standing room…
A cruise ship with a difference docked in Dublin Port today, the Aidablu displays a distinctly bold livery scheme of a giant red mouth and eyes emblazoned across the bow, writes Jehan Ashmore. Towering 15 decks above the oceans, the…
