Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

#RNLI - Wicklow RNLI expressed their concern for the family of a man missing in the Wicklow Harbour area since Tuesday (27 December). As previously reported on Afloat.ie, a multi-agency response was launched on Tuesday morning after the man, said…

The traditional timing of the London International Boat Show as soon as possible after New Year’s Day may have been shifted about in recent years as the changing dynamics of the European marine industry and the sheer dominance through size…

#RNLI - The RNLI has compiled at video looking back at the work of the lifesaving charity in Ireland during 2016 through the footage taken from its lifeboats’ onboard cameras.

#PortEstate -Chief executive of Dublin Port Eamonn O’Reilly has described as “mad”, “daft” and an “attempt at a landgrab” plans for a Hollywood-style film studio on the Poolbeg Peninsula. As The Irish Times writes the port company will next month…

#CoastalNotes - Coastal defences and protections against flooding are outlined in a new Department of Transport plan to prepare Ireland for future climate change, as The Irish Times reports. The draft consultation report, Developing Resilience to Climate Change in the…

Ireland's 2009 Green Dragon Volvo Ocean Race boat will sail again in a transatlantic race to promote the work of a non profit organsation. As our photo above shows the famous Irish vessel has been rebranded as 'Mirpuri Foundation', a research…

Irish Navigator Adrienne Cahalan who is, one of Australia's most celebrated yachtswoman, arrived in Hobart aboard the Brenton Fischer skippered TP52 Ragamuffin this week, to cement her place as the first woman ever to compete in 25 Sydney Hobart Yacht…

Use of Personal Locator Beacons (PLBs) and Electronic Position Indicating Radio Beacons (EPIRBs) were responsible for directly saving the lives of Five Mariners in 2016 according to an end of year commentary by the Coast Guard. One of these incidents…

#LectureShackleton -An illustrated lecture: "Ernest Shackleton's Story - A Hundred Years Later"  by Kevin Kenny will take place on Thursday 12 January 2017 (20:00hrs) at the Poolbeg Yacht & Boat Club, Ringsend, Dublin 4. There will be an entry fee…

Mr. Sean Kyne T.D., Minister of State at the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment, has approved a suite of regulations and bye-laws that will govern the wild salmon and sea trout fisheries in 2016. These will come into…

Enda O'Coineen has had to take the prudent, but tough decision, to turn back north in the Vendee Globe Race and separate away from the six strong pack of boats he had been racing closely with, playing tag with the…

#Rowers of the Year: The Afloat Rowers of the Year for 2016 are Paul O’Donovan and Gary O’Donovan. Between them they brought Ireland two gold medals and two silvers at top international events in 2016.  The highlight was the silver…

#PortTransfer - Minister for Transport Shane Ross has said the transfer of the Dún Laoghaire Harbour Company to local authority control is taking too long, writes The Irish Times. “Dún Laoghaire is certainly the slowest of these ports that will…

#RNLI - At 8.10am this morning (Wednesday 28 December), Bangor RNLI’s volunteer crew responded to a request from HM Coastguard to rescue a young man reported to be in difficulty while swimming 200 metres off the shore in Ballyholme Bay.…

#RNLI - Volunteers from Portaferry RNLI went to the aid of a man who had fallen down a cliff at Ardglass Golf Club on the Co Down coast yesterday (Tuesday 27 December). The Portaferry lifeboat, an inshore Atlantic 85, launched…

While Ireland basks in unusual January sunshine, in the alleged Southern Hemisphere summer the normally picturesque approaches to Hobart in Tasmania have seen dull, damp and drifting conditions for the groups of legendary Australian and international racing machines struggling to…

When I changed tack in my journalistic career and moved, after nearly 30 years from mainstream reporting to specialising in marine matters, I was told by a number of people that I would be “wasting my time” because it was…

Arriving in Hobart at 02:31.20 on Wednesday 28 December, Anthony Bell’s 100-ft Maxi Perpetual LOYAL has set a new race record of 1 day, 13 hours, 31 minutes, 20 seconds at the Rolex Sydney Hobart and in the process secured…

As records tumble in this fastest-ever Rolex Sydney-Hobart Race with Anthony Bell’s line honours-winning hundred footer Perpetual LOYAL taking four hours and fifty-one minutes off the previous best time set by the late Bob Oatley’s Wild Oats XI, Matt Allen’s…

#SpikeIsland - The burial of a graveyard on Spike Island in the mid-19th century covered up the “death trap” conditions at its Victorian-era prison. That’s according to new research on the site in Cork Harbour, as The Irish Times reports,…