Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

There was non-stop activity at Ballyholme Yacht Club on Belfast Lough at the weekend (July 17th/18th) for the Regatta which enjoyed day-long hot sunny weather. Though lacking any decent breeze on a Saturday morning for the Cadet racing, just enough…

A multi-agency response was launched last night (Monday 12 July) to battle a fire on board a Stena Line ferry in Belfast Lough. As BBC News reports, the fire broke out in the engine room of the Superfast VIII around…

Several rescue teams went to the aid of a man trapped in mud near Holywood on the south coast of Belfast Lough this morning. (13th July). The tide was flooding, and Mud Rescue Technicians worked rapidly to free the man,…

The 18-foot Waverley open racing yacht has for many years been a Ballyholme Yacht Club class, and those which are still sailing have been berthed in Bangor Marina, which from when it was opened in 1989 proved to be something…

Megayacht, superyacht – certainly bigger than any craft in Bangor Marina. Lying alongside the Eisenhower Pier in Bangor Harbour on the North Down coast on a recent visit, after a passage from the Clyde, the 39.62 m motor yacht, Liquid…

For the first time a female chair has been appointed to Belfast Harbour Commissioners, reports The Irish News. Theresa Donaldson paid tribute to outgoing chair David Dobbin, who has stepped down after six years in the role. The former Dale Farm…

In the lead up to the end of the Brexit transition period, stockpiling helped Belfast Harbour largely weather the storm of Covid-19, according to the port’s latest annual results. As The Irish News reports, turnover fell by 4.7 per cent…

The 56 strong fleet of Laser sailors competing for the Ulster Championships was greeted last weekend with steady northerly winds of 12-18 knots on Saturday and 18-25 knots and sunshine on Sunday, for the first The ILCA (Laser) regional event…

Despite a strong showing by the Killyleagh Yacht Club visitors from Strangford Lough on the first day of the Squib Northerns at Royal North of Ireland Yacht Club on the south shore of Belfast Lough, in the end it was…

Belfast Harbour Police has welcomed the arrival of its first fully equipped Police boat which will improve water safety and crime prevention along the city's popular waterfront. The patrol boat which forms part of a programme of investment in water…

Royal North of Ireland Yacht Club still has places available for sailing courses and fun days this season. The club lies on the North Down coast, near Holywood and enjoys safe waters in Belfast Lough. The courses start on 5th…

Carrickfergus Sailing Club in Northern Ireland looks forward to welcoming 500 competitors across its scheduled summer series of racing, as The News Letter reports. August will be an especially busy month for the Co Antrim club, with its home regatta…

Bangor Coastguard Rescue Team didn't have far to travel to answer a report today (21st June) of a vessel aground on the rocks at Brompton on the opposite side of Bangor Bay from the Belfast Lough station. Winds were strong…

Last weekend Lagan Search and Rescue were made aware of a video circulating on social media of a young man encouraged to enter the water off the Lagan Weir footbridge as a dare. Lagan SAR is a provider of Belfast's…

 Just before midnight on Thursday 10th June, Lagan Search and Rescue, along with Bangor Coastguard Rescue Team, Portmuck CRT, the Police Service and a PSNI spotter plane, were all called to Hazlebank, Newtownabbey. Hazlebank Park lies on the northern shore…

We can only hope that next week's up-grading of our sailing from training events to official racing will hold up through a steadily developing season, despite the many challenges to continuing emergence from the pandemic. If it does, then when…