Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

Northern Ireland's biggest sailing event, Bangor Town Regatta, scheduled for June has been cancelled due to ongoing COVID-19 restrictions. The Belfast Lough biennial event has sadly joined the queue of cancelled sailing events this year. Chairman of the BTR Organising…

Staff numbers at Artemis Technologies, which is leading a Belfast Lough-based consortium to decarbonise maritime, are expected to almost treble to 70 by the end of 2021 and rise to 100 by this time next year. It is part of…

Queen's Parade on the seafront in Bangor on Belfast Lough has been largely derelict for well over twenty years. But just this week the Ards and North Down Borough Council approved a £50m scheme for large scale redevelopment of the…

Bangor Coastguard has issued a warning after a surfer was spotted close to an inbound Stena ferry in Belfast Lough on Monday (25 January) as Afloat reported earlier here. As the Belfast Telegraph reports, a team from Bangor Coastguard kept…

Belfast Lough based Artemis Technologies has moved to the next phase in the development of its Artemis eFoilerTM electric propulsion system, announcing plans to launch a technology demonstrator in 2021. Announced by Artemis Technologies COO, Prof. Mark Gillan, during a…

Belfast Coastguard Rescue team was contacted this week by the Stena Superfast ferry inbound to Belfast in the shipping channel near Holywood. On Monday, January 25th the ferry had encountered a lone paddleboarder dangerously close to the vessel. Holywood is…

Bangor Marina on Belfast Lough is switching its electricity to a renewable source with immediate effect.  Marina Manager Kevin Baird said the marina takes its responsibility to the environment seriously and is constantly looking at ways in which it can reduce…

The Maritime Mile is an initiative developed by Maritime Belfast Trust and is a curated experience that connects and celebrates Belfast's vibrant heritage waterfront. It was set up originally to deliver the Titanic Belfast Visitor attraction and now includes many…

“Good news everyone”, the natives have returned...” It’s not your average title to a scientific paper, but this one has reason to celebrate - hailing the return of native oysters to Belfast Lough after a century. The paper by Bangor…

Peter Bullick is well known in sailing circles in Northern Ireland and has long been a familiar face associated with volunteering for the RNLI. He enjoys cruising to the west coast of Scotland and has ventured as far as St…

Last Wednesday (January 6th) Bangor Coastguard Team answered a report of a cetacean washed up on Crawfordsburn Beach on Belfast Lough. It was identified on social media as a Common Dolphin and it was suggested that the find should be…

The history of sailing in Belfast Lough became so hectic in the 1890s, with the pioneering development of One-design keelboat classes and the first of Thomas Lipton's five America's Cup challenges going forth from Royal Ulster Yacht Club in 1899,…

Marine scientists have been baffled by the unexpected return of wild oysters to Belfast Lough, as the Guardian reports. The threatened shellfish species was last recorded in the Northern Ireland lough in the late 1800s before overfishing destroyed the native population.…

Ballyholme Yacht Club on Belfast Lough will host the British Topper Nationals, scheduled for early August next year, a few days after the World Championships in Cork Harbour. With the Irish Nationals in Northern Ireland at Strangford Lough Yacht Club in…

Thirty young sailors managed a final outing at Ballyholme yesterday (December 22nd) before Covid 19 restrictions would put paid to their activities at the Club for six weeks. And the event was blessed with a bright sunny day, albeit with…

Belfast shipyard Harland & Wolff now owned by InfraStrata, has signed a letter of intent to build two wind farm development vessels. The potential deal, writes BBC News, is being worked on with Triumph SubSea Services. InfraStrata said that once…