Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

The Icebreaker Series has been running in the winter at Ballyholme Yacht Club on Belfast Lough since about the time the Laser dinghy was introduced to the Club by Ron Hutchieson and Trevor Millar in 1974. It was originally mainly…

Race Officer Gerry Reid and the race team at RNIYC must be on good terms with the weather Gods as the snow melted away to leave a dry, almost balmy ten degrees and a steady(ish) force three building to a…

The second weekend of the annual GP14 Spring Series at Royal North of Ireland Yacht Club on Belfast Lough kicked off with a pleasant 10-12 knots. The 11-boat fleet relished the longer beats set by PRO Gerry Reid and his…

The Turkey/Syria Earthquake Appeal prompted Bangor Marina on Belfast Lough in Northern Ireland to engage in a fund-raising effort by organising a raffle. The ticket holders proved very generous, and Harbour Master Kevin Baird was delighted with the response. "We're…

The 12-strong GP14 fleet managed four races last Sunday (26th) in the Royal North of Ireland Spring Series, sailed on Belfast Lough, after missing the previous weekend due to adverse weather. After a fourth in the first race, Ruan and…

Handicap systems are sometimes the stuff of controversy. So what will transpire when Belfast Lough Yachting Conference replaces the NHC system with the Royal Ocean Racing Club YTC (Yacht Time Correction) system remains to be seen. Cockle Island Boat Club…

Did you know that Shrove Tuesday was the last opportunity to use up eggs and fats before embarking on the Lenten fast and Pancakes is the perfect way to do this? Not that Kevin and the Bangor Marina staff on…

Insect dinghies are like buses. You wait for ages (in this case, years), and then two (or more) turn up at once. The exciting aspect of this is that Insect dinghies are over seventy years old and a testament to…

A Northern Ireland fisherman who landed a blue lobster last week says it was a “one in two million” shot, as Belfast Live reports. Stuart Brown made the marine wildlife discovery of his lifetime on Friday (3 February) while hauling…

Bangor Waterfront Development will receive £40 million in funding as part of the Belfast Region City Deal. Ards and North Down Borough Council welcomed the news a year after the UK and NI Executive Ministers signed the first-ever City Deal…

Belfast Lough will be awash with boats over the weekend of 24th and 25th June when the RS Elite Irish Championship coincides with an RC35 open event. Both fixtures will be hosted by Royal Ulster Yacht Club in Bangor on…

The last time the RC35s raced in Belfast Lough was in the 2022 Bangor Town Regatta. And so successful was the class that it can look forward to a stand-alone event in June this season. Hosted by the Royal Ulster…

Helen’s Bay is a small village on the Belfast to Bangor railway line on the south shore of Belfast Lough and is named after Helen Blackwood, Baroness Dufferin and Clandeboye, who lived in the early nineteenth century. It’s not recorded…

A Viking burial site was discovered at Ballyholme Bay on the North Down coast in 1903 suggesting that the Vikings landed there. Although the Belfast Kayak Club landed there, too last weekend on their Christmas outing, they certainly didn’t grab…

It was that time of year again for the keen Stand Up Paddlers to get into the Santa and Elf costumes and take to the water in Bangor Harbour on Belfast Lough. Eighty-two went afloat and raised £600 for the…

Litter is the scourge of many coastlines, and Bangor in North Down in Northern Ireland is no exception. But one person (and there are many) regularly litter picks in an adopted place (#AdoptASpot) on Seacliff Road, near the Long Hole…