Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

#RecordCalls - A new tourism high as almost 90 cruise ships are expected to visit Belfast Harbour this summer, bringing with them 150,000 passengers and crew to the city. Belfast’s record cruise schedule for 2017 marks an unprecedented period of…

In all last year’s celebrations of the 150th Anniversaries of Royal Ulster Yacht Club and Carrickfergus Sailing Club on Belfast Lough, it was generally overlooked that neither is the senior club on the lough, even though both were founded way…

#BelfastLough - A sea captain has been convicted of being drunk on duty while piloting a merchant vessel in Belfast Lough last year. As the Belfast Telegraph reports, Eugenijus Tulauskas was found to be nearly four times over the legal…

#CoalShip – A general cargoship that was a frequent caller to Belfast Harbour but did not depart to a port on the Irish Sea or for that matter beyond, so how could that be?, writes Jehan Ashmore. The answer to…

#Sailability - Two volunteers with Belfast Lough Sailability received awards at the RYA Sailability National Conference in Cambridge, England last Saturday (18 February). Bill Foster was awarded the RYA Sailability Exceptional Contribution Award, accepted by BLS chair Paul Bunting, while…

#Harland&Howth - Harland and Wolff, Belfast has been busy working with Stena Line ferries while in Howth Harbour, Co.Dublin the boatyard there has begun work on a passenger-only ferry that in recent years began running cruises, writes Jehan Ashmore.  The annual…

#Decommissioning - For many UK ports writes EnergyVoice, developing the facilities needed for large-scale decommissioning projects is a quest they are just embarking on. But for the Belfast based Harland and Wolff (H&W) shipyard, the asset it describes as the…

#NavalNewbuilds? - Proposals of future naval shipbuilding to be shared around UK yards including Harland & Wolff writes The News Letter have been warmly welcomed in Belfast. The report prepared by Ulster-born industrialist Sir John Parker - a former chief…

#Destroyer - A UK naval destroyer was forced to cancel a visit to Belfast today, due to Russian warships understood to be bound for Syria to reinforce attacks on Aleppo, writes Jehan Ashmore. Senior Royal Navy Officer for Northern Ireland,…

#Turnover2015 - Harland and Wolff Group (H&W) writes the Belfast Telegraph continues to operate in testing market conditions as a diverse engineering business. The company, a subsidiary of the Fred Olsen Energy Group, operates in shipbuilding, heavy engineering, ship repair,…

At Royal Ulster Yacht Club over 80 boats gathered off Bangor on Saturday to take part in the 150th Anniversary Sail Past. It was the latest event in June's RUYC Sesquicentennial celebrations. Previously, as Afloat.ie reported, the club welcomed HRH…

#RecordPerformance -Turnover at Belfast Harbour, which handles 70% of Northern Ireland’s seaborne trade and 20% of the entire island’s, rose by 3.4% to £54.3m. According to the annual report for 2015, operating profit also increased by 3.4% to stand at…

The first event of the 150th Anniversary celebrations for Royal Ulster Yacht Club at Bangor on Belfast Lough will take place from Friday 17th to Sunday 19th June. The Sigma 33 UK & Irish National Championships has attracted twenty boats…

#H&W - Harland and Wolff, Belfast faces a tough year ahead having failed to secure a "sufficient workload" as the latest accounts shows a big drop in profits for 2015. The Belfast Telegraph writes that the firm generated operating profit of…

#WorldsLargest - The world's most powerful tidal energy turbine writes the BBC News was assembled at Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast. One of the yard's cranes, Goliath, will lower the 520-tonne structure into Belfast Lough today, Wednesday. Each of the…

#HMScaroline - Descendants of First World War Irish sailors reports the Belfast Telegraph are to take part in commemoration ceremonies in the city where the only surviving vessel of the Battle of Jutland remains.   HMS Caroline has undergone a…