Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

The iconic Belfast barge which spent years as a restaurant has been relaunched as Northern Ireland’s only floating arts centre and events space. The vessel (Confiance) is moored at Lanyon Quay (River Lagan), has been converted into an arts hub…

Artemis Technologies, founded in 2017, is the lead partner in the Belfast Maritime Consortium, a 13-member syndicate working on designing and building zero-emission high-speed ferries in the city through the creation of its unique electric hydrofoiling propulsion system, which is…

A young harbour seal spotted in Belfast Lough earlier this month with an aluminium can stuck on its lower jaw has been rescued by police in Scotland. The Irish News reports that the juvenile marine mammal had swum across the…

Last year Mike Meharg, George King and Allan Black set up Safer Waters, now a registered charity and not-for-profit provider of voluntary safety cover and training for recreational water users in Northern Ireland. It is a recognised RYA Training Centre…

Ballymacormick Beach on the eastern side of Ballyholme Bay on Belfast Lough will see next Saturday (23rd), the first-ever windsurfing event hosted by Ballyholme Yacht Club when the Ulster Championships competitors will take to the water. There will be eleven…

The search continues in Belfast Lough for a young harbour seal spotted with an aluminium can stuck on its lower jaw in recent days. According to BBC News, the seal was spotted on Wednesday (6 October) in a state of…

Coming as it does from David Tasker - an Afloat.ie reader from the Isle of Wight - a typically Autumnal query received a day or two ago from this new owner of an interesting and much-loved vintage boat is one…

After a hiatus of two years, Northern Ireland's RS400 Winter series is back. The Belfast Lough sailing event will kick off on Sunday 31st October for eight consecutive weeks up to 19th December. This event was the last run in…

In the early evening of Saturday, 2nd October, Belfast Coastguard put out a MAYDAY in response to a 20ft yacht with four people on board reportedly taking on water and without power, a mile north of Corsewall Point, at the…

Some of the 'old hands' mixed it with the Laser sailors who had come on the scene since the birth of the Laser class at Ballyholme in 1974. The 39-strong fleet on Saturday (18th September) had a memorable day's racing…

What started off as a challenge in Royal North of Ireland Yacht Club on Belfast Lough by Gordon Patterson's Sigma 362, Fanciulla, a heavy 36-footer, to Gavin Vaughan's new Jeanneau 349, a 34-foot light displacement boat, in a race to…

Donaghadee RNLI carried out a medevac of a passenger who became ill on a cruise ship that left Belfast Lough on Friday evening (17 September). The volunteer crew were requested by Belfast Coastguard to launch their all-weather lifeboat Saxon shortly…

Harold Cottam was a 21-year old radio operator who was on duty on the night of April 14th, 1912 on board passenger ship RMS Carpathia when he received a Morse code message he would never forget. Nor would the world,…

Belfast Harbour has recently made the appointment of three new Directors to its Leadership Team. The appointments are designed so to continue developing its strategy to become a world leading regional port and a key economic hub for the region.…

A study, led by high-performance maritime design and applied technologies company Artemis Technologies based on Belfast Lough has been awarded £533,000 to investigate transformative solutions to decarbonise crew transfer vessel (CTV) operations in the offshore wind sector. The grant, announced…

Sea swimmers in the Carrickfergus area now have safer access to the shore after the repair of steps and railings southeast of the Co Antrim town’s marina on Belfast Lough. According to the Carrick Times, local bathers has raised the…