Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

The restoration of the 56ft 1926-built ketch Ilen by Liam Hegarty and Fachtna O’Sullivan and their team in the boatyard at Oldcourt near Baltimore in West Cork, working in concert with the Gary Mac Mahon-directed Ilen Boat-Building School in Limerick,…

Safehaven Marine has shared a video clip of sea trials and self-righting testing on its latest Interceptor 48 pilot vessel in Cork Harbour. Oued Rmel is the first of a two-boat contract with marine services company Svitzer and has been…

Just as the Jeanneau Sunfast 3600 success story that is BAM! celebrates yet another victory in the West Indies this weekend, a sister-ship is being unveiled in Dun Laoghaire Harbour by Irish Jeanneau dealers MGM Boats.  The new Dublin Bay…

MGM Boatyard in Dun Laoghaire Harbour is offering a new antifouling service with a performance finish that will likely be of interest to the large resident Dublin Bay Sailing Club fleet of over 250 boats. Boatyard Services Manager, Paul Gavin…

#FerryNews - Aisling Gabrielle, the ro-ro vessel that launched the first ever Carlingford Lough ferry service last year departed Arklow Port this morning for dry-docking purposes, writes Jehan Ashmore. The 44-vehicle Aisling Gabrielle opened the new cross-border service linking Greenore…

West coast sailor Simon McGibney, originally from Tarbert in Co. Kerry has been appointed the new manager at Kilrush Marina in Co. Clare. As Afloat.ie reported at the time, the marina came under new ownership in 2014 and has undergone…

#Boatyard - On Irish shores in Cork a boat being built for the UK's Royal Navy reports the Evening Echo has been named and is only a few weeks away from being launched. It was revealed in August that Cobh…

When Bill Trafford chose the business name Alchemy Marine for his extremely individualistic combination of skills in transforming vintage fibreglass hulls into a new take on classic designs of yesteryear, he made the perfect brand-name choice writes W M Nixon.…

#boatyards – A Donegal boatbuilder, repairer and refurbishment company, Mooney Boats of Killybegs Harbour has completed works on a tug whose operator has offices based on both sides of Lough Foyle, writes Jehan Ashmore. The tug Tregeagle operated by Foyle…

#Safehaven - Safehaven Marine’s latest projects include a pilot boat for Malta and a survey catamaran for the UK's Royal Navy. The Interceptor 48 pilot boat currently in production at Safehaven’s Cork Harbour boatyard is their third boat supplied to…

Many people have dropped by the Old Cornstore on the riverside at Oldcourt in West Cork to see work progressing on the restoration of the 1926 Conor O’Brien ketch Ilen writes WM Nixon. And naturally they’ll have the impression that…

#militaryboat - Cobh-based boatbuilding company Safehaven Marine, has revealed footage of its new Barracuda vessel undergoing a high-speed boarding trial with the Irish Navy writes the Evening Echo. The Barracuda which Afloat reported of its launch in 2015 is a high…

Bill Trafford of Alchemy Marine, hidden away in the farmland of Skenakilla west of Mitchellstown in north County Cork, has carved himself a unique reputation in recent years for successfully re-imagining glassfibre boats of a certain age, and transforming them…

When the restoration project on the 1926-built 56ft Conor O’Brien/Tom Moynihan Falkland Islands Trading Ketch got under way at two locations – Liam Hegarty’s boat-building shed in the former Cornstore at Oldcourt near Baltimore, and the Ilen Boat-building School premises…

There is something almost sacred about the arts and crafts of the boat-builder writes W M Nixon. As the warm and enthusiastic response to our recent story on Afloat.ie about the veteran Wexford boat-builder Larry Duggan reaching his ninetieth birthday…

A very pleasant nostalgia-laden party in The Oar pub in Crosshaven on Friday night honoured shipwright Willie Lee, who was retiring after fifty years with Crosshaven Boatyard writes W M Nixon. In addition to colleagues past and present, the attendance…