Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

Frank Whelan's well sailed Eleuthera, a Grand Soleil 44, was the winner of ISORA's Viking Marine Coastal Series first race in ideal sailing conditions on Dublin Bay this afternoon.  An exotic mix of new and nearly new entries into the 2018…

Earlier this month UK Sailmakers Ireland’s Barry Hayes was in Newport, Rhode Island, commissioning sails aboard the new J121 “Jackhammer”. Owned and campaigned by ISORA and Ocean Racing veteran Andrew Hall – “Jackhammer” has an extensive programme planned for her…

The ISORA 2018 offshore sailing series starts this weekend on both sides of the Irish Sea with Racing on Saturday in Pwllheli and Race two in Dun Laoghaire this Sunday. The fixture is part of ISORA's 'Viking Marine Coastal Series'. Weather…

As the new sailing season arrives, Viking Marine in Dun Laoghaire and Kilcoole is looking to recruit full time and part time people to join its crew, both in the shop, and out and about at events. The ideal candidate/s…

North Sails Ireland sailmakers Shane Hughes and Maurice "Prof" O'Connell were afloat in the coaching RIB at the first day of the Key Capital sponsored Spring Warmer Series in HYC on April 14th. Also in Howth was NS colleague Nigel…

Ireland’s Formula One Grand Prix legend Eddie Jordan has long been a keen sailor - his current vessel is the well-travelled Oyster 885 Lush. He has now stepped-up his involvement with the well-known UK-based firm as a result of its…

Be careful what you wish for if you’ve tunnel vision in favour of wooden boats writes W M Nixon. Fibreglass, the most useful and popular boat-building material, may be at risk from the polyestermite. And there are two notions about…

North Sails Ireland's Maurice "Prof" O'Connell had a chilly evening's test sail on Friday April 13th, unlucky 13th for Prof, as he had no foul weather gear! The occasion was the unveiling of new sails on the Beneteau First 31.7…

Kinsale sailor and naval architect Jeremy Elliott is heading up North Sails Design Services giving him a key role in making the latest technology available to the North Technology Group companies and their clients. Based in Gosport, he’s worked on everything…

Zhik’s bright new Z-Cru™ jackets breathe new life into the myriad of crew sailing jackets on the market and feature some neat technical detailing, in line with Zhik’s ethos of disrupting the status quo in order to move technical clothing…

2016 Melges 24 World Champion Maurice "Prof" O'Connell & Nigel Young from North Sails Ireland were invited to Bergen in Noway to run a 'Speedcamp' for the Scandinavian fleet last weekend.  Over 50 sailors took part over the three day…

Brendan Coghlan's new Dublin Bay based Jeanneau Sunfast 3600 took to the water recently for her maiden voyage. North Sails Ireland's Maurice 'Prof' O'Connell and Nigel Young and were afloat with Brendan's team, testing the full inventory of sails that…

Leading the charge with the design of a new J109 'JX' jib – tested for the first time on Dublin Bay last week – UK Sailmakers are hoping for a return to a 'golden era' for Irish sailmaking.  For many years, Ireland…

Howth Yacht Club's Ewan McMahon won the four race CH Marine Laser Munster Championships in convinging style with three race wins in his 37–boat fleet. Dublin sailors also made a clean sweep of a 19–boat Radial fleet with Royal St.…

In recent years, asymmetric sails have become much more popular. If you have a boat with a sprit you will likely have 100% asymmetric downwind sails. If you have a boat with a pole, it is likely you will (or…

A North Sails Ireland 'Sail Trim simulator' will be used during post race de–briefings at the ICRA Nationals this August in Galway. The new tool helps to 'make sense of sail trim, fundamentals of sail shape, and understand how these variables impact…