Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

Although there is plenty of sailing to be had at Autumn Leagues around the country, the 2018 Sailing Season is drawing to a close for the majority of us. But this is not a time for despair - rather a…

A great end of season series of results has put the icing on a fine season for UK Sails Ireland, the first season under the new ownership of Barry and Claire Hayes and Graham Curran. In the 1720 Nationals, just…

Get a head start on winter servicing for your sails with UK Sailmakers Ireland in Cork Harbour. The current dry spell is no better time to check over your sails before removing them for the winter months — and have…

UK Sails Ireland sailmaker Graham Curran who competed on 'Fools Gold', Ireland's sole entry at the Offshore Sailing World Championships 2018, reviews the event that was truly the pinnacle of cruiser racing in Europe and concludes IRC and ORC need to…

UK Sails Ireland has put sails on two very competitive entries for the inaugural IRC/ORC worlds, commencing in the Hague in Holland this weekend. The boats are Rob McConnell's A35 'Fools Gold' from Dunmore East, with a full Irish crew…

With the advent of high–tech construction, most upwind sails are now being manufactured in specialist facilities in the likes of Hong Kong, Sri Lanka and South Africa. However, some sails are still being made in Ireland in a few lofts.…

After a slow, light airs start to the 2018 Three Peaks Yacht Race, Irish boat Magic Touch, a Beneteau First 34.7 racing as 'Team Digital Built Consultants' crewed by Steve Hayes (owner), John White, Mal Moir and runners Ian Alcock…

Scottish visitors dominated a ten race series to take all three places on the podium of the Sigma 33 Class UK and Irish Championships 2018 on Dublin Bay this weekend. The Royal St. George Yacht Club event attracted 23 entries, some 161 competitors from five countries.…

Up to about 15 years ago, most boats were designed with big overlapping headsails, which were still pretty useful when reaching because of their size. Then it became evident that this set up was not that efficient and trying to…

The performance of the UK Sails Ireland team continues to bear fruit, most recently on the competitive race courses of Scotland and Howth last weekend. In Howth, at the 1720 Europeans, a UK sails 1,2,4 showed the competitiveness of the UK product…

Sailing Professional Mark Mansfield, who is a Racing Consultant with UK Sailmakers Ireland, goes through the different spinnaker sail options and how to set and control each of them. This is the latest in a series of information articles produced…

Royal Irish Yacht Club Skipper George Sisk has had the Farr 42 WOW! for nearly ten years so there was a feeling that it was time to look at a new boat for his Dublin Bay and Irish yacht racing…

Since Des McWilliam retired and sold the UK Sails business to Barry Hayes and Graham Curran at the end of the year, they have lost no time in getting their new designed products out to their customers. In addition they…

In his first article in the ICRA /  UK Sailmakers Series, Racing Consultant Mark Mansfield wrote about tuning a fractionally rigged mast. His second article featured changing gears in different wind conditions while racing. In this final article, the four time Olympic helmsman…

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…

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…