Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

Mark Mansfield, racing consultant and agent for UK Sailmakers Ireland, gives Afloat.ie readers ten top tips on helming techniques. It's an area where he has extensive experience, having competed in four Olympic Regattas, over 30 World and European Championships in various…

Your mainsail vang (or kicker) is the sail control all of us know. For those of us who grew up sailing from a young age, we’ve had it from Optimists to Lasers, to keelboats and beyond. But do you know…

With the DBSC Turkey Shoot Series starting soon on Dublin Bay and Autumn Leagues in full swing in Crosshaven, Howth, Kilrush and elsewhere, Barry Hayes from UK Sailmakers Ireland gives some tips on how to effectively handle your boat in…

Harken agent Barry Hayes from UK Sailmakers Ireland gives some top tips for improving your boat and servicing your Harken deck gear. Barry has been working at the highest level with Harken for 15 years, dealing with boats from Maxis, TP 52s,…

Mark Mansfield, Professional sailor and UK Sailmakers Ireland agent, goes through some tips for improving your boat rating relative to its speed. Mark has been involved in many campaigns and projects from Quarter Tonners, Half Tonner, J109’s, Commodores Cup boats,…

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.…

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…