Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

“If you find a good crew, marry her”. It may sound flippant. But when you think of all the challenges of keeping any ship’s company in a friendly and effectively-functioning form, and add to that all the challenges of a…

The further west you go in Ireland, the warmer is the hospitality. So despite the current ferocious weather and the fact that Clifden in Connemara is well out into Ireland’s Atlantic frontier, the mood will be friendly and warm in…

The annual Irish Sailing Cruising Conference attracted a capacity attendance of a hundred enthusiasts to the hospitable National Yacht Club on Saturday, with an excellent and sustaining club lunch at mid-conference to provide further energy for a very busy programme,…

Royal St George Yacht Club's Frank O'Beirne won the Irish Cruising Club's (ICC) Perry Greer Bowl for the 'Best First ICC Log' that describes a cruise from Dun Laoghaire to the Hebrides last Summer, a voyage that has provided the…

For 90 years, the Irish Cruising Club’s Sailing Directions have been the standard text on small-craft pilotage of the Irish coast. As Afloat contributor Lorna Siggins wrote in her review for The Irish Times: “Approach any port without these navigational…

Next weekend’s Irish Sailing Cruising Conference is now fully booked, with delegates looking forward to a day of exploration and discovery. As previously reported on Afloat.ie, the full programme of talks and sessions on Saturday 15 February will take in…

On 1st December last year, ‘Team South’ departed Ushuaia, Argentina, and headed south across the Drake Passage. Damian Foxall, Niall MacAllister and Lucy Hunt are ‘Team South’ - the three-person crew of highly experienced sailors and marine scientists leading a…

Irish Offshore Sailing has extended its sail training and yacht racing programmes for 2020 with a full range of motor cruising courses on a specially fitted-out and coded motor yacht. Skippered by Yachtmaster Instructor Peter Beamish, the training boat is…

At year’s end, the Sailors of the Month adjudicators survey the overall scene in search of an outstanding and innovative event which has added to the variety of the Irish sailing programme. In 2019 this role was well filled by…

A National Yacht Club crew from Dublin Bay have finished fourth in class and fourth monohull in the 2019 Atlantic Rally for Cruisers (ARC).  As previously reported on Afloat, the NYC crew made the crossing in the 80-foot Swan yacht…

The well attended Royal Cork Yacht Club Laying Up Supper last weekend featured some important club annual awards presentations by Admiral Pat Farnan witnessed this year by special guests from the Royal Yacht Squadron in Cowes writes Bob Bateman. Neighbouring Cork…

Newly updated 2020 editions of the UK Cruising Association’s three main inland waterways cruising guides for France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany have been published by the CA’s European Inland Waterways Section (EIWS) in time for the Christmas season. All…

With the majority of boats now docked in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and crews busy making preparations for their 2,700 nm Atlantic ahead of start of the ARC next Sunday - 24th November - it was time to mark…

The Revenue Commissioners will prepare guidance material for their website and update relevant tax and duty manuals in advance of the upcoming ban on the use of green diesel for private pleasure craft, it is understood. That’s according to the…

With only seven weeks until the ban on the use of green diesel for private pleasure craft comes into force, the Revenue Commissioners have yet to formally declare to oil suppliers what changes are required under the new legislation, according…

The Atlantic Rally for Cruisers (ARC) will bring together a diverse group of boats and crews to sail with the historic ocean rally celebrating its 34th edition in 2019 and while there are no Irish entries among the fleet for…