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Irish Cruising News. Sailing, Offshore, Ocean and Bluewater
Irish yachts Ilen and Killary Flyer in Nuuk, Greenland
When Irish mountaineer Frank Nugent hiked to the top of a Greenland ice cap last week, he was shocked to observe the extent of the thaw writes Lorna Siggins. Nugent, who has been to Greenland before, observed rapidly melting ice…
Irish Multihulls held another east coast raid
A few years ago, well actually it’s pushing on eight years now, four Hurricane 5.9 catamaran’s from Swords Sailing and Boat Club (SSBC) sailed from Howth Yacht Club to the Rockabill Lighthouse and back writes multihull sailor Stephen Broaders. I…
Galway - Lorient twinning cruise arrives at the French Port on Saturday
Irish flags are flying during last Saturday's final short hop across in Galway Sailing's Cruise to Lorient.  The photo taken from the citadel at the entrance to Lorient Harbour shows some of the 25-boat flotilla from the west of Ireland…
HMRC has issued its consultation document on red diesel for boaters
In 2018 the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled that the UK should not allow private pleasure craft to continue to use red diesel. HMRC has just issued its consultation document which outlines the proposed change to white…
A Galway yacht participating in the cruise to Lorient that will carry turf to the French Port
Three French lifeboat crew who died in a recent sea rescue will be remembered by a fleet of west of Ireland sailing craft setting sail from Galway for the Breton port of Lorient later this week writes Lorna Siggins. Bearing…
Fifteen thousand miles from Dublin in a magic year of cruising – George & Mary Coombes’ Lagoon 450s Realta Bheag moored off Bora Bora in mid-Pacific in French Polynesia
Dublin couple George and Mary Coombes have achieved the cruising dream writes W M Nixon. Having departed from an increasingly wet and windy Ireland in late July of last year, their Lagoon 450s catamaran Realta Bheag has now sailed more…
Midsummer’s Weekend, and Irish sailing pauses for breath in this most hectic of sailing seasons writes W M Nixon. There are other events going on during these next two days, but let’s hope the most relaxed and non-competitive tone is…
The Killary Flyer on a previous trip to Greenland in 2013
Adventurer Jamie Young has traversed the Atlantic solo not once but twice, as he couldn’t afford any other way home writes Lorna Siggins The Co Antrim-born founder of Killary Adventure Centre has also taken a kite buggy to Antarctica, a kayak…
Galway Harbour – waterfront heart of a significant Atlantic port
Lorient in Brittany was the first city to sign up as a twin to the proud citizens of Galway as far back as 1975. It was a statement of friendship and a commitment to exchange cultural experiences between the people…
Editorial desk with a difference……..on board the 64ft gaff cutter Annabel-J, powering along off the West Coast of Ireland. Annabel-J is owned by long distance voyager Andrew Wilkes and his wife Maire Breathnach of Dungarvan, who is currently Honorary Editor of the Irish Cruising Club Annual
When the Irish Cruising Club was established in Glengarriff at the head of Bantry Bay on Saturday 13th July 1929, the friendly gathering of the crews from a modest flotilla of five decidedly varied sailing yachts – mostly small craft…
Northabout returns from her Arctic circumnavigation to her home port of Clew Bay in Mayo with a welcome from the holy mountain of Croagh Patrick
Eight Irishmen and their 47-foot boat Northabout left Westport in June 2001 to sail the Northwest Passage north of Canada and Alaska. Nobody had ever sailed this in an East/West direction which is against the prevailing tides and winds. The…
Pleasure Craft Visiting Belgium to pay 100% Duty on Red Diesel Say Cruising Association
The UK based Cruising Association (CA) Regulations and Technical Services Group (RATS) understands that Belgian authorities will continue with the agreement for UK pleasure vessels visiting Belgium that they still have to use our red diesel in the engine fuel…
Summertime at Lough Ree Yacht Club at Ballyglass near Athlone, hospitable hosts for Ireland’s varied cruising interests on Saturday
Lough Ree Yacht Club at Ballyglass, where the spacious waters of the great Shannon lake start to narrow back to river size for the passage south through Athlone, is already well into planning for its Quarter Millennium in 2020. Founded…
NSI trialling of new North Sails Tour Xi cruising sails on Strangford Lough recently on Peter Niblock's Moody S31 "Zeelander"
RYA NI is hold its Cruising Conference in Royal North of Ireland Yacht Club in Cultra, Co. Down this Saturday Jan 26th starting at 9.30am. As part of it, North Sails Ireland's Prof O'Connell will be giving a talk on…
Round the world ocean sailor Damian Foxall will speak at the Lough Ree Yacht Club hosted Irish Sailing Cruising Conference
The Irish Sailing Cruising Conference heads inland this year so that sailors from around the country can join each other for a day of speakers, presentations, storytellers and a social lunch. Lough Ree Yacht Club is known for their warm…
Waterways Ireland Issues Notice Of Ban On Green Diesel For Personal Pleasure Craft From January 2020
Waterways Ireland has issued a notice for masters and owners of vessels that the Department of Finance intends changing the law regarding the use of marked gas oil, or MGO, in private pleasure craft from 1 January 2020. The change…