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Irish Cruising News. Sailing, Offshore, Ocean and Bluewater
Man of the West. Dave Whitehead on the shores of his adopted and beloved home of Galway Bay. Photo: Pierce Purcell
Irish sailing is mourning the loss of someone very special with the death of Dave Whitehead of Kinvara. In his close and strong family circle, throughout an international circle of friends, and among many more in the Galway Bay area,…
The Hanse 630 Nereida, (IRL 1556 and owned by Karl Fleming) has taken on the mantle of Irish hopes in the large-fleet ARC 2017 from Gran Canaria transatlantic to St Lucia
Eamon Crosbie's Discovery 55 Pamela from Dun Laoghaire has headed back to start-point Gran Canaria in the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers 2017 writes W M Nixon. According to the current tracker situation, Pamela is heading eastward after a week of…
Eamon Crosbie's Discovery 55, Pamela is off on a world cruise
The only Irish registered yacht in this year's Atlantic Rally for Cruisers (ARC) is Eamon Crosbie's Discovery 55, Pamela.  As Afloat.ie reported earlier Crosbie set off from Dun Laoghaire on the adventure with Dublin Bay Sailing Club's Brian Mathews on board. Mathews will…
Next stop the South Seas…….after Myra Reid and Paraic O’Maolriada had made the very sensible choice of an Amel Super Maramu 54, their dreams of a round the world voyage became reality
Any cruising enthusiast or would-be cruising enthusiast who has ever dreamt of sailing away in their own boat to the balmy climate and sheltered islands of the Pacific and other warm and sunny destinations is welcome at the Royal Irish…
Scattery island in the Shannon Estuary
Clare County Council has welcomed the inclusion of County Clare into the marketing programme for the Cool Route project which aims to grow numbers of private craft, super-yachts and passenger liners visiting the coastlines of Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland, the…
What Are The Most Common Breakages For Ocean-Going Yachts?
#ARC - Ripped sails and breakages caused by chafe were the most common repairs required by transatlantic cruisers in last year’s ARC rally. That’s according to a survey by Yachting World to detail the kinds of breakages experienced at sea…
 Celebrat​ions ove​r the Ro​und Brit​ain 2017​ finish ​line
126 days after having set sail from Largs on the West coast of Scotland, the Ellen MacArthur Cancer Trust Round Britain 2017 Voyage were welcomed back to their starting point today by an ecstatic host of friends, family and supporters…
Upriver under the bridge at Wexford – Drascombes can do it, but tall-rigged cruisers have to stay beyond on the seaward side
The stately progress through Ireland of the Golden Jubilee celebrations of the unique Drascombe range of small character boats continues this weekend, with the fleet cruising-in-company on Lough Derg writes W M Nixon Last weekend, they were sailing or outboarding…
Atlantic sailing – two of the Drascombe flotilla which visited the Aran Islands in July under comfortable rig in the big seas of Galway Bay
The Drascombe Association have been celebrating their own 30th Anniversary, and the Golden Jubilee of the introduction of their distinctive range of characterful boats, with special enthusiasm in Ireland this summer writes W M Nixon. It happens to be a…
The combined Irish Cruising Club/Ocean Cruising Club muster in Ensenada de Barra last Tuesday, with Alex and Daria Blackwell’s much-travelled Bowman 57 ketch Aleria from Clew Bay at centre
The sixty-boat twelve-day Irish Cruising Club Cruise-in-Company in northwest Spain comes to a conclusion in Bayona tonight after an impressive display of well-planned logistics by lead organiser Peter Haden and his team writes W M Nixon. This saw the many…
Belfast Lough was the destination for a 14–boat CAI Summer Cruise
The Cruising Association of Ireland held its summer cruise to Belfast Lough in early July 2017. Fourteen boats comprising over forty sailors of varying ages gathered in Bangor Marina, County Down and were welcomed there by David Meeke and Betty…
The ICC Galician Rally’s assembly harbour at Portosin, with most of the rally participants in the outer berths of the marina
The Irish Cruising Club’s 2017 Rally in northwest Spain begins its stately progress southwards today from the fleet assembly point of Portosin writes W M Nixon With its organisation ably led by experienced Galician cruiser Peter Haden (whose home port…
Crosshaven in Cork Harbour is the home of Royal Cork Yacht Club, the marketers of a new cruising initiative: 'The Cool Route'. The concept is designed to encourage exploration of the route – or parts of it – between Cork and Tromso in Norway
The Cool Route Project, funded by the EU’s Northern Periphery and Arctic Programme and led by Cork Institute of Technology, commenced in June 2015. Since then, as Afloat.ie reported previously, project partners in Ireland Northern Ireland, Scotland, the Faroe Islands…
Seol Sionna, the local heritage group responsible for newbuild turf boat, the five-tonne gaffer Sally O’Keeffe, are set to take part in the inaugural Shannon Estuary Cruise
#ShannonCruise - Cruisers in the West of Ireland are invited to join the inaugural Shannon Estuary Cruise next month. The seven-day cruise from 17-23 July is the brainchild of Royal Western Yacht Club of Ireland Commodore Richard Glynn, a life-long Kilrush…
Howth, the venue for this weekend’s CAI Rally and AGM, while Howth YC is also celebrating the 30th Anniversary of its “new” clubhouse. And bonus points for anyone who deduced this photo was taken mid-week. Almost the entire fishing fleet – which usually crowds the dock to the west at weekends – is out working at sea
The Cruising Association of Ireland is already well into a busy season in 2017, but it moves up a gear this weekend with the AGM at Howth presided over by Commodore Clifford Brown tomorrow (Saturday) at 1800hrs, and based around…
The Jedi crew in Kinsale last weekend, hoping decent breezes would fill in. Eventually, fair winds arrived
Go north for decent sailing breezes.....that’s the message being brought home by the Galway crew of the Irish National Sailing School’s J/109 Jedi as they continue to benefit from much firmer mainly westerly winds over the north of the country…