Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

#VOR - Charles Caudrelier's Dongfeng Race Team were putting on a display of straight-line speed sailing today (Friday 10 November) as the Volvo Ocean Race fleet bore down on the Doldrums. The Chinese-flagged team had eked out a narrow five-mile…

#VOR - Dongfeng Race Team are retaining the lead they grabbed overnight from Vestas 11th Hour Racing. But with four Volvo Ocean Race boats within 11 nautical miles, it’s a tenuous lead at best. Dongfeng skipper Charles Caudrelier pushed his crew…

#WorldSailor - America’s Cup winner Peter Burling has been named ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year — only the second Kiwi sailor to take the prize more than once. The New Zealander, who previously shared the honour with compatriot…

#VOR - It was another fast night at sea for the Volvo Ocean Race fleet overnight with all teams staying north and west of Madeira, as the official race website reports. Abby Ehler on Team Brunel — currently in seventh…

#VOR - The 2017-18 Volvo Ocean Race shifts into a new phase on Sunday with the start of Leg 2: a 7,000 nautical mile, three-week marathon leg to Cape Town, South Africa. It’s one of the iconic legs of this…

#VOR - One of Annalise Murphy’s Volvo Ocean Race teammates had a lucky escape when she got her leg caught in a rope during the Mirpuri Foundation In-Port Race in Lisbon yesterday afternoon (Friday 3 November). While the Dee Caffari-skippered…

#VOR - Bouwe Bekking’s Team Brunel fended off a late charge by MAPFRE to win the Mirpuri Foundation In-Port Race Lisbon this afternoon (Friday 3 November). Conditions were challenging to say the least for the Volvo Ocean Race fleet, with…

Principal Race Officer of the Volvo Ocean Race, Bill O'Hara from Ballyholme Yacht Club in Northern Ireland, is anticipating the course will be short, with at least three, and possibly up to four, laps. The second in-port race will be…

Ireland’s Sailor of the month for October, Damian Foxall talks (play podcast below) about Sunday's start of the Volvo Ocean Race 6,000–mile leg two to Capetown. From the deck of Vestas 11th Hour Racing, he tells about crew 'shenanigans' aboard the VOR 65s and admits Dong…

#VOR - Leg 1 winners Vestas 11th Hour Racing weren’t the only Volvo Ocean Race team to have an excruciating finish experience en route to Lisbon yesterday (Saturday 28 October). When MAPFRE was within 1.5 miles of the line, they…

As Afloat.ie reported, Irish sailor Damian Foxall and the Vestas 11th Hour Racing crossed the finish line in Lisbon at 1408 UTC ahead of their competitors by a few hours earning 8 points and are now the leaders of the…

#VOR - Vestas 11th Hour Racing have won Leg 1 of the Volvo Ocean Race, crossing the finish line in the River Tagus in Lisbon this afternoon (Saturday 28 October) a few hours later than expected. While the team powered…

If winning sailing races is ultimately a matter of making less mistakes than anyone else, then Charlie Enright, skipper of the Volvo Ocean Race 65 Vesta 11th Hour Racing, must have registered an almost-clean sheet since starting Leg 1 from…

#VOR - Vestas 11th Hour Racing were the first team of the Volvo Ocean Race fleet to round Porto Santo in the early hours of this morning (Thursday 26 October), beginning the home stretch of Leg 1 to Lisbon. But…

The favourable east to southeast winds which carried the seven Volvo Ocean Race 2017-2018 contenders so positively through the Straits of Gibralter and into the Atlantic are already a fading memory writes W M Nixon. The leaders – with Vestas…

#VOR - Yesterday’s snug racing out of the gate in Alicante made for the most exciting Volvo Ocean Race start in recent memory. But the near-misses weren’t only between the fleet as the jockeyed for position out of port, as…