Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

The continuing restoration of the Dublin Bay 21 class of 1902, in the longterm project guided by Hal Sisk and Fionan de Barra of Dun Laoghaire, has seen the work of Master Shipwright Stephen Morris of Kilrush and his team…

If you think that life is tough under the current pandemic, then the Dublin Bay Old Gaffers Association has just the thing to put current national and personal problems into perspective, with a comprehensively illustrated Zoom talk by noted maritime…

John McVea, class captain of the now 100-year-old River Class which sails regularly at Strangford Lough Yacht Club, had been looking forward to a 2020 season of centenary celebrations. Covid 19 put paid to that, but one achievement which has…

In Greek mythology, at the Winter Solstice, there is a brief calm for the Halcyon Day, and this was the experience of the crew on the Limerick ketch Ilen as they headed away on Monday evening, after a busy two…

The great Captain Cook may have voyaged to the Pacific in 1769 for the astronomical purpose of observing the Transit of Venus from Tahiti. But tonight (Monday) the crew of the Limerick ketch Ilen have a more modest hope -…

A famed adventurer who crossed the Atlantic by currach in a journey inspired by the story of Brendan the Navigator has died at the age of 80, as RTÉ News reports. Tim Severin set out in 1976 on the epic…

The National Monuments Service says it has resolved the mystery of a shipwreck off Co Sligo's Streedagh strand where three Armada ships are known to have foundered in 1588. Research has confirmed that a wreck of a vessel off Streedagh…

A replica of an ancient currach has been set alight in the shadow of Skellig Michael — and all in the name of art. The arresting image is one of the highlights of Crann, a film directed by Laura Hilliard…

An oak tree’s transformation from trunk to replica iron age boat on Connemara's Lough Corrib has been filmed as part of a University College Cork (UCC) project. Entitled "A New Logboat for Lough Corrib: The Pallasboy Project", the film was…

The Limerick ambassadorial ketch Ilen arrived on the Liffey River at Dublin in the late hours of Sunday after a fast passage, and since then has been out daily from Poolbeg Y & BC's marina on Dublin Bay with a…

The unmistakable sight of the traditional ketch Ilen as she crosses Dublin Bay today  (Monday, December 7th). The restored vessel is on a 'Sailing into Wellness' programme on the capitals' waters this week, working with organisations Coolmine, Tiglin and @tolkariver The…

Frances Edwards & Ed Maggs are clearly the most incompetent cruisers, as Ed says himself, for they have completely failed in their modest ambition of a circumnavigation of the British Isles by stalling on the West Coast of Ireland, and…

Although the much-anticipated Galway 2020 Festival was one of the many aspects of 2020 which has been severely curtailed by the pandemic, the spirit of the great western city and its maritime traditions lives vibrantly on. A recent ceremony in…

Afloat.ie reader Lee Maginnis has sent us images of the old minesweeper HMS Enterprise looking worse for wear in Kilkeel Harbour. The former Royal Navy minesweeper was previously anchored in Carlingford Lough, and made the news nine years ago when…

The restored 1926-built 56ft Limerick trading ketch Ilen's project of education through action and involvement continues to be developed with the Ilen Marine School's Community and Cargo 2020-21 Programme. Transportation of cargo to coastal communities was the original purpose of…

The Dublin Bay Old Gaffers Association winter talks series on Zoom continues on Thursday (November 26th) with a deeper insight into a classic boat-building story that has featured recently on Afloat.ie DBOGA member and a graduate of the Boat Building…