Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

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…

Virtual meetings, which are part and parcel of life now, are nothing new to the team of IDRA 14 dinghy sailors who have just completed the task of formatting the IDRA 14 Class rules to comply with those of World…

In times of stress like this, there is nowhere more soothing than a well-organised but not unduly fussy timber workshop where each day's harmonious effort shows a tangible result. And of all such workshops, there's nowhere so healthily absorbing –…

Steve Morris of Kilrush Boatyard and his lead boat-builder Dan Mill are busy these days, as their team have two further Dublin Bay 21s under construction for the Hal Sisk/Fionan de Barra project, and this week they launched the new…

The recent 2020 Annual General Meeting of the Dublin Bay Old Gaffers Association was a successful exchange of proposals and decision-making among enthusiasts who share a delight in classic and traditional craft which set rigs of the most ancient style.…

"The Lady Min is pretty special, and she performs really well…." The world was a great place to be when the Lady Min was an idea, and there was a 'can do' attitude in West Cork. Simon O'Keeffe is carrying…

Belfast Harbour based HMS Caroline museum has won a reprieve following months of uncertainty over its future. The Battle of Jutland veteran vessel turned tourist attraction faced a major loss of income after closing during lockdown. The National Museum of…

When the 56ft Conor O'Brien-designed trading ketch Ilen - built in Baltimore in West Cork in 1926 - was retrieved and brought back to Ireland by Gary MacMahon of Limerick from the Falkland Islands in November 1997, it was the…

You might well think that trying to stage the annual sailing classics megafest of the Voiles de Saint-Tropez without the usual razzmatazz is about as likely to succeed as an attempt to stage Wagnerian Grand Opera in a low key…

Every summer since 1997, the historic and picturesque English Jurassic Coast town of Lyme Regis (think Jeremy Irons & Meryl Streep in the 1981 multiple Oscar-nominated movie The French Lieutenant's Woman) has enjoyed the quaint ceremony of the Launching of…

When small boat sailing enthusiast W Ogilvy of Bray in County Wicklow persuaded seven of his friends to join him in 1896 in creating a new 12ft sailing dinghy class to his own design for local beach use, even the…