Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

The Mullaghmore Sailing Club Old Gaffer 'Purple Haze' skippered by Kevin and Heather Collins leads a 12-boat Classic Keelboat fleet at Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta. Born out of 2017's Dun Laoghaire Harbour bicentenary celebrations, the 2019 classic keelboat fleet includes three gaff-rigged Colleen replicas that…

Dermot O’Flynn’s 'Colleen Deas' finds some sparkling sailing with the Classics while the early breeze lasted in the first race of Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta today. With three Colleen replicas sailing this afternoon, it was reckoned to be the first…

After experiencing every sort of condition from Force 8 winds to near calms, the 56ft 1926-built restored ketch Ilen of Limerick has reached her first port in Greenland to conclude 11 days of Transatlantic ocean voyaging, having successfully negotiated the…

The Limerick ketch Ilen on her Salmons Wake voyage to southwest Greenland had got to within 200-miles of the huge island’s most southerly headland, Cape Farewell, towards midnight last night (Monday). With her speed held back to 6 knots in…

The famous cutter Peggy Bawn that last raced on Dublin Bay at the 200th-anniversary harbour regatta in 2017 is up for sale with an asking price of €300k. Northern Ireland builder John Hilditch built the 36ft G L Watson-designed cutter in…

The 56ft Limerick traditional ketch Ilen, on her Salmon’s Wake voyage from the Shannon Estuary to Greenland (2019 is the Year of the Salmon), has been making good progress since heading seaward past Loop Head on Monday afternoon writes W…

When a replica of an Iron Age log boat is launched for the first time in Lough Corrib today, there may not be too much disappointment if it doesn’t actually float writes Lorna Siggins. Archaeologists suspect that such “dug out”…

On what type of boat did the original settlers of Ireland arrive? They probably came over 10,000 years ago and began populating the coastal regions. Could they have come on some type of sailing currach? The Currach Association of Ireland…

A World War 1 veteran HMS Caroline has according to the BelfastTelegraph, been tipped as favourite to win the prestigious Art Fund Museum of the Year Award. Bookmaker Sean Graham has given the recently restored Belfast-based ship, which saw service…

The long Shannon Estuary and a strong ocean-going ebb tide enabled the restored traditional trading ketch Ilen of Limerick to make good progress westward yesterday evening on the voyage to Greenland despite a near-gale from ahead which came in with…

Since 1991 the scenic Glandore Harbour has seen some of the most elegant classic yachts coming together for racing and craic on shore. Organisers say the reason why so many classic yachts keep coming back to Glandore is that it offers an unbeatable…

Ireland’s sole surviving ocean-going wooden sailing ship, the ‘Ilen’, which was re-built through a community educational programme in Limerick, will set sail from Limerick Docks this evening to follow the migratory journey of salmon in the Shannon River to West…

It is 1200 nautical miles across the Atlantic from Loop Head at the north side of the long Shannon Estuary to Cape Farewell, the southernmost point of Greenland, writes W M Nixon. While the originally 1926-built ketch Ilen of Limerick…

After Storm Emma wrought extensive destruction through the seven Howth Seventeens stored in their much-damaged shed on Howth’s East Pier at the beginning of March 2018, it was feared that several of the boats – which since 1898 have been…

Traditional Irish currachs will compete in a Spanish rowing race next week and the crews also hope to will visit the Galician Naomhog exhibition dedicated to the memory of the late poet Danny Sheehy. Naomhoga Chorcaigh is taking six currachs to Santander next week…

Musician Liam Ó Maonlaí says he believes the late Kerry poet Danny Sheehy would have “relished” the Irish-Galician project to restore the naomhóg in which he had his last sea trip before he died two years ago. Ó Maonlaí, who…