Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then Dublin Bay sailors can walk very tall indeed. Their selections over the years of various One Design concepts have spread worldwide among discerning owners, who appreciated that the Dublin Bay sailors’…

An Rás Mór, Cork harbour’s Ocean to City race, returns to the water this June after a break of two years due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Registration will open on March 1st for the multi-craft rowing and paddling race set…

There are times when somebody is so skilled in doing good work by stealth that their achievements tend to be hidden in plain sight. We were all reminded of this is in mid-January at the annual international AGM of the…

The last timber-built sailing trading ship in Ireland, the 56ft Ilen, will set off from the river port of Limerick on the Shannon in April, bound for the great river city of London on the Thames in England writes Gary…

The island of Eriskay in the Outer Hebrides is one of the gems to be found in cruising Scotland’s west coast. Large enough to provide an attractive natural harbour, its modest height is such that it doesn’t pull heavy downpours…

Two classic designs with strong Dublin Bay links have been nominated for major prizes in the annual international Classic Boat Awards. Master boat-builder Steve Morris of Kilrush will of course be personally in line for the prize for his work…

We’ve become sadly inured to reports of Denis Doyle’s exquisitely-varnished Crosshaven-built Frers 51 Moonduster of 1981-vintage mouldering mossily in the harsh climate of northern Norway. So when a certain nautically-minded antiquarian bookseller of the Roughty Valley in southwest Kerry mentioned…

A historic gaff cutter that won the Fastnet Race in 1927 and was saved from the scrapyard in 2017 is gradually being restored to its former glory — but needs support to keep the project going. Tally Ho was built…

For many years until her transfer to Galway in 2021, the Clondalkin community-built Galway Hooker Naomh Cronan was a feature of sailing life in Dublin’s River Liffey at Poolbeg Y&BC in Ringsend, and she was a regular attendee at traditional…

To say that Rob Mason of Milford Haven has an eye for a boat is a bit like saying that the late Vincent O’Brien was quite a good judge of horseflesh. The retired Milford Haven tugboat skipper turned up from…

Darryl Hughes’ immaculately-restored 1937 43ft Tyrrell gaff ketch Maybird became both the oldest and the first gaff-rigged boat to complete the Round Ireland Race in 2018.  The historic yacht now moored in Cork Harbour on the Owenabue river is the…

It’s said that when the experimentally-minded William Petty, the compiler of the Down Survey in Ireland in the 1660s, decided to build his very innovative Simon & Jude catamaran in 1663 for testing in Dublin Bay, the decidedly odd vessel…

A new expedition to find the wreck of Sir Ernest Shackleton’s Endurance will set sail for Antarctica one month after the centenary of his death. According to The Irish Times, the Endurance22 Expedition aims to find, survey and film the…

The night before Ernest Shackleton died a century ago today (Wed Jan 5) in Antarctica, he wrote in his diary of the “lone star” Sirius which was “hovering gem-like above the bay”. A group of enthusiasts searched for the same…

The Conamara family of sailors known as Clann Johnny Jimmy Pheaitín are profiled in a documentary on TG4. Pádraig, Jimmy and Seáinín are “Na Jimmys”, associated with the Galway Hooker An Mhaighdean Mhara. The programme “Bádóirí- Na Jimmys” interviews the…

St Stephen’s Day saw the inaugural launch of traditional Currach craft on the Owenabue River at Carrigaline in Cork Harbour. Members of Naomhoga Corcaigh rowed from Wesley across to the Otter which is atop the plinth in the centre of…