Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

#GalwayHooker - Traditional Galway Hookers will converge on Kinvara next weekend (14-16 August) for the annual Cruinniú na mBád, or 'Gathering of the Boats'. As the Galway Advertiser reports, the festival that brings together the local favourite Galway Hookers with…

#rys200 – The Royal Yacht Squadron's Bicentenary International regatta is complete. "Four seasons in one week," was the apt summary from crew member Richard Mason of Dorade of Monday's gales, and a gradual wind reduction to the windless afternoon that…

#international12 – Classic boat sailors in Dun Laoghaire are intending to hold a championship for the vintage 12–footers in the Royal St George Yacht Club on 30th August. The purpose in holding the event this year is as a preview…

#waterwag – The hull of the latest Waterwag, the oldest one design dinghy class in the world, is being exhibited at the 2015 RDS National Crafts Awards Exhibition this week and during the Dublin Horse Show next week. Built in…

#int12  – In the 1950s Baltimore Sailing Club "inherited" a number of twelves from the Royal Munster to start the club going. We even had a few built by Paddy Hegarty in Oldcourt near Skibbereen. At the time they had…

#rounstoneregatta – Up to 15 Galway Hookers with distrinctive rusty coloured sails gathered for the two day Roundstone Regatta and festival that took place off the County Galway coasts in a mix of conditions over the weekend. Among the fleet…

#glandoreclassics – Last Friday saw the closing prizegiving of the CH Marine Glandore Classic Regatta of 2015. The regatta opened last Sunday with a wonderful parade of sail with about 60 boats dressed overall and sailing around the picturesque harbour…

#classicboats – The sun returned on the third day of Panerai British Classic Boat Week 2015 and the fleet enjoyed two spectacular round the cans races in the Western Solent, races three and four of the series. Whilst the classes…

#mavisafloat – The renowned John B Kearney-designed-and-built 38ft yawl Mavis of 1925 vintage was launched in her restored form at Camden in Maine over the weekend writes W M Nixon. While the weather was not as summery as forecasters had…

#antixfinger – When you play in the big boys game, then you play by the big boys' rules writes W M Nixon. And you take it like a man. That seems to be the attitude of the amateur crew who…

#anglingcot – The Ilen School, Roxboro, are today celebrating a great River Shannon adventure. This adventure involved 180–miles of rowing from Belleek in Fermanagh to Limerick City, over a two week period, by a team of two Ilen School boatmen…

#historiccraft  – Already more than 70 entries have registered for Panerai British Classic Week 2015, which will take place from 18th – 25th July at Cowes Yacht Haven. Leading the international visitors are French America's Cup legend Bruno Troublé who…

#galwayhooker – Although the classic cutter-rigged Galway hookers are synonymous these days with Connemara and Kinvara, time was when there was a thriving boatbuilding community in the Claddagh in the heart of Galway city. But there hadn't been a substantial…

#HistoricBoats - The storied tradition of wooden boat building in Fermanagh is the subject of a new exhibition at Enniskillen Library from next Monday 29 June to Saturday 4 July. Photos, anecdotes and artefacts of the era of clinker-built boats…

#classicboats – A buoyant 65 entries graced Crosshaven's 20th anniversary Classic boats festival in Cork Harbour at the weekend. Boats ranging in size from Graham Bailey's 65–ft Sailing Luger 'Peel Castle', to Conor English's locally built 8 ft Rankin marked its significant birthday with…

#folkboat – A 26ft–clinker Built 'Folkboat' discovered after ten years in storage will go under the hammer later this month. Auctioneer David Herman of Herman Wilkinson Auctioneers in Dublin says the ex–Galway classic boat named 'WAIRINGI' is a 'fabulous restoration project…