Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

With the RNLI’s summer lifeguard service now ended for 2020, swimmers and surfers on Northern Ireland’s North Coast have been urged “to be extra vigilant”. The warning from Coleraine Coastguard comes after three swimmers got into difficulty at Castlerock Beach…

It's 76 years since the Lufra Cup was first presented to the winner of Ballyholme's Menagerie Race, a pursuit event run traditionally to mark Closing Day when there was no such thing as Winter, let alone Autumn racing in Belfast…

Bangor on Belfast Lough is hoping to secure through Ards and North Down Borough Council, around £40m from the Belfast City Regional Deal to fund the Bangor Waterfront Development and will submit the Outline Business Case to the Belfast Region…

A surfer from Northern Ireland got more than he bargained for when he was chased by a pod of killer whales off Donegal last week. As the News Letter reports, Derry man Ryan Vail was catching waves off Culdaff on…

Seven people were rescued from two vessels that ran aground on Lough Neagh in Northern Ireland on Saturday night (12 September). Lifeboats and shore crew were quickly tasked by Belfast Coastguard to the scene at Coney Island, where the vessels…

Scottish yacht designer Alfred Mylne designed the River Class in 1920 at the behest of eight members of the Royal Ulster Yacht Club (RUYC) in Bangor on Belfast Lough. Next year the design is celebrating its 100th anniversary. In all…

Irish Tokyo 2021 solo campaigner, 27-year-old Donaghadee Sailing Club member Oisin McClelland has clinched a personal best, claiming 23rd spot at the Finn European Championships at Gdynia in Poland. The event ran from 1st to 6th September and was the…

Last year Jonny Clements took part in a boating event in Lough Erne in a mixed fleet of craft from canoes to sailing boats. Having been impressed by the sailing dinghies and not having ever sailed before, he bought a…

An Olympian, World and national champion were among the sailors competing at Royal North of Ireland Yacht Club for the 13-boat 2020 Squib Class Northern Championships on Belfast Lough. Race 1, 17kts WNW, got away without a hitch, 13 boats…

Mayor of Ards and North Down Councillor Trevor Cummings, visited teen solo sailor Timothy Long onboard his yacht Hunter Impala yacht, Alchemy to welcome him officially to Bangor. As Afloat reported previously, fifteen-year-old Timothy aims to become the youngest person…

Ballyholme Yacht Club is to bring Dom Moore from Surf Sanctuary, Newquay in the UK to deliver the first British Stand Up Paddleboarding Association (BSUPA) Instructor Course in Northern Ireland. Dom is currently putting 16 students and two instructor assessors…

The Irish Multihull Committee has postponed its Eastern Championships at Wicklow Sailing Club and the Irish Open Championships at Swords Sailing Club due to Covid 19. Both events will now take place in 2021. Ballyholme Yacht Club has agreed to…

 The Royal Yachting Association Northern Ireland Youth Championships on 19/20 September will feel the ongoing effect of the Covid-19 pandemic in that a restricted Youth Sailing Championships will be run on the 19th and 20th September at Ballyholme Yacht Club…

Accomplished sailor Andrew Baker has been appointed as the new RYA Northern Ireland Performance Manager, taking up the post this week. Recruitment for the role started in February but was delayed until lockdown measures eased and continued funding form Sport…

Timothy Long from Buckinghamshire in England is only 15, and by the time he finishes his fundraising solo sail around Britain, he will have 1,600-miles under his belt. In his Hunter Impala 28 'Alchemy' Timothy covers around 45 miles a…

A Notice to Mariners issued on 29th August by Bangor Harbour on Belfast Lough warns that the slipway in front of the Lifeboat house has been closed due to a sunken vessel. On Wednesday night (26th August) the owners of…