Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

A County Down swimmer has broken a world record and claimed two gold medals at the ice swimming world championships, reports The Belfast Telegraph. Grace McLaughlin from Bangor defied freezing temperatures to triumph at the International Ice Swimming Association’s (IISA)…

It’s amazing what can be achieved if you put your mind to it. In September 2021 Rob Espey of Ballyholme Yacht Club bought a Waszp and at that time, his was the only one at the Club. Having a vision…

Time was in sailing when the Golden Jubilee of any One Design Class was a matter of extra-special celebration. But it’s now more than fifty years since glassfibre construction became mainstream. Thus instead of fleets dominated by timber boats which…

The first Northern Ireland boats to enter the Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta in July are Stuart Cranston’s Ker 32 from Strangford Lough Yacht Club and John Minnis’s Final Call II, an Archambault A35 from Royal Ulster on Belfast Lough. By…

The last time the RC35s raced in Belfast Lough was in the 2022 Bangor Town Regatta. And so successful was the class that it can look forward to a stand-alone event in June this season. Hosted by the Royal Ulster…

Ballyronan Boat Club is a small club on the Northwestern shore of Lough Neagh in Northern Ireland, the largest body of inland water in the British Isles, and it was from this small outfit that the Commodore, Elwyn Agnew and…

Luckily for East Antrim Boat Club the weather for its Christmas Regatta in Larne Lough didn’t live up to the forecast and there was a lot less wind than expected. Despite the constantly shifting breeze the race officer Richard Doig…

Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) volunteers have been recognised in His Majesty The King’s New Year Honours for their roles in helping the charity save lives at sea. Five RNLI volunteers with nearly 240 years of service between them – including…

Helen’s Bay is a small village on the Belfast to Bangor railway line on the south shore of Belfast Lough and is named after Helen Blackwood, Baroness Dufferin and Clandeboye, who lived in the early nineteenth century. It’s not recorded…

The North Down Model Yacht Club completed the first part of its Winter series last weekend, with the finals of the Friday racing and the Sunday series within days of each other. David Speers won both sections. The group welcomed…

The Strangford and Lecale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) is looking for Youth Rangers. Lecale is a peninsula in the east of County Down and lies between Strangford Lough and Dundrum Bay. It was designated an AONB in 1967…

Erin McIlwaine is an 18-year-old sailor from Kilkeel on the South Down coast and a member of the nearby Newcastle Yacht Club and Royal St. George in Dun Laoghaire on Dublin Bay. Erin has recently teamed up with Ellie Cunnane…

Ballyholme Yacht Club's Junior Icebreaker series came to a conclusion with prize giving on Saturday, 17th December, for ILCA, 29er, Feva, Topper 5.3, Topper 4.2 and Optimist classes. The series is open to all cadets and particularly aims to support those…

A week out, the dogs on the streets could have told us that the weather was not looking good for the last day of racing, and true enough, with a base rate of 18 knots gusting 33 knots and a…

The British Sailing Team has launched its new development academy, 'the British Sailing Squad', aimed at developing Olympic stars of the future. The British Sailing Squad will act as an apprenticeship to the senior British Sailing Team, giving talented young…

In true proverbial fashion, the weather for the races in Part 1 of the Antrim Boat Club Winter Series came in like a lion and out like a lamb. And for the last two races in the series winds were…