Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

Last year there were over 140 boats in the long-established Bar Buoy Race and Narrows Series, a four-day bonanza of sail racing in the fast-flowing Strangford Narrows, the six-mile stretch of water that empties and fills the 58 sqm of…

The 36ft yawl Ainmara, designed and built in 1912 by the talented self-taught naval architect John B Kearney in Murphy’s Boatyard beside his family’s home in Ringsend, played a key role in Irish sailing north and south until 2018. She…

Enniskillen RNLI came to the aid of two people on Sunday (3 July) after their boat ran aground on Lower Lough Erne. The lifeboat volunteers were paged by Belfast Coastguard shortly before 1.45pm to rescue the duo at Gull Rock,…

In a warm-up for the 12-day long GP14 Worlds in Skerries in early August, a very competitive 40-strong fleet came to the line for the Ridgeway Irish GP14 Championships hosted by the Royal North of Ireland Yacht Club on the…

Peter Kennedy and Stephen Kane from Strangford Lough YC topped the fourteen-strong fleet of Flying Fifteens at the Northern Championships hosted by County Antrim YC on the north shore of Belfast Lough. Competitors travelled from as far away as Draycote…

RYA Northern Ireland has announced this year’s Women on Water Festival, which is set to be an action-packed day at Donaghadee Sailing Club. This event, which will take place on Saturday 23 July, will be the third festival to run…

Newcastle RNLI rescued five rowers early yesterday morning (Sunday 26 June) after they got into difficulty in challenging weather conditions 23 nautical miles northeast of Ardglass. The crew from the GB Row Challenge had left Tower Bridge London on 12…

Six round-Britain rowers have been rescued by Red Bay RNLI amid “hugely challenging conditions” at sea off Northern Ireland. As the Belfast Telegraph reports, the group were part of the GB Endurance team taking part in a coastal rowing challenge…

At 8.15pm on Monday 20 June, Carrybridge RNLI’s inshore lifeboat, Douglas Euan & Kay Richards was launched at the request of Belfast Coastguard, to assess a 35 foot cruiser which was reported by a member of the public to be…

The late Raymond Beattie was a Strangford Lough man through and through, an enthusiastic sailor and member of Killyleagh Yacht Club. He passed away in the Isle of Man on 1st June following a tragic accident. In a fitting tribute…

A new sensor to detect erosion of riverbeds and banks which can cause bridge collapse has been developed by a Queen’s University Belfast (QUB) researcher. The erosion, known as “scour”, is regarded as the leading cause worldwide of major structural…

Simply Blue Group, a leading Irish Blue economy developer in floating offshore wind, wave energy and low-impact aquaculture, has announced its second offshore wind project for Northern Ireland. The ‘Olympic Offshore Wind’ project is a sister project to ‘Nomadic Offshore…

The North Channel isn’t a very enticing place when you want to sail to Portpatrick on the Mull of Galloway in Scotland in windy conditions in a hydrofoiling Waszp dinghy and even less so when you’re attempting to set a…

The light winds forecast for the Ailsa Craig Race from Royal Ulster on Belfast Lough on Friday night turned out to be at times 17 knots, which for Stuart Cranston’s Ker 32 Hijacker appeared just at the wrong time when…

On Sunday 5th June lifeboats went to the aid of a jet ski with two people on board in difficulties on the River Blackwater which flows into the south western corner of Lough Neagh. It was towed to Maghery where…

Excitement is growing on Belfast Lough with the prospect of next week’s Bangor Town Regatta bringing over 600 sailors to that seaside town, now designated ‘City’, for the resurrected event which has been on hold during the pandemic. Chairman Gavin…