Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

Hen Island lies in Whiterock Bay near Sketrick Island on the west shore of Strangford Lough in Northern Ireland and used to be the location for a popular raft race. Now post Lockdown the Strangford Lough Raft Race is back…

Con Murphy from the National Yacht Club in Dun Laoghaire Harbour is an internationally known sailor and International Race Officer. So Bangor Town Regatta will be in safe hands as he will be the Principal Race Officer for the event…

Waterways Ireland has issued advisories for masters on Lough Erne in Northern Ireland over two angling events in the area taking place next weekend. On Lower Lough Erne, the Ulster Trout Angling Championship will take place on Saturday 9 April.…

RYA Northern Ireland has welcomed the announcement that Ireland’s first ever international watersport expo will be held at the EIKON exhibition centre in Lisburn next March. Ireland on the Water Expo will take place on 4-5 March 2023 and is…

Marking what it described as a “new dawn”, an Antrim company has launched the province’s largest sightseeing passenger ferry. The new vessel Kintra II marks a £1 million investment by Kintra Boat Tours, and the creation of eight jobs. The…

Kevin O’Neill’s boat-shed at Kirkistown on the Ards Peninsula in Co Down has seen many boat restorations, the most recent being the MGRS 34, Twenty Twenty for Rex Robinson of Dublin Bay (renamed Debbie R in memory of his late…

The programme of dredging Carrickfergus Marina on the north shore of Belfast Lough has suffered delays, apparently due to operational reasons. The original date for completion was this past Thursday 24 March. Meanwhile, the status of dredging operations in the…

Lagan Search and Rescue is looking for new team members. Based out of Belfast Harbour and Lough, Lagan SAR operates an Independent Lifeboat, Type B Flood Team, Quayside Response, and Rescue Swimmer Corps. The crew is made up of dedicated…

A Northern Ireland-based yacht broker has been banned from driving in the Republic after his Ferrari was clocked at nearly 200kmh in Donegal last year. According to the Sunday World, GulfStream Boat Sales boss Niall Heaney was witnessed by gardaí…

Silvery Light Sailing is Northern Ireland’s only Maritime Heritage Community Boatworks and Sail Training Charity and it has just been awarded a National Lottery Heritage Fund grant of £244,975 for the acquisition of the 1892-built Heritage Tall Ship Leader and…

In November last year, Bangor Marina in partnership with the Ulster Wildlife Trust made plans to establish the first native oyster nursery in Northern Ireland. The earliest report of a recognised commercial oyster fishery in Belfast Lough was in the late…

The Loughs Agency and Woodland Trust Northern Ireland have announced the launch of their new biodiversity project, TREES, within the Foyle and Carlingford catchment areas. The primary aim of the TREES project is to protect and restore vital habitats for…

A volunteer crew member from Carrybridge Lifeboat Station successfully completed the rigorous RNLI helm assessment this past Wednesday 9 March. Twenty-nine-year-old Kyle Boyd works for Openreach and has spent a lifetime on Upper and Lower Lough Erne in Co Fermanagh,…

RYA Northern Ireland is looking for the next location to host its popular Women on Water (WOW) Festival. As previously reported on Afloat.ie, the WOW initiative began in 2016, allowing over 500 women to get on the water with 12…

It was a busy afternoon on International Women’s Day for one of Portrush RNLI’s three women crew volunteers as the lifeboat was launched on Tuesday 8 March to reports of a fishing vessel in difficulty. The 26ft vessel with two…

The Loughs Agency has made the decision to retain salmon carcass tag numbers for licence holders for the 2022 season in line with the previous year’s policy. The Agency introduced the interim policy for the 2020/2021 season whereby the number…