Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

HMRC has issued Excise Notice 554 which contains details about fuel used in private pleasure craft. For Northern Ireland (NI), private pleasure craft users will no longer be able to use red diesel to propel their craft, but the deadline…

We can only hope that next week's up-grading of our sailing from training events to official racing will hold up through a steadily developing season, despite the many challenges to continuing emergence from the pandemic. If it does, then when…

At 6.30 pm on Saturday 29 May, Carrybridge RNLI’s inshore lifeboat, Douglas Euan & Kay Richards was launched to a vessel with two people on board, which had run aground approx. 1 mile North East of Tiraroe public jetty. Winds…

The Irish GP14 fleet has confirmed its Ulster Championships will go ahead in Newtownards Sailing Club on the weekend of June 19/20 as planned. It's buoyant news for one of the country's leading dinghy classes that had to scratch its…

Portaferry RNLI launched to the aid of a person who had fallen at Ardglass Harbour, on Northern Ireland’s east coast, early yesterday morning (Sunday 30 May). Pagers sounded for the volunteer lifeboat crew at 6:54am after HM Coastguard requested the…

Ahead of the Bank Holiday weekend the RNLI and HM Coastguard are launching a new safety campaign, urging everyone to choose lifeguarded beaches when they visit the coast. With continued uncertainty over foreign holidays and international travel, the RNLI is…

A group of open water swimmers who were rescued after getting caught in a rip current have raised over £1,000 for Larne RNLI. The swimmers were safely recovered to the shore before action was required by the station’s lifeboats in…

Portaferry RNLI launched to the aid of two sailors late last night (Tuesday 25 May) after their yacht broke down a mile off the mouth of Strangford Lough. Pagers sounded for the Northern Ireland volunteer lifeboat crew at 11.10pm after…

Kilkeel RNLI launched their inshore lifeboat to the aid of two fishermen stranded in Carlingford Lough on Saturday (22 May). The fishermen had been lifting creels just off Cranfield Point on the Northern Ireland side when the 25ft boat’s propeller…

It was multi shout four days for Bangor Coastguard Rescue Team on Belfast Lough when they covered calls some of which resulted in rescue action. On Thursday (20th) the team attended a yacht offshore reported to have a broken mast…

Newcastle RNLI in County Down came to the aid of a group of sailors yesterday afternoon (Sunday 23 May) after two vessels got into difficulty off the South Promenade. The inshore D class lifeboat was requested to launch shortly after…

Snipes, the feathered sort, inhabit wetlands and lakes but in Ireland the breed is on the Red List, meaning it is of high conservation concern. Snipe dinghies (the wooden version) were common in Northern Ireland from the 1930s till the…

The British Government has announced a three-month delay in the implementation of the red diesel ban for private pleasure craft in Northern Ireland. The move follows lobbying by Bangor Marina and others in the NI leisure boating industry who emphasised…

Harland & Wolff, the iconic shipyard on Belfast Lough with over 160 years of maritime and offshore engineering pedigree, welcomed The Prince of Wales on 18 May 2021 to mark its 160th anniversary. Arriving at Harland & Wolff (Belfast), His Royal…

Northern Ireland yachtsman Stephen Milne from Bangor in County Down is currently in Slovenia as part of the eight-man Swedish Artemis racing team taking part in the RC44 Cup in Portoroz. Co-incidentally another Bangor man Bill O'Hara is the Class…

It could be construed as an encouraging sign that half of the twelve-boat entry for the inaugural Royal Ulster Yacht Club on Belfast Lough to Strangford Lough Race was from that destination. Boats from the local fleet which would have…