Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

Last Wednesday (January 6th) Bangor Coastguard Team answered a report of a cetacean washed up on Crawfordsburn Beach on Belfast Lough. It was identified on social media as a Common Dolphin and it was suggested that the find should be…

Five young sailors have been given a unique chance to boost their training and skills after they were awarded funding from the Mary Peters Trust. The Trust aims to help aspiring young athletes, whatever their sport or social background, to…

A positive 25 one design entries received so far into ten divisions of Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta 2021 has been welcomed by organisers as the combined Dun Laoghaire clubs regatta rolls out its new COVID-compliant format event that splits the…

Lough Erne Yacht Club on the Lower Lough is situated about six miles north of Enniskillen on Goblusk Bay and occupies a former WW2 RAF site built in 1941 for Catalina Flying Boats. It has the enviable facility of being…

Think of the GP14 class in Ireland and among those uppermost in your mind, (depending on your age!) would be the late Ernie Mawhinney's Ventura, one of the earliest in the class at number 796. Ventura means 'fortune, chance or…

Among those in the New Years Honours List for 2021 is Bangor, County Down man Bill O'Hara who has been awarded an OBE (Order of the British Empire) for services to Sailing. A long-time member of Ballyholme and Royal Ulster…

John McVea, class captain of the now 100-year-old River Class which sails regularly at Strangford Lough Yacht Club, had been looking forward to a 2020 season of centenary celebrations. Covid 19 put paid to that, but one achievement which has…

It's a long way from Whiterock on Strangford Lough to Clifden in County Galway where the new Shannon class all-weather lifeboat will be stationed in 2022. It will be the second such vessel to be part of the charity's 'Launch…

Marine scientists have been baffled by the unexpected return of wild oysters to Belfast Lough, as the Guardian reports. The threatened shellfish species was last recorded in the Northern Ireland lough in the late 1800s before overfishing destroyed the native population.…

Nigel McNeely was a motorboat man who had also enjoyed sailing a Leisure 17. But with two young boys reaching the age at which they could learn to sail, Nigel bought a second-hand GP14 called Alchemellia (no 12819) originally owned…

Seventeen single-handers took advantage of a favourable day on Sunday last (20th) to hold a Christmas Regatta at East Antrim Boat Club on Larne Lough before the shut down in Northern Ireland on Boxing Day. The fleet consisted of two…

Ballyholme Yacht Club on Belfast Lough will host the British Topper Nationals, scheduled for early August next year, a few days after the World Championships in Cork Harbour. With the Irish Nationals in Northern Ireland at Strangford Lough Yacht Club in…

Thirty young sailors managed a final outing at Ballyholme yesterday (December 22nd) before Covid 19 restrictions would put paid to their activities at the Club for six weeks. And the event was blessed with a bright sunny day, albeit with…

Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council has agreed funding of £66,000 for tourism projects by the Lough Neagh Partnership over the next three years, as the News Letter reports. Current projects at the north end of Lough Neagh include a new…

From 26 December Northern Ireland marinas will close and all sport including sailing event an elite level must stop the Northern Ireland Executive has ruled.  In response to the significant challenges facing the health service due to the Covid-19 pandemic,…

Larne Harbour on the east coast of Antrim in Northern Ireland is currently the base for the MPI Resolution, the world's first purpose-built vessel for installing offshore wind turbines, foundations, and transition pieces. The ship is working out of Larne…