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Finola Flanagan with ISORA’s Wolf’s Head champion’s trophy with her husband Paul O’Higgins (centre) and his crew of shipmates and friends who race the successful Rockabill VI
While sailing in Ireland has its conspicuously attention-getting aspects, the real backbone of the sport continues to be the active club sailor who can quietly keep a usefully large crew panel together in order to have the right mix of…
The late Richard Tudor, for many years, was one of the guiding forces behind the development of sailing at Pwllheli in North Wales and in offshore racing in the Irish Sea

Richard Tudor RIP

1st January 2024 ISORA
His many sailing friends on both sides of the Irish Sea have been saddened to learn of the death of Richard Tudor of Pwllheli, an inspirational figure in sailing and across a wide spectrum of interests in boats. He was…
The J/122 El Ocaso – class winner in Antigua Week 2023 – has been chartered by Howth’s Simon Knowles for the RORC Caribbean 600 2024 in February
Howth Yacht Club J/109 skipper Simon Knowles – the inshore and offshore campaigner of Indian in Irish waters – and noted Pwllheli father-and-son offshore team of Andrew and Sam Hall, will be ensuring that the Irish Sea is well represented with…
ISORA Champions 2023 Rockabill VI are congratulated (from left) Philip Connor, Conor O'Higgins, Paul Gough, James Gunn, Ian O'Meara and John Kelly. Front: Finola Flanagan, Paul O'Higgins and Kieran Tarbett Rockabill's' crew panel includes the following (not pictured) Anna Walshe, Mark Pettitt, Oisin Collins, Rees Kavanagh, Adam Leddy, Harry Beausang, Graham Curran and Bill Nolan
ISORA applauded its 2023 overall champion Paul O'Higgins and his Royal Irish Rockabill VI crew at the association's annual sell-out black-tie dinner at the National Yacht Club on Saturday, November 11th. The winning JPK 10.80 crew and many other prizewinners…
ISORA 2023 champion Rockabill VI off Dun Laoghaire Harbour. The 2024 ISORA calendar includes a July race from Dun Laoghaire to Cork
ISORA has published a draft schedule for its 2024 fixtures that starts on May 6th with an early coastal series on both sides of the Irish Sea. The first cross-channel race is May 11th with a Dun Laoghaire - Pwllheli…
The start from Dun Laoghaire in 1888 of a Royal Alfred Yacht Club cross-channel race to Holyhead, where the finish would be co-ordinated by the Royal Mersey YC or the Royal Dee YC. This weekend sees two prize-givings in Dun Laoghaire with direct links to this 1888 event. The Royal Alfred YC is now merged into Dublin Bay SC, whose annual trophy distribution took place last night (Friday) in the National Maritime Museum. And tonight (Saturday) the Irish Sea Offshore Racing – formed in 1972 in a direct line of organisational descent from the early cross-channel inter-club co-operations shown above – will be holding its annual prize-giving dinner in the National YC in Dun Laoghaire
It’s prize-giving time down beside the Old Granite Pond. Last night (Friday), Commodore Eddie Totterdell presided over Dublin Bay Sailing Club’s annual re-distribution of their enormous cache of trophies in the National Maritime Museum in Dun Laoghaire. And tonight (Saturday),…
Despite reasonable entry numbers this season for ISORA, the number of boats racing was disappointing, says ISORA Chief Peter Ryan
Decreasing fleet numbers this season is 'the elephant in the room', according to a Dublin yacht racing organiser who wants to raise his concerns before the 2024 season. Irish Sea Offshore Racing Association (ISORA) Chairman Peter Ryan has asked fleet…
Liam Shanahan Senr’s db2s Lightning is officially welcomed back to the National Yacht Club in Dun Laoghaire after winning the 1988 Round Ireland Race
Liam Shanahan Senr was widely known in the sailing community as a determined offshore racing and cruising owner-skipper and a pillar of the National Yacht Club in Dun Laoghaire, both as a longtime Club Trustee and a racing and sea-going…
Sean Flood at the helm of Otto Glaser’s McGruer 47 Tritsch-Tratsch II with The Needles astern in the early stages of the 1974 RORC Cowes-Cork Race. Also just visible astern are Denis Doyle’s blue S&S 47 Moonduster, and Clayton Love’s Swan 44 Assiduous – they were still astern at the finish. Line honours and overall winner was Eric Tabarly’s then-new 70ft ketch Pen Duick VI, while Tritsch-Tratsch II was in the frame, and top Irish boat

Sean Flood 1932-2023

30th September 2023 W M Nixon
The life story of Sean Flood, who has died at the age of 91, is in many ways the story of modern Ireland as seen through a sailing and business lens. From a family of traditionally and strongly patriotic outlook,…
ISORA's annual black-tie prizegiving dinner at the National Yacht Club will be held on November 11th and features a reception, dinner, a Jack Ryan whiskey toast and dancing to a live band are all included in the ticket price
ISORA will applaud its 2023 overall champion Paul O'Higgins and his Royal Irish Rockabill VI crew at the association's annual black-tie dinner at the National Yacht Club on November 11th.  The winning JPK 10.80 crew and many other prizewinners will…
Pete Smyth's Sunfast 3600 Searcher from the National Yacht Club won ISORA's Friday night IRC race overall off the Dublin and Wicklow coast
Pete Smyth's Sunfast 3600 Searcher from the National Yacht Club won ISORA's Friday night IRC race overall from Dun Laoghaire Harbour. Seven boats took part in the final race of the Viking Marine coastal series around the Moulditch Buoy off…
Frank Whelan's Elliott 57 Opal is one of eight starters in Friday night's  ISORA Race  from Dun Laoghaire Harbour
The canting keel Elliott 57, Opal, skippered by Frank Whelan of Greystones, will compete in Friday's ISORA Viking Marine Coastal night race from Dun Laoghaire. According to organisers, the likely course will be 20 miles along the Dublin and Wicklow coast…
Liam Shanahan Snr.

Liam Shanahan Snr

21st September 2023 National YC
Afloat.ie regret to record the death of National Yacht Club member and former Trustee Mr. Liam Shanahan Snr. Liam and his wife Emir and family have been stalwart members of the National Yacht Club at Dun Laoghaire Harbour for many years.  "Together with their family,…
Pete Smyth's Searcher 3600 from the National Yacht Clu was an original entry for the last race of the Viknig Marine Coastal Race for the Vincent Farrell Trophy
The last race in the ISORA Viking Marine Coastal Series for the Vincent Farrell trophy will be sailed on Friday, 22nd September. As regular Afloat readers know, the Dun Laoghaire Harbour-based race was postponed due to gales on August 18th. …
Paul O'Higgins's JPK 10.80 Rockabill VI of the Royal Irish Yacht Club Dun Laoghaire is the 2023 ISORA champion after a 19-race series
Despite placing fourth and a strong final challenge from Welsh yachts in Saturday's end-of-season ISORA cross-channel race, Paul O'Higgins's Rockabill VI of Dun Laoghaire maintained her overall advantage and was crowned 2023 ISORA champion by a 3.1 points difference. In the…
Paul O'Higgins's JPK 10.80 Rockabill VI of the Royal Irish Yacht Club leads into this Saturday's final cross-channel race of the ISORA 2023 season
The last ISORA cross-channel race of 2023 takes place this Saturday (September 2nd), and there are early indications of a 12-boat turnout for the Irish offshore season's closing fixture. The 60-mile James C Eadie Cup Race from Pwllheli in North Wales…