Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

Wind and sun provided champagne sailing on day three of Kinsale Yacht Club's Spring Sailing Series 2018. It was a perfect day for the windward leeward course with a blustery 20–knot breeze blowing from Bullen’s Bay. The 1055 first gun…

The loss of young sailors to the sport is an issue that has been identified by many clubs around the country and at national level. Other sports can be more attractive to younger age groups, particularly it seems as teenagers…

After a few negative years, resulting in some despondency about the future of cruiser racing, the annual meeting of SCORA, the South Coast Offshore Racing Association, had a more positive atmosphere, with a good attendance of skippers, boat owners and…

Connor Phelan's Jump juice will be among the winners saluted tonight at the South Coast Offshore Racing Association (SCORA) agm and prizegiving that will be held in the Royal Cork Yacht Club at 7.45pm writes Bob Bateman. Cruiser–racer fortunes are…

The best was kept til last and the closing races of the CH Marine Autumn League today in Cork Harbour featured some fine sailing conditions writes Bob Bateman. Winds were force four from the north/north west on a beautiful Autumn day at Crosshaven.…

69 yachts have entered for the Cobh-to-Blackrock Race tomorrow writes Tom MacSweeney. This is the annual sailing race from Cobh to Blackrock which once marked the end of the sailing season in Cork Harbour. It no longer is that end-of-season…

Friday morning in Schull must have turned into a nightmare for Calves Week Race Officer Neill Prenderville, when he awoke to find the West Cork venue covered in fog and a forecast for further wind and rain. Competitors had previously…

For a third time running the Rolex Fastnet Race has been a story of French domination, Le Tricolor flying on this occasion from the top spot in IRC 1, 2, 3 and 4, the Class40 and IMOCA 60, the Two…

The final results of the Rolex Fastnet Race 2017 show that Kenneth Rumball with the Irish National Sailing School’s J/109 Jedi has won in IRC 3B, where third place has been taken by ISORA’s J/109 Mojito. And RORC Commodore Michael…

The Courtmacsherry RNLI Lifeboat completed the rescue of the 40–ft Fastnet Yacht Race competitor following the early morning callout at 3.21am this morning. Both boats arrived to the Inner Harbour at Courtmacsherry in County Cork just after 8am this morning, after a…

Calves Week 2017 Regatta kicked off today in West Cork and Bob Bateman captured the action for Afloat.ie in the photo gallery below. The opening day started out clear and bright with a light northerly wind, forcing OD Niall Prendeville…

The standout performance of the 2017 O'Leary Life Sovereign’s Cup was Rob McConnell’s Fool’s Gold, with a string of six bullets in a Class 1 IRC fleet jam-packed with top-notch racers and no less than eleven J109s writes Peadar Murphy.…

The halfway stage of the O’Leary Life Sovereigns Cup at Kinsale Yacht Club was marked by perfect sailing conditions today with the 98-strong fleet revelling in the steadily building breeze that topped out with 25 knot gusts and brilliant sunshine…

There were ideal sailing conditions off Kinsale today for the second day of the O'Leary Life Sovereign's Cup.  Medium to heavy winds and sunshine delivered another racing programme, mostly incident-free. A turnout of 98 boats from around Ireland and further…

Rob McConnell’s Fool’s Gold from Waterford Harbour Sailing Club won both races of the first day of the O'Leary Life Sovereign's Cup in Division One, the largest fleet in the event with 18 entries, a result only matched elsewhere in…

With about 100–boats entered for the first races of O'Leary Life & Pensions Sovereigns Cup this afternoon, there are plenty of good boats capable of winning in each class in Kinsale's biennial Grand Prix Regatta. Sticking its neck out, here…