Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

As planned, the second leg of the 23rd Mini Transat EuroChef kicked off Friday and Ireland's only entry in the solo sailing race is lying 12th in the Proto division. As reported earlier, Galway Franco-Irish sailmaker Yannick Lemonnier, racing Port of Galway,…

The McIntyre Globe 5.80 design was created by Australian voyager and adventurer Don McIntyre to bring Mini Transat-style campaigning within the reach of independent sailors with minimal resources. Photographer Jim Schofield (57) of Blessington in County Wicklow - a member…

Despite being battered by storms and whales off northwest Spain, 87 boats of the originally 90-strong fleet which started from France in the Eurochef Minitransat 2021 completed the first stage to La Palma in the Canary Islands. There, life was…

Disappointment is always hard to take, but Peter Lawless is determined, even though he has, this time, failed in his ambition to become the first Irishman to sail around the world non-stop. The Kerry solo sailor left Kilrush Marina in…

Solo sailor Yannick Lemonnier racing Port of Galway finished the first stage of the Eurochef MiniTransat 2021 at 16th in class this afternoon (Saturday) at Palme in the western Canaries, having moved up a couple of places during the final…

The Minis Transat fleet was emphatically divided by hundreds of miles when the leaders managed to get themselves well south past Cape Finisterre in northwest Spain before ferocious weather and aggressive killer whales forced a significant section of the fleet…

While everyone else was staring goggle-eyed at rapidly-changing and decidedly hostile weather charts last Thursday, and wondering whether the weekend's racing was going to be possible at all, in typical style the always-amazing Gary MacMahon was at sea off our…

While the leading boats in the fleet of 90 racing the Mini Transat 2021 are now passing Madeira and well on their way to their planned stopover in the Canaries (where they may well find that volcanic activity interferes with…

The exceptionally-demanding final 642-mile stage of La Solitaire du Figaro 2021 took the 34-strong fleet from Morlaix in Brittany northwest round the Fastnet Rock, and then southeast to the finish at Saint-Nazaire on France's Biscay Coast. After three frustrating stages,…

Galway solo sailor Yannick Lemonnier is in 15th place in the 25-boat Proto division on the first stage of the Mini Transat Race. Lemonnier, the only Irish competitor, is 85-miles behind leader Perre Le Roy in a leg that has…

Limerick solo sailor Peter Lawless has had further setbacks to his hopes of being the first Irishman to sail round the world non-stop and alone, as he has experienced renewed difficulties with his steering gear and rudder, which necessitated putting…

Ireland’s Tom Dolan was in fine form last night (Friday) in Saint-Nazaire at the awards ceremony for the 52nd Solitaire du Figaro, winning the Vivi Trophy for the best-placed non-French skipper in the demanding fourth stage, and taking third place…

Tom Dolan with Smurfit Kappa-Kingspan threw aside the earlier frustrations of the Figaro Solo 2021 by taking third place at the conclusion of the final stage at the finish off St Nazaire tonight (Thursday). Having been in the lead in…

Having led the fleet round the Fastnet rock, Ireland's solo sailor Tom Dolan is in third place and vying for a stage four win this lunchtime in the closing stages of the 2021 La Solitaire Du Figaro off Saint Nazaire,…

After a three day, no-shore-contact stopover at anchor off Portimao in southern Portugal to sort rudder and electronics problems, Limerick’s Peter Lawless (52) is southward bound again in his Rival 41 Waxwing in his bid to be the first Irishman…

The Irish solo sailor Tom Dolan is leading the 52nd La Solitaire du Figaro fleet towards the Fastnet Rock with high hopes that he will be able to stay in front and lead the 34 boat fleet round the iconic…