Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

Ireland’s lone sailor Tom Dolan has been celebrating his fifth place with friends and fellow contenders in Martinique at the conclusion of the Transoceanic 2,750-mile Leg 2 of the Mini-Transat 2017 writes W M Nixon. After an improving performance which…

In a final twist to the Mini-Transat 2017 saga this afternoon at Le Marin in Martinique, Ireland’s Tom Dolan came within 21 minutes of grabbing a podium place writes W M Nixon. After Erwan Le Draoulec’s clear win this morning,…

With Production Class winner Erwan Le Draoulec finished early this morning in the Mini-Transat 2017 with a very clear lead, Irish solo sailor Tom Dolan’s many supporters at home and abroad maintain a slim hope that he might yet scrape…

Fortunes have waxed and waned as the 80 little boats in the Mini Transat Boulangere close towards the finish of the 2,000 mile transoceanic leg from Las Palmas in the Canaries - via a mandatory gate in the Cape Verde…

Ireland’s Tom Dolan held on to third place over the weekend as the Mini-Transat Production Class leaders closed into the final third of the Transoceanic leg, with the northeast tradewinds providing difficult sailing in increasingly volatile conditions writes W M…

Tom Dolan has been having a good week in the Mini-Transat as he consolidates his position among the leading five writes W M Nixon. This morning, he’s in third place, having gained from his closest challenger Pierre Chedeville making what…

The process of transforming the restored hull and deck of the 1926-built 56ft Conor O’Brien historic ketch Ilen into a living ship continues writes W M Nixon. The programme is co-ordinated and combined between the Ilen Boatbuilding School in Limerick,…

As the wind-killing shadow of the Cape Verde Islands faded astern yesterday evening and he shaped his course with his Pogo IRL 910 for the finish of the Mini-Transat Race 2017 two thousand miles away in Martinique, Ireland’s solo sailor…

Ireland’s solo sailor Tom Dolan has been finding form and much-improved placings among the leaders in the Mini-Transat 2017 as the front runners approach the mandatory course gate, the channel between Santo Antao and Sao Vicente, the most westerly islands…

Ireland’s solo sailor Tom Dolan moved up to 15th place over-night as the fleet in Mini-Transat continues to hold closer to the African coast in search of stronger northeast breezes writes W M Nixon. However, the decision to make the…

In the Transatlantic stage of the La Boulangerie Mini-Transat 2017, which started yesterday from Las Palmas in Gran Canaria, solo sailor Tom Dolan and his rival/friend Pierre Chedeville have chosen to break from the fleet and hold well to the…

Irish solo sailor Tom Dolan has vowed to bounce back after a disappointing start to his bid to reach the podium of the Mini Transat when the second leg begins on November 1. The 30-year-old from Kells, County Meath, admits…

As the tension builds for Ireland's Tom Dolan, the Mini Transat fleet have had a late change of course ahead of tomorrow's Transatlantic start from Gran Canaria.   Midway between the Bahamas and the Azores, a tropical wave is taking shape…

Royal Cork's Mark Mansfield, the four time Olympic helmsman, dropped in on Tom Dolan in Las Palmas, Gran Canaria ahead of today's prologue in the second leg of the Mini Transat. Regular readers will know that solo sailor Dolan, who…

Tom Dolan has had a good rest and recharge after ten and a half tough days at sea during the first stage of the 2017 Mini–Transat. Here he gives a short rundown of how things went with some video from…

At 00.57.20 this morning UTC, Ireland’s Tom Dolan finally crossed the finish line in Las Palmas in the Canaries in 12th place at the end at the end of a mostly slow 1,350 mile Stage 1 of the Mini-Transat from…