Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

The winter lift-out of sailing cruisers was completed in Dun Laoghaire Harbour on Saturday, October 14th. About sixty yachts and cruisers were hauled out of the water in chilly but otherwise, near-perfect weather conditions as the 2023 summer season ended at Ireland's…

Overall standards of pilotage in Europe remain “very high” but standards seem to be dropping in some ports, the Association of Marine Pilots Ireland (AMPI) conference heard. Capt John Conlon of Arklow Shipping made the point at the recent AMPI…

New archaeological legislation allows Ireland to ratify the 2001 UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage. The Historic and Archaeological Heritage and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2023 will “repeal” existing legislation relating to Ireland’s archaeological and related heritage.…

In an early morning sea rescue, volunteers from the Clogherhead RNLI were called upon to come to the aid of a drifting 42 ft leisure craft. The Coast Guard requested assistance on Friday, 13 October, after the vessel experienced fuel…

As the 1250-mile Sydney-Auckland Race progressed from the start on Saturday, October 7th, it was clear that Mike Martin's veteran TP52 Frantic - originally Eamonn Conneelly's first Patches, and known with her crew lineup as "The Irish Boat" - was…

You never really know when you’re experiencing history in the making. It was early in March 1973 when we were invited to Portaferry, along the east side of the Narrows going into Strangford Lough, on a Saturday morning. The idea…

The final meeting of JPI Oceans Joint Action on ‘Ecological Aspects of Microplastics’ was held in Galway on 14-15 September, as previously reported on Afloat.ie. During the two-day event hosted by the Marine Institute, research teams from the six funded…

Waterways Ireland advises masters and owners of vessels on the Grand Canal that culvert replacement works will be commencing on the summit level from Thursday 2 November. These works — some 450 metres east of Lock 19 in Lowtown, Co…

Waterways Ireland wishes to remind all masters and owners of vessels on the Grand Canal, Royal Canal and Barrow Navigation that all canal permits expire on Wednesday 1 November and must be renewed. Permits can be renewed online at the…

The Department of Transport has been advised of the deployment of a metocean data buoy by University College Dublin west of Inishmaan, some 6.6 nautical miles off Eeragh Lighthouse on Rock Island. This deployment is scheduled to take place from…

New Zealand bounced back from its enforced racing hiatus by picking up two race wins and ending Cadiz’s practice racing at the top of the leaderboard, tied on points with ROCKWOOL DEN. The result comes the day before the Spanish…

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…

Three Irish aquatech companies at the forefront of sustainable seafood farming have been named as finalists for the inagurual BIM Aquatech Business of the Year award. The winning company will be announced at the “Aquatech – Ireland’s Global Opportunity” conference in…

The tenth edition of the non-stop, non-assisted, single-handed round-the-world Vendee Globe race has set a new record with 44 skippers applying. There are a number of newcomers, the 18 'rookies'. The youngest skipper, Violette Dorange, is just 22! She is…

Squib National Champions Gordon Patterson and Ross Nolan from Royal North of Ireland Yacht Club on Belfast Lough are among 33 class entries that will compete this weekend at Lough Derg Yacht Club's Freshwater Keelboat Regatta in County Tipperary. Other entries…

Construction work to upgrade Rosslare Europort Terminal 7 has been welcomed as “critically important “ by the Minister of State with responsibility for the Office of Public Works (OPW) Patrick O’Donovan. As Afloat reported earlier, John Paul Construction was awarded…

The Notice of Race is now available for the fifth edition of the Drheam Cup, which will take place from 11-21 July 2024. As previously reported on Afloat.ie, the competition’s three courses will be identical to the previous edition’s, between…

New infrastructure works at Rosslare Europort have started so to enable handling post-Brexit checks on goods in bound to the country from those outside of the EU. The works at the strategically located port in Co. Wexford will as RTE…

Dr Colm Lordan, an Irish marine scientist with over 25 years of experience at the Marine Institute and involvement with the International Council for Exploration of the Sea (ICES) since 1993, has been appointed as the new Chair of the…

The deepest container ship terminal in Scotland, at the Port of Greenock (Clydeport) has welcomed the largest container vessel ever to berth at the facility. The port which recently won a Green champion award, hosted the 300m long MSC Magnum…