Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

Ireland's most westerly Atlantic outcrop, the Blasket Islands, are so imbued with mythology and an almost supernatural ruggedness that no-one had previously thought of using the group’s lighthouse island, Inishtearaght, as the turning point for a 240-mile offshore race. But…

The transition from junior to senior sailing is difficult at the best of times, and the Irish “Sailor of the Year 2021” Eve McMahon of Howth has found that the arbitrary dictates of personal birth dates means that she has…

When Hal Sisk of Dun Laoghaire was awarded the International “Classic Boater Of The Year” Award in London on April 12th, the brief outline of his major achievements in preserving maritime heritage may have high-lighted his current project - with…

A rose is still a rose by any other name, but though Cork Institute of Technology is now Munster Technological University, its team keelboat sailing skipper is still Harry Durcan of Crosshaven. And at the weekend he showed he’d lost…

If you’re seeking an able, experienced and notably successful crewman in a wide variety of top-level craft, then seasoned international campaigner Shane Diviney of Howth is your man. Whether it’s the special skills needed to handle a large classic gaff-rigged…

In rowing solo and completely unaccompanied across the Atlantic, Dr Karen Weekes (54) - of Kinvara on Galway Bay - achieved so many “firsts” when she reached Barbados from the Canaries on Thursday, February 24th that it’s difficult to tabulate…

Only an exceptional international elite of sailors can provide the expertise to function as a team in getting record-breaking race-winning performances out of a super-maxi like the 100ft Comanche. But when she achieved both those pinnacles in January’s RORC Transatlantic…

There are times when somebody is so skilled in doing good work by stealth that their achievements tend to be hidden in plain sight. We were all reminded of this is in mid-January at the annual international AGM of the…

A very complete double of a successful Covid Project, followed by an adventurous Covid Breakout Achievement, came to fruition in January when Jim Schofield (57) of Blessington returned home to West Wicklow. His Covid Project was completed in the cramped…

Sailing and boating sports were more frustrated than many other activities during the highly-restricted peaks of the pandemic. For although it was universally agreed that there was nowhere more healthy and infection-free than aboard a boat out on the water…

Who gets your vote for Afloat Irish Sailor of the Year 2021? Afloat Sailors of the Month in 2021 kept our sport going through adversity is the view of Winkie Nixon in his review of 24 individual sailors, pairings and crews (below)…

With his fifth win of the Rolex Sydney-Hobart Race’s prized Tattersall Cup for overall victory – with the most recent wins being three in a row with Matt Allen’s TP52 Ichi Ban – ex-Pat Howth sailor Gordon Maguire has confirmed…

Conor Haughey of Malahide admits to an addiction. It’s to saltwater and long-distance voyaging. But though he has made several transoceanic passages, it wasn’t until he bought the comfortable yet swift Moody 54DS Hibernian that he reckoned he could take…

The National Yacht Club’s flotilla of Elliott 6M match-racing boats came into their own early in December, when the club staged its inaugural Invitational Match Racing Series, successfully drawing in competition from near and far to being together a highly…

As 2021 draws to a close, the Irish sailing community has learned yet again that there’s nothing like a major international success by one of our own to brighten the dark days of November. And when that success comes to…

Team Racing makes for great sailing sport, and is unrivalled in its effectiveness in honing close-quarters boat-handling skills. But it’s an especially unforgiving type of contest, for although everyone is mutually reliant for success, at the very end it often…