Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

When Meathman Tom Dolan heads off for a solo or double-handed campaign with the Figaro 3 Smurfit Kappa from his French base at Concarneau, the Irish sailing community is with him all the way. But as the truncated 2020 season…

Teenage skipper Ben Graf of the 250-year-old Lough Ree YC is September's Junior "Sailor of the Month" on the strength of a remarkably varied lineup of successes which reached a new level during the late season. Having won the 420…

One of the many "little miracles" which kept Irish sailing alive and active during the continually-changing official restrictions in the summer of 2020 was the flexible and effective administration of the Irish side of the Irish Sea Offshore Racing Association's…

The O'Leary family of Crosshaven and Baltimore have a fine reputation for top-level competitive sailing allied with ready enthusiasm for volunteering in services to our sport, and Rob, the youngest O'Leary brother is following this tradition. Having served successfully as…

It is unusual to have two leading figures sharing the "Sailor of the Month (Services to Sailing)" award. And it surely unique when one is Admiral of the world's oldest yacht club, the Royal Cork at Crosshaven, in its Tricentenary…

There are many boats in Ireland that are in the happy position of being regarded as one of the family, yet few fulfil that role so completely as Denis and Annamarie Murphy of Crosshaven's beloved Grand Soleil 40 Nieulargo. Aboard…

While other clubs have found it a big enough challenge simply resuming sailing in a regulation-compliant way, the 101-year-old Cove Sailing Club in Cork Harbour has also been bringing its new marina on stream, and in addition to resuming club…

The Sailor of the Month contest has been running for nearly a quarter of a century now, but this may well be the first time the award has gone to a single seagoing family. Vera Quinlan, her husband Peter Owens,…

When Garry Crothers (64) of Lough Swilly YC brought his Ovni 435 Kind of Blue into her berth in Foyle Marina in the heart of the City of Derry this (Saturday) afternoon at 1520 hrs, it marked the completion of…

John Killeen of Galway’s services to sailing and the broader maritime world expanded still further in June, when he became Chairman of the RNLI Council for Ireland. This is in addition to his major role as Chairman of the Marine…

Daria and Alex Blackwell of Mayo Sailing Club are highly-experienced ocean voyagers, and they’re Vice Commodore and Rear Commodore respectively of the Ocean Cruising Club, the global body which currently has hundreds of members’ boats currently on long cruises. During…

With the complex COVID-19 regulations, many sailors with boats to fit out and get into commission had difficulty in assessing just what they could and couldn’t do. But Ian Byrne, Commodore of Howth Yacht Club, made it his business to…

In a time of inevitable national introspection, the design work of Mark Mills is a breath of global fresh sea air, taking us out of ourselves. Already in 2020, his design work has been recognised with the MDO Montecarlo Trophy…

When the story of the Covid-19 pandemic in Ireland finally comes to be written, there’ll be many individuals - both voluntary and professional - who will be recognised as having contributed way beyond the call of duty in helping to…

It may seem like another world now, but the energetically-organised Irish Inter-varsities team racers managed to get in their 2020 Championship early in March before the Covid-19 clampdown closed in. The venue was University of Limerick’s watersports facility at Killaloe…

When Jack Roy of Dun Laoghaire (though originally from Greystones) retired from the Presidency of Irish Sailing on March 21st, it marked the conclusion of a hugely successful three years in the top post in Irish sailing. They were three…