Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

Cruising and its organisations move at their own serene speed, and when Donal Walsh of Dungarvan received Irish Cruising’s supreme trophy - the Faulkner Cup - in February, it was recognition by his peers of an outstanding and seamanlike achievement…

When Pierce Purcell of Clarenbridge in Galway officially retired from the marine business on the 31st January, it by no means ended his association with boats, the sea and sailing. For his entire life has been devoted to helping others…

With his captaining of the successful Gonzaga College team in the inaugural Shanahan Cup raced at the Irish National Sailing School on January 16th, noted junior sailor Jack Fahy is the Afloat.ie “Sailor of the Month” for January 2019. Competing…

Who gets your vote as Afloat Sailor of the Year 2018? The past year, in the view of Winkie Nixon, has produced some 'extra-special sailors', and over the past 12 months we have picked out 26 individual sailors and pairings who have excelled in…

Darryl Hughes is so completely identified with his classic 43ft 1937 Tyrrell-built ketch Maybird (whose superb restoration he project-managed himself) that, as Maybird shares her home port between Crosshaven in Cork and Poolbeg in Dublin, both places can claim this…

Fintan Cairns of Dun Laoghaire is disarmingly modest about his many achievements in cruiser-racing organisation, based as they are on his extensive experience as an active sailor, his own innovations, and his readiness to acknowledge when he has taken an…

Donal O’Sullivan’s retirement after 27 years as Honorary Secretary of Dublin Bay Sailing Club provides the opportunity for honours from all sides for someone whose contribution to the continuing vitality of one of the world’s largest yacht racing organisations is…

The annual November awards ceremony of the Irish Sea Offshore Racing Association is a highlight of sailing’s social calendar, a convivial gathering of friendly rivalry from both sides of the Irish Sea. But though 2018’s was staged with the usual…

Oisin van Gelderen is the Afloat.ie/Irish Sailing “Sailor of the Month” for November after twice breaking the Irish sailing speed record at the three week Luderitz World Speed Sailing Challenge in Namibia. The veteran National Windsurfing Champion from Loughshinny in…

The new All-Ireland Champion Helm, Peter Kennedy of Strangford Lough, is the Afloat.ie/Irish Sailing “Sailor of the Month” for October after his victory in the breezy and hard-fought 71st Annual Championship, sailed this year in SB20s on Lough Ree. Kennedy…

Being dismasted during a shattering 360 degree roll in the tumultuous Southern Indian Ocean in the roughest part of the Golden Jubilee Golden Globe Race would have created an extreme survival situation for most sailors. But after it happened to…

The classic 12ft Firefly dinghy may have been the single-handed boat in the1948 Olympics when the Gold Medallist was Danish legend Paul Elvstrom. But as an enduring class in Ireland, they’re ideal for team racing and junior championships requiring a…

The Olympic 49er skiff is one of sailing’s greatest challenges, but Robert Dickson (21) of Howth and Sean Waddilove (20) of Skerries have determinedly battled their way up the class’s international performance ladder. Their total dedication was rewarded in September…

Mark Lyttle, Olympic Sailor at Atlanta in 1996 when he won a race in the Laser’s first outing in its very effective career as an Olympic boat in addition to its myriad other duties worldwide, has continued his love affair…

While the Afloat.ie 'Sailor of the Month' awards have been in being since 1996, the idiosyncrasies of the calendar can occasionally make selecting the monthly awardees a complex business. When September began on Saturday, September 1st, on that day we…

SAILOR OF THE MONTH (Junior): HUGH O’CONNOR (National YC). Young Hugh O’Connor (15) of Dun Laoghaire is currently No 1 in the International Topper Class in Ireland, and he fulfilled his role at the August 2018 Topper Worlds in China…