Menu

Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

Displaying items by tag: North of Disko

#arcticcircle – The Galway to Greenland Expedition 'North of Disko' has started its return journey from high in the Arctic Circle along the west Greenland coast. The team, lead by Jamie Young aboard the 49ft Killary Flyer yacht, set sail from Galway on the 14th June and have spent the past six weeks exploring the spectacular coastline by kayak, climbing and sail, as well as through film and photography.

The expedition, run by Killary Adventure Expeditions, aims to document this changing coastline and produce a comprehensive art photography exhibition showcasing the fragile nature of the Arctic environment as well as climbing and kayaking guides to the west Greenland coast. Art photographer Daragh Muldowney of Dulra Photography is one of the crewmembers and has managed to capture some incredible images of the ice from the ice cap and glaciers to icebergs. The expedition has also been filmed along the way with the aim of producing a short documentary on the experience.

The crew are currently on their way south to the town of Sisimuit, still inside the Arctic Circle, where they will prepare the boat for their return journey across the Atlantic. They aim to arrive back in Killary Harbour on approximately the 20th August.

"The expedition so far has been hugely rewarding" according to Jamie. "We've been lucky enough to have been welcomed into the Inuit communities we've visited and it's been very interesting to hear about the social, environmental and political challenges faced by them at present".

The crew encountered three significant storms on the initial Atlantic crossing so are hoping for a less turbulent return journey. You can follow their progress through daily blogs from the crew at www.northofdisko.com or view a selection of images from the trip so far on their facebook page www.facebook.com/pages/Killary-Adventure-Expeditions. You can see examples of Daragh's previous work at www.dulra.com

Published in Cruising

Ireland's Sailor of the Year Awards

Created in 1996, the Afloat Sailor of the Year Awards represent all that is praiseworthy, innovative and groundbreaking in the Irish sailing scene.

Since it began 25 years ago, the awards have recognised over 500 monthly award winners in the pages of Ireland's sailing magazine Afloat, and these have been made to both amateur and professional sailors. The first-ever Sailor of the Year was dinghy sailor Mark Lyttle, a race winner at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.

And since then it's gone on to read like a who's who of Irish sailing.

The national award is specially designed to salute the achievements of Ireland's sailing's elite. After two decades the awards has developed into a premier awards ceremony for water sports.

The overall national award will be announced each January to the person who, in the judges' opinion, achieved the most notable results in, or made the most significant contribution to, Irish sailing in the previous year.

A review of the first 25 years of the Irish Sailor the Year Awards is here

Irish Sailor of the Year Award FAQs

The Irish Sailor of the Year Awards is a scheme designed by Afloat magazine to represent all that is praiseworthy, innovative and groundbreaking in the Irish sailing scene..

The Irish Sailor of the Year Awards began in 1996.

The awards are administered by Afloat, Ireland's boating magazine.

  • 1996 Mark Lyttle
  • 1997 Tom Roche
  • 1998 Tom Fitzpatrick & David McHugh
  • 1999 Mark Mansfield
  • 2000 David Burrows
  • 2001 Maria Coleman
  • 2002 Eric Lisson
  • 2003 Noel Butler & Stephen Campion
  • 2004 Eamonn Crosbie
  • 2005 Paddy Barry & Jarlath Cunnane
  • 2006 Justin Slattery
  • 2007 Ger O'Rourke
  • 2008 Damian Foxall
  • 2009 Mark Mills
  • 2010 Anthony O'Leary
  • 2011 George Kenefick
  • 2012 Annalise Murphy
  • 2013 David Kenefick
  • 2014 Anthony O'Leary
  • 2015 Liam Shanahan
  • 2016 Annalise Murphy
  • 2017 Conor Fogerty
  • 2018 Robert Dickson & Sean Waddilove
  • 2019 Paul O'Higgins

Yes. The boating public and maritime community can have their say to help guide judges in deciding who should be crowned Ireland's Sailor of the Year by using an Afloat online poll). The judges welcome the traditional huge level of public interest in helping them make their decision but firmly retain their right to make the ultimate decision for the final choice while taking voting trends into account. By voting for your favourite nominee, you are creating additional awareness of their nomination and highlighting their success.

Anthony O'Leary of Crosshaven and Annalise Murphy of Dun Laoghaire are the only contenders to be Afloat.ie "Sailors of the Year" twice – himself in 2010 and 2014, and herself in 2012 and 2016.

In its 25 year history, there have been wins for 15, offshore or IRC achievements, nine dinghy and one designs accomplishments and one for adventure sailing.

Annually, generally in January or February of the following year.

In 2003 Her Royal Highness Princess Anne presented the Awards.

©Afloat 2020