Blogs
Monday.com ICRA Nats 2023 At Howth Are A Modern Take On A Time-Honoured Tradition
8th September 2023 W M Nixon
When the three-day Irish Cruiser-Racing Association monday.com-sponsored annual National Championship gets underway today (Friday) at Howth, it will be the combination of a modern innovation in Irish sailing, which is barely twenty years old, and a local regatta tradition of…
Yesterday (Friday), Afloat.ie listed eight of our “Sailor of the Month” awards for August 2023. As most involved either double-handed teams or helmsmen representing more numerous crews, in total, the achievements mentioned highlighted the successful sailing performance of 22 people…
Legislating for Houseboats on Canals Near Dublin Will Be a Hot Topic
1st September 2023 Tom MacSweeney
There are nearly 17,000 boats on the inland waterways, of which 9,000 are registered on the Shannon, 7,000 on the Erne, and 600 boats on the canals. New bye-laws to control usage of the waterways are being prepared, which will…
Solo Sailor Tom Dolan is Recharging For The Next Leg of the Figaro Race
31st August 2023 Tom MacSweeney
Solo sailor Tom Dolan was fairly tired when I talked to him at Kinsale Yacht Club after he had finished second in the first leg of this year’s Figaro Race, sailing Smurfit Kappa into Kinsale with a 14-minute advantage over…
How German Airmen Crash Landed On Inis Mhic Oileáin - Maria Simonds-Gooding Recalls
30th August 2023 Wavelength Podcast
During the Second World War, Kerry was the location for a number of both Allied forces and German air crashes, but one less well-known one occurred on the Blasket Island of Inis Mhic Oileáin (Inishvickillaune) on November 25th, 1940. Wreckage…
Ireland’s Tom Dolan And Figaro Fleet Start 54th Annual Solo Contest Towards Kinsale on Sunday
26th August 2023 W M Nixon
The Solitaire du Figaro has been a significant feature of the European sailing scene for 54 years now, and today it is well established as La Solitaire du Figaro Paprec, supported by the 1985-founded French re-cycling and green energy conglomerate.…
J Boats Riding High Towards First J Cup Ireland In Dublin Bay In A Week’s Time
19th August 2023 W M Nixon
The international J Boat fleet, with its many variants, fills a special role in world sailing, with an underlying sense of family permeating this attractive no-nonsense craft. For it all of course, stems from the initial creative introduction – explosion,…
Irish Sailors Set to Compete in "Retro" Ocean Globe Race Around the World Without GPS
14th August 2023 Wavelength Podcast
Two Irish sailors are participating in the 2023-24 Ocean Globe Race (OGR), billed as a “retro race” in the spirit of the 1973 Whitbread Round the World Race. Roisin O’Halloran (20) and Terry Kavanagh (55) will be on board the…
Although the announcement that Howth Yacht Club had become the latest MG Motor “Sailing Club of the Year 2023” was made at the beginning of the year following outstanding achievements at home and abroad by the club and its members…
Sailing In Ireland: Good Weather Is Now Just Around The Corner – But Which Corner?
5th August 2023 W M Nixon
Down Kerry way where the weather is often for adults only, they say that when Noah came bobbing along in his crowded Ark across the boundless wastes of flood water, the first sign of any land-indicating feature with life that…
Golden Jubilee Of Ireland’s Fastnet Race Gull Salver Sees Lucky Dog Play Key Role In Nieulargo Win
29th July 2023 W M Nixon
It was the dog what done it. A hound of mysterious powers has changed family fortunes for a Crosshaven sailing clan. The Murphy-Fegan family’s Grand Soleil 40 Nieulargo, the Royal Cork Yacht Club Vice Admiral’s Cleopatra-style gilded barge, so to…
Ireland’s Fastnet Rock Could Become Only Remaining Feature Of Original Fastnet Race Course
22nd July 2023 W M Nixon
Sometimes we need to remind ourselves that prediction can be a dodgy business as it involves the future. And when that future is reckoned to include – as it does for today (Saturday’s) Fastnet Race start in the Solent –…
Mark Mellett, New Chair of MARA, on Government Plans for 2,500 Wind Turbines Off Irish Coasts
19th July 2023 Wavelength Podcast
“We are in a race for survival…” The words of Mark Mellett, chair of MARA, the State’s first marine planning regulatory authority, which has just opened for business in Wexford. If Government targets on renewable energy offshore are met, there…
50th Fastnet Race on Saturday July 22nd 2023 Will Remind Us Of Vintage Racer Brynoth’s Unique Success In Golden Jubilee Race
15th July 2023 W M Nixon
It is arguably the greatest on-water fleet organisation in world sailing. In a week’s time, the 450 or so boats in the 50th staging of the 695-mile Rolex Fastnet Race will be sent on their way from Cowes in a…
Some decidedly rugged racing yesterday (Friday), though with rapidly improving conditions, managed brilliantly to pull the wind-battered VDLR-23 back into line. But there’s no doubting the fact that it is all being achieved with weather that is a little bit…
The intergovernmental marine science organisation which advises the European Commission on fisheries regulations has been told by the Killybegs Fishermen’s Organisation that it has got its data wrong in recommending major fishing closures. The Killybegs Organisation has challenged the International…