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Northern Ireland Sailing & Boating News
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RYA Northern Ireland has announced the launch of its Coach Development Programme designed to develop a pool of coaches capable of coaching at a national level. This free programme is inviting people already involved in coaching to apply to develop…
RYA Northern Ireland logo
As RYA Northern Ireland marks its 50th anniversary and reflects on a fantastic year for sailing and boating in Northern Ireland, it’s time to submit nominations for its end-of-season awards and celebrate the best of the region in 2023. The…
The new contract period for the operation of Bangor Marina on Belfast Lough will run for 50.5 years from September 2024
It will be all change in the operation of Bangor Marina on Belfast Lough from September 2024. This has been outsourced to a private operator since 1 April 2008, with the latest agreement expiring on 30 September 2024. An opportunity…
Ballyholme Yacht Club on the east side of Bangor in North Down has been chosen to host the European ILCA 6 Youth Championships in 2024
The European ILCA 6 Youth Championships 2024 will be sailed at Ballyholme Yacht Club on Belfast Lough next season. “This is a very significant championship for Europe’s youth sailors and hosting the event is a feather in the cap for…
Chris Lindsay - An International Sailing Judge for the Paris 2024 Olympic Competition
World Sailing, the world governing body of the sport, has announced Belfast Lough's Chris Lindsay as an International Judge and Umpire for the Paris 2024 Olympic Sailing Competition. Lindsay, who also officiated at Tokyo 2020, is the only Irish appointment in…
John Minnis, skipper of the stylish A35 Final Call II, who was the sole Belfast Lough competitor in IRC 1 at Dun Laoghaire Regatta 2023 and took first prize, is looking forward to competing in this year’s Bangor Regatta
A ‘Town’ Regatta at Bangor on Belfast Lough was first held over a century ago and saw a reincarnation in 2018. The 2020 event fell foul of Covid 19, but Bangor Town Regatta did run in 2022 and the Royal…
Sea trout
A “major fish kill” in a Co Derry river has tallied than 2,000 fish across a range of species, as BBC News reports. The incident was discovered last Friday morning (24 November) on the Muff River in Eglinton, near the…
13 boats were on the start line for the fourth day of the RS400 Winter Series on Belfast Lough
For the fourth instalment of the RS400 Winter Series on Belfast Lough the mood in the Royal North of Ireland boat park was less than cheery. Spells of rain and glassy conditions that morning led most sailors to believe that…
Volunteer coaching for young sailors at Strangford Sailing Club
RYA Northern Ireland’s new five-year strategy, Navigating the Future, recognises that volunteers are one of the main driving forces behind sailing and boating in Northern Ireland. Now the organisation has announced a pilot scheme, We’re All In, which aims to…
East Antrim Boat Club Prizegiving Celebrations 2023 (from left to right) Zoe Whitford, Tom Coulter, Mayor Mid and East Antrim Borough Council, Alderman Gerardine Mulvenna, Jenna Reid and Lucy Whitford
East Antrim Boat Club at Larne in County Antrim, Northern Ireland recently celebrated a successful Keelboat and Dinghy series at its annual prizegiving. The keelboat series was raced across four months, from May to August, with an overall winner each…
Times past - the Snipe dinghy Valkyria sailing on Lough Erne. The boat has been stored indoors for years and is now offered 'at no cost' as a restoration project
Sailing enthusiasts around Lough Erne in County Fermanagh have a proud record of restoring old boats as well as building new craft in traditional designs. Some years ago, the late Fred Ternan set up a small organisation called Lough Erne…
Newcastle RNLI Coxswain Gerry McConkey, mechanic Shane Rice and crew members Lochlainn Leneghan, Declan McClelland, Karl Brannigan and Declan Barry have all received a framed RNLI Chief Executive commendation for their efforts that saw them launch their all-weather lifeboat and go to sea for 10 hours in weather conditions that deteriorated to gale force nine winds and rough seas
Six crew members from Newcastle RNLI in County Down have been recognised for their courage, determination and teamwork in bringing the crew of a racing rowing boat to safety after it capsized off Ardglass Harbour in June last year. Coxswain…
Pictured Left to Right – Tom Bell (Lifeboat Press Officer) Laura (Manager Co-Op Ballyholme) Bryan Lawther (Bangor RNLI) Murdo Murrey (Co-Op Community Charities Representative)
Bangor RNLI station on Belfast Lough is one of three local charities in Bangor and Ballyholme to benefit from the generosity of the local community. On Monday, 20 November, volunteers from Bangor RNLI were delighted to be presented with a…
The Rivers Trust logo
The Rivers Trust supports the findings of new report that rings alarm bells about the critical state of water quality management in Northern Ireland and Great Britain. The Surfers Against Sewage Water Quality Report for 2023 says that in Northern…
Satellite view of Lough Neagh, which was “choked” by blooms of toxic blue-green algae in the summer of 2023
Warning signage is being removed from locations around Lough Neagh following this past summer’s blooms of toxic blue-green algae. But as BBC News reports, it could be years before the ecological impact on the lough is fully understood. Ulster Angling…
File image of Carrybridge RNLI’s Atlantic 85 inshore lifeboat and rescue water craft
Following their fellow Northern Ireland lifeboat volunteers in Larne, as reported last month on Afloat.ie, the crew at Carrybridge RNLI will feature in the latest series of Saving Lives at Sea on BBC Two at 8pm next Thursday 23 November.…