Derry~Londondery~Doire arrived in Qingdao, China, this morning (local time) to a hero’s welcome following one of the most challenging legs of the 2013-14 edition of the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race.

“It is amazing to finally arrive here in Olympic Sailing Center in Qingdao, China. It has been a really tough race in many ways. In lots of ways we were luckier than some of the fleet who are still yet to arrive," added skipper Sean McCarter.

Tiffany Brien, beauty queen and an Olympic standard sailor, is calling on local sailors and tourists to explore the breathtaking waters between Northern Ireland and Scotland’s stunning west coast during 2013, the Year of Natural Scotland.

The former Miss Northern Ireland and sailor who is now campaigning full-time towards representing Ireland in Rio’s 2013 Olympic Games believes that Northern Ireland sailing enthusiasts, like herself, are in for a real treat this summer with a host of sailing events taking place for all abilities and sailing vessels.

Bangor town is steeped in maritime history and we hope this ‘invasion’ of kayaks will add a bit of colour to the annual festivities.The entry fee is only £25 per kayak and includes a T-Shirt and the BBQ after the race.

Raptor is a 42 foot yacht owned by Ian Stevenson which will be sailed by his daughter Lee and her all girl crew in the Hamilton Shipping 50th Anniversary Ailsa Craig Race to be run by Royal Ulster Yacht Club in mid June. This will be first time an all woman team has graced the line up of prestigious entrants in the event which has a history of experienced sailors and great boats over the years. The race starts at 8.00pm on 15th June from the clubhouse and takes the fleet round Ailsa Craig and back to Belfast Lough.

Belfast Harbour Marina Hosts City’s Largest Yacht Gathering

The largest flotilla of yachts ever assembled in Belfast Lough took place on Sunday, 6th May to help officially open Belfast Harbour’s new marina.

Over 60 boats sailed up the Lough into the new facility at Abercorn Basin in the heart of Titanic Quarter.

The RNLI is busy in the run up to Christmas with not only the Christmas Shop open in ‘Bosun Bob’s’ at the bottom of High Street in Bangor, but they are also having the Auction of Promises on Friday 29 October at RUYC at 8pm.

The Auction is always a great night and a fun way to raise money for the local charity. Viewing from 7.15pm with the auction starting at 8pm. Put the date in your diary and bring your friends to support the RNLI.

Moville boat club on the shores of Lough Foyle in north Donegal, along with Londonderry Port, have been assigned the task of organising the water activities during the CLIPPER stop-over at Derry-Londonderry next Summer.

Five local people are set for a life changing challenge as they set sail across the world, thanks to Derry City Council’s Clipper Round the World Race 2011-12 Bursary. The five successful candidates, who all hail from the city, will join the Derry~Londonderry team on board the city’s Clipper Yacht for what promises to be a once in a lifetime experience when they will set sail across the world’s seas to represent their city. Each of them will be acting as ambassadors for the city on one of the following legs of the journey – UK to Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro to Cape Town, China to San Francisco, San Francisco to New York and New York to UK (including Derry/Londonderry).

A Celebration of Our Coastal Environment
1st, 2nd, 3rd July 2011

Come the first weekend of July 2011, the sheltered waters of Donegal’s Lough Swilly will come alive with sails big and small, with the slap of oars and paddles.

The shoreline and the golden sands of its beaches will play natural backdrop to theatre and games, to families and friends celebrating in the unique surroundings of our coastal environment.

Yachts visiting Strangford Lough in Northern Ireland will be able to berth alongside new pontoons running north from the main quay at Strangford village from the start of the sailing season.

The facility is aimed at vessels coming in from the Irish Sea to allow crews to provision and spend time shoreside before heading into the lough to explore Ireland’s only Marine Nature Reserve with its variety of islands, amazing wildlife and sheltered waters.

People who live and work along the Northern Ireland coastline are being invited to help protect their community from crime as part of a national initiative supported by the Police Service of Northern Ireland.  

Project Kraken is a UK-wide campaign which aims to increase vigilance along the coastline and encourage the community to work together to help combat any criminal or terrorist activity.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland has launched a new initiative to tackle boat crime.

Police officers will be visiting boat clubs in the next few months to discuss crime prevention measures that members can take.  In addition, officers will be supplying clubs with a limited number of specially designed engine covers to make outboard boat engines less desirable to thieves.

As you may have heard on the news, the Government has recently announced its intention to turn the UK's 18 Coastguard Co-ordination Centres into THREE 24 hour centres & FIVE sub centres that are only open during daylight hours, one of which may or may not be Belfast.

Congratulations to Belfast Lough Sailability who won the Peoples Millions and will receive £50,000.

Belfast Lough Sailability have been short listed for the finals of the People's Millions award. The People's Millions is a partnership between Big Lottery Fund and ITV, where the public decides which local community projects get up to £50,000 of Lottery funding. Voting will take place for one day only and lines open on Wed Nov 24th at 9am when anyone in the UK can vote for the charity. The number to call will be released on the morning of 24 November.