Menu

Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

A Sigma 33 One Design keelboat racing on Dublin Bay Photo: AfloatA Sigma 33 One Design keelboat racing on Dublin Bay Photo: Afloat

Sailing in Ireland. Sailors, Yachting, Clubs, Regattas
Ballyholme Yacht Club
Just as well Ballyholme Yacht Club is at present extending the south dinghy park and widening one of the launching slips because next July an entry of over 300 is expected for the Laser Youth Radial European Championships which will…
Derval and Michael Murphy at the Royal Cork for Shelly D's 40th anniversary year competing at RCYC's Autumn League
A gathering at the Royal Cork Yacht Club in Crosshaven this month celebrated the 40 consecutive years that the Moody 30, Shelly D and her various crews, have competed in the Autumn league writes Bob Bateman. Purchased in 1978 at…
The second race of the DBSC Turkey Shoot had a full turnout last Sunday on Dublin Bay
The 1720 sportsboat Wolfe was the winner of the second race of the DBSC Turkey Shoot on Dublin Bay.  Last Sunday's second race may have had little in the way of wind but that was more than made up for by…
A thumbs up from Ryan Seaton and Seafra Guilfoyle on Dublin Bay this summer. The duo, along with a rival Howth pairing, will seek Tokyo Qualification in December in Auckland
A top-eight position needed to secure Ireland’s single place at next year's Tokyo Olympics will be the aim at the 2019 49er World Championship in Auckland, New Zealand next month. It's going to be a big ask for the two Irish teams…
Revenue ‘Yet To Reveal Changes For Oil Suppliers’ Ahead Of Upcoming Green Diesel Ban
With only seven weeks until the ban on the use of green diesel for private pleasure craft comes into force, the Revenue Commissioners have yet to formally declare to oil suppliers what changes are required under the new legislation, according…
505 Reunion organiser Michael O'Rahilly (left) with NYC Commodore Martin McCarthy and Frances O'Rahilly
There was an august gathering of Irish 505 sailors at the National Yacht Club on Thursday 7th November to commemorate the second European Championships of the class, which was held in Dun Laoghaire in August 1969. Former 505 sailors came…
Laser Radials reach a weather mark at the DMYC Frostbites in Dun Laoghaire Harbour
XCWeather was promising 8/9 knots of breeze for the critical part of Sunday afternoon and at 09:00 the breeze looked good as the keelboats went out for their DBSC Turkey Shoot! Three hours later as I came back down to…
British Olympic Gold Medallist Sarah Ayton OBE
Over the weekend of 29 February- 01 March, double Olympic Gold Medallist Sarah Ayton OBE will be joining forces with British Sailing Team’s Sam Whaley at Alexandra Palace to host a fantastic range of expert speakers on the Great Hall…
ISORA winners gathered at the National Yacht Club
Irish offshore sailing's biggest social event of the year has traditionally been ISORA's annual dinner at the National Yacht Club and last Saturday night was no different with 160 guests gathering at the East Pier clubhouse in Dun Laoghaire to…
After 14 days, 6 hours, 10 minutes and 23 seconds of sailing, 11th Hour Racing, led by co-skippers Charlie Enright and Pascal Bidégorry, finished in 5th place Sunday to finish the 2019 Transat Jacques Vabre into Salvador de Bahia, Brazil.
After 14 days at sea and with the IMOCA podium decided, PRB and Charal are fighting for 2nd and 3rd place in the Imoca category of the Transat Jacques Vabre 2019. It's a race with continuing Irish interest as two…
Royal Cork's Topper dinghies racing in the Cork Harbour club's November Frostbite Series
Following a very successful year in 2019 where almost all events saw increased numbers and an overall increase of almost 10% from 2018, Topper Ireland will be returning to some of our regular locations for racing in 2020, but have…
The start of today's RCYC race as viewed from Camden in Cork Harbour
Anthony O'Leary's modified 1720 sportsboat 'Antix' was in a dead heat with Richard Leonard's Bolero Bandit in the second race of Royal Cork Yacht Club's O'Leary Insurance Group Winter Series writes Bob Bateman. O'Leary still leads overall in the IRC Spinnaker…
ISORA racers will have a new race on the 2020 schedule from Dublin Bay to Cork Harbour next July
The 2020 ISORA Race calendar will include a Dún Laoghaire to Cobh race in July as part of the official Cork300 celebrations. The full 2020 ISORA calendar of 13 races is downloadable below. The 2020 season will start on April 18th…
Maritime Legends of Howth Detailed in New Book to Be Launched Next Week
Folklore and Maritime Legends of Howth are all included in the book “Catching the Past” to be launched on Thursday next 14th at 8 pm in the Abbey Tavern, Howth, County Dublin. The launch will be part of an evening…
Building the breakwaters at Ringaskiddy for the new Cove Sailing Club marina
Cove Sailing Club in Cork Harbour has expressed excitement at progress being made on its new marina. Planning approval was granted this past May for the marina at Whitepoint, scaled down from a larger scheme that faltered in the planning…
The Irish sportsboat class has released its 2020 fixtures calendar
There's no surprise that the SB20 class is yet another class hoping to join the throng heading to Cork Harbour this summer for Royal Cork's Tricentenary celebrations. With Southern and Western Championship venues still to be confirmed the Irish sportsboat…

How to sail, sailing clubs and sailing boats plus news on the wide range of sailing events on Irish waters forms the backbone of Afloat's sailing coverage.

We aim to encompass the widest range of activities undertaken on Irish lakes, rivers and coastal waters. This page describes those sailing activites in more detail and provides links and breakdowns of what you can expect from our sailing pages. We aim to bring jargon free reports separated in to popular categories to promote the sport of sailing in Ireland.

The packed 2013 sailing season sees the usual regular summer leagues and there are regular weekly race reports from Dublin Bay Sailing Club, Howth and Cork Harbour on Afloat.ie. This season and last also featured an array of top class events coming to these shores. Each year there is ICRA's Cruiser Nationals starts and every other year the Round Ireland Yacht Race starts and ends in Wicklow and all this action before July. Crosshaven's Cork Week kicks off on in early July every other year. in 2012 Ireland hosted some big international events too,  the ISAF Youth Worlds in Dun Laoghaire and in August the Tall Ships Race sailed into Dublin on its final leg. In that year the Dragon Gold Cup set sail in Kinsale in too.

2013 is also packed with Kinsale hosting the IFDS diabled world sailing championships in Kinsale and the same port is also hosting the Sovereign's Cup. The action moves to the east coast in July with the staging of the country's biggest regatta, the Volvo Dun Laoghaire regatta from July 11.

Our coverage though is not restricted to the Republic of Ireland but encompasses Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales and the Irish Sea area too. In this section you'll find information on the Irish Sailing Association and Irish sailors. There's sailing reports on regattas, racing, training, cruising, dinghies and keelboat classes, windsurfers, disabled sailing, sailing cruisers, Olympic sailing and Tall Ships sections plus youth sailing, match racing and team racing coverage too.

Sailing Club News

There is a network of over 70 sailing clubs in Ireland and we invite all clubs to submit details of their activities for inclusion in our daily website updates. There are dedicated sections given over to the big Irish clubs such as  the waterfront clubs in Dun Laoghaire; Dublin Bay Sailing Club, the Royal Saint George Yacht Club,  the Royal Irish Yacht Club and the National Yacht Club. In Munster we regularly feature the work of Kinsale Yacht Club and Royal Cork Yacht Club in Crosshaven.  Abroad Irish sailors compete in Royal Ocean Racing Club (RORC) racing in the UK and this club is covered too. Click here for Afloat's full list of sailing club information. We are keen to increase our coverage on the network of clubs from around the coast so if you would like to send us news and views of a local interest please let us have it by sending an email to [email protected]

Sailing Boats and Classes

Over 20 active dinghy and one design classes race in Irish waters and fleet sizes range from just a dozen or so right up to over 100 boats in the case of some of the biggest classes such as the Laser or Optimist dinghies for national and regional championships. Afloat has dedicated pages for each class: Dragons, Etchells, Fireball, Flying Fifteen, GP14, J24's, J80's, Laser, Sigma 33, RS Sailing, Star, Squibs, TopperMirror, Mermaids, National 18, Optimist, Puppeteers, SB3's, and Wayfarers. For more resources on Irish classes go to our dedicated sailing classes page.

The big boat scene represents up to 60% of the sail boat racing in these waters and Afloat carries updates from the Irish Cruiser Racer Association (ICRA), the body responsible for administering cruiser racing in Ireland and the popular annual ICRA National Championships. In 2010 an Irish team won the RORC Commodore's Cup putting Irish cruiser racing at an all time high. Popular cruiser fleets in Ireland are raced right around the coast but naturally the biggest fleets are in the biggest sailing centres in Cork Harbour and Dublin Bay. Cruisers race from a modest 20 feet or so right up to 50'. Racing is typically divided in to Cruisers Zero, Cruisers One, Cruisers Two, Cruisers Three and Cruisers Four. A current trend over the past few seasons has been the introduction of a White Sail division that is attracting big fleets.

Traditionally sailing in northern Europe and Ireland used to occur only in some months but now thanks to the advent of a network of marinas around the coast (and some would say milder winters) there are a number of popular winter leagues running right over the Christmas and winter periods.

Sailing Events

Punching well above its weight Irish sailing has staged some of the world's top events including the Volvo Ocean Race Galway Stopover, Tall Ships visits as well as dozens of class world and European Championships including the Laser Worlds, the Fireball Worlds in both Dun Laoghaire and Sligo.

Some of these events are no longer pure sailing regattas and have become major public maritime festivals some are the biggest of all public staged events. In the past few seasons Ireland has hosted events such as La Solitaire du Figaro and the ISAF Dublin Bay 2012 Youth Worlds.

There is a lively domestic racing scene for both inshore and offshore sailing. A national sailing calendar of summer fixtures is published annually and it includes old favorites such as Sovereign's Cup, Calves Week, Dun Laoghaire to Dingle, All Ireland Sailing Championships as well as new events with international appeal such as the Round Britain and Ireland Race and the Clipper Round the World Race, both of which have visited Ireland.

The bulk of the work on running events though is carried out by the network of sailing clubs around the coast and this is mostly a voluntary effort by people committed to the sport of sailing. For example Wicklow Sailing Club's Round Ireland yacht race run in association with the Royal Ocean Racing Club has been operating for over 30 years. Similarly the international Cork Week regatta has attracted over 500 boats in past editions and has also been running for over 30 years.  In recent years Dublin Bay has revived its own regatta called Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta and can claim to be the country's biggest event with over 550 boats entered in 2009.

On the international stage Afloat carries news of Irish and UK interest on Olympics 2012, Sydney to Hobart, Volvo Ocean Race, Cowes Week and the Fastnet Race.

We're always aiming to build on our sailing content. We're keen to build on areas such as online guides on learning to sail in Irish sailing schools, navigation and sailing holidays. If you have ideas for our pages we'd love to hear from you. Please email us at [email protected]