Menu

Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

Calves Week Sailing, West Cork, Ireland. Schedule and Race Results
Commodore Mark Murphy, pictured with his wife Grace, is the third member of his family to lead Schull Harbour Sailing Club, following his mother, Derval and father, Michael, a founder member.
2023 Calves Week at Schull Schull Harbour Sailing Club may limit entries to 70 boats for the West Cork regatta this August. The four-day series of races commences on Tuesday, 8th August, and at least six classes are expected to compete, with a…
Designed and built by Maurice O’Keeffe in Schull in 1902, the restored Lady Min has been collecting silverware for Simon O’Keeffe throughout the summer
It’s a mixed blessing being the curator-owner of a boat designed and built by a direct ancestor in your home-port town 120 years ago. But Simon O’Keeffe of Schull has turned a challenge into a triumph by commissioning classic boat-builder…
Dan O'Grady's Cape 31 Aja from Howth competing in Calves Week 2022
The weather gods were partially kind to Schull on Friday with a fickle north westerly wind of 4 to 15 knots and intermittent sunshine on the final day of Calves Week 2022. Once again, all seven fleets had an in-harbour start…
Ritchie and Mike Evans sailing J/99 Snapshot from Howth Yacht Club are top of the Class One IRC leaderboard after two races sailed at Calves Week in West Cork
The notorious variable northerly wind in Schull Harbour, West Cork, created a problem for Calves Week OD Alan Crosbie, who cleverly devised a short cross harbour starting beat before sending the various fleets on an interesting inter-island three-hour course around…
A great day's sailing for the first race of Calves Week 2022 for a race around the Fastnet Rock in West Cork. Scroll down for a photo gallery of racing action
After a miserable 48 hours of fog and rain, the weather gods finally cast a benevolent eye on Schull on Wednesday. Calves Week competitors were greeted with a clear blue sky and steady 15 knots of westerly wind. Race Officer Alan Crosbie started all seven fleets in the inner…
Competitors in Calves Week, Schull in West Cork were greeted with damp grey conditions on Tuesday morning and the sight of the dreaded AP flag flying from the event centre as OD Alan Crosbie contemplated on how to deal with…
Anthony O Leary's national championships winning Cape 31 Antix (above) will compete in a six-boat class Zero at Calves Week
Calves Week 2022 Handicapping Committee has published class allocations for this week's 70-boat fleet along with the initial ECHO handicaps, and these are downloadable below. As Afloat previously reported, racing will be over seven classes with everything from the latest "hi-tech"…
The Liam Allister Cup - A special trophy has been presented to Calves Week class 3 this year by Cove Sailing Club
The sailing instructions for next week's Calves Week in West Cork have been published on the dedicated competitors' WhatsApp group, Calves Week Notice Board” which acts as the official notice board for the event. The entry for the regatta was previewed…
Mike McCarthy's Royal Cork Dehler 40, Jolastan
The West Cork festival of yacht racing kicks off on Saturday, July 30th, when SCORA will start an offshore race from Kinsale to Baltimore at 8 am. This race replaces the traditional overnight one from Crosshaven, which had suffered from…
The start of Schull Sailing Club's Calves Week Race in 2021
Schull Harbour Sailing Club is already preparing for Calves Week in August and has issued the Notice of Race for the West Cork major annual event. “After all the uncertainty which the pandemic created for the past few years, we…
The Snoopy crew at Calves Week: Martin Mahon (right) and crew l to r  Gavin Watson, Josh Milhench and Robbie Milhench.
Martin Mahon from Courtown Sailing Club in North Wexford is also a member of Royal Ulster Yacht Club in Bangor, having lived in Holywood on the south side of Belfast Lough for some years. He regularly sails his Joubert-Nievelt 1/4…
Class One winner Kaya (Frank Whelan) in race four of Calves Week Regatta
The overall lead changed in two of the four IRC classes on the final day of Schull Harbour Sailing Club's Calves Week 2021 Regatta that sees East coast visitors winning in Division Zero/One and Two.  The top three IRC divisions of Calves…
Class One boats rounding the weather mark in race three of Calves Week Regatta
Stronger winds on the third day of Schull Harbour Sailing Club's Calves Week 2021 Regatta has swept a new leader to the top of the biggest IRC Class. The solid 16-knot breeze also brought changes to the class three and four leaderboards. With…
Rounding the Fastnet Rock at Calves Week Regatta - Class Two yachts, the Dehler 36 Lisador IRL1295 (Henry Hogg) of Garrykennedy Sailing Club and Frank Desmond's Sunfast 32 Bad Company from Royal Cork Yacht Club
The modified 1720 sportsboat Antix Beag skippered by Anthony O'Leary of Royal Cork Yacht Club continues to lead the biggest class of Schull Harbour Sailing Club's Calves Week 2021 Regatta. After Wednesday's race around the Fastnet Rock, O'Leary has managed to stay in front of…
A Class Two start in today's first race of Calves Week 2021 in West Cork
Despite a strong fleet of visiting yachts to the West Cork coast for the opening race of Schull Harbour Sailing Club's Calves Week 2021 Regatta, Munster entries lead in all IRC divisions except one after a round the islands race for all classes…
Paul O'Higgins' JPK 10.80 Rockabill (left) and Frank Whelan's new J122 Kaya will contest the Calves Week title at Schull Harbour Sailing Club from Tuesday
Paul O'Higgins' JPK 10.80 Rockabill VI, whose victory in both divisions in 2019 clinched him the overall title, will defend on Tuesday in the first of four races to decide Calves Week Regatta 2021 in West Cork. A fleet of 36…

Calves Week Regatta takes place in Schull in early August, continuing the annual tradition in West Cork since the inception of the Schull Harbour Sailing Club in 1884.

In more recent years, a more compact schedule as an alternative to the older two-week even has proved popular.

The four-day Calves Week Championships with the usual mix of courses taking in the Fastnet Rock and many of Carbery's Hundred Isles, together with laid courses in Roaringwater Bay is one of Irish sailing's enduring fixtures. 

A daily prize-giving takes place on Main Street in Schull, which sees a nautical festival theme for the village organised by local businesses.