Watersports Inclusion Games Set for July 2025 in Malahide

27th January 2025

Afloat.ie Team

Participants enjoy a range of inclusive watersports at the Irish Sailing Watersports Inclusion Games, including motorboating, held at Malahide Yacht Club, Co. Dublin, promoting accessibility and diversity in sports

Irish Sailing and Malahide Yacht Club has announced that the Irish Sailing Watersports Inclusion Games will be held at Malahide Yacht Club, Co. Dublin, on the 5th and 6th of July in 2025.

The Watersports Inclusion Games, now in its seventh year, is an award-winning multi-watersports event for all physical, intellectual, sensory, and learning abilities and those who experience barriers accessing mainstream sports. The Games are free of charge for all participants. Organised by Irish Sailing in association with Canoeing Ireland and other sporting bodies, it is funded by the Sport Ireland Dormant Accounts Sports Inclusion Fund.

Margaret Fay, Commodore of Malahide Yacht Club, said of the announcement, “We are delighted to be hosting an event as wonderful as the Watersport Inclusion Games. Inclusion is such an important aspect of Malahide Yacht Club and this event reflects our commitment to celebrating and welcoming diversity and creating a space where everyone feels valued and empowered to thrive.”

The Games will take place on the sheltered waters of the Malahide estuary, an ideal venue to accommodate all spectrums of activity. In fact, it was Malahide YC Committee member Sean Walsh who was instrumental in the first coordinated disabled sailing project in 1981 with the Challenger Trimaran Project. This introduced wheelchair users to sailing and grew into an extremely successful programme of inclusive sailing.

John Twomey, 11-time Paralympian, former Malahide Challenger sailor and President of Irish Sailing said, “Malahide Yacht Club is the perfect setting for the Watersports Inclusion Games and we are thrilled to have them on board, we have no doubt Margaret and her team will do an amazing job. This event has always been a highlight of our calendar as it gives people with disabilities and their families the chance to experience sports that they may not have known were accessible to them. It illustrates just how inclusive watersports in Ireland really can be.”

To learn more about the event and for booking information click here

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Irish Sailing

The Irish Sailing Association, also known as Irish Sailing, is the national governing body for sailing, powerboating and windsurfing in Ireland.

Founded in 1945 as the Irish Dinghy Racing Association, it became the Irish Yachting Association in 1964 and the Irish Sailing Association in 1992.

Irish Sailing is a Member National Authority (MNA) of World Sailing and a member of the Olympic Federation of Ireland.

The Association is governed by a volunteer board, elected by the member clubs. Policy Groups provide the link with members and stakeholders while advising the Board on specialist areas. There is a professional administration and performance staff, based at the headquarters in Dun Laoghaire, Co. Dublin.

Core functions include the regulation of sailing education, administering racing and selection of Irish sailors for international competition. It is the body recognised by the Olympic Federation of Ireland for nominating Irish qualified sailors to be considered for selection to represent Ireland at the Olympic Games. Irish sailors have medalled twice at the Olympics – David Wilkins and Jamie Wikinson at the 1980 games, and Annalise Murphy at the 2016 games.

The Association, through its network of clubs and centres, offers curriculum-based training in the various sailing, windsurfing and powerboating disciplines. Irish Sailing qualifications are recognised by Irish and European Authorities. Most prominent of these are the Yachtmaster and the International Certificate of Competency.

It runs the annual All-Ireland Championships (formerly the Helmsman’s Championship) for senior and junior sailors.

The Association has been led by leading lights in the sailing and business communities. These include Douglas Heard, Clayton Love Junior, John Burke and Robert Dix.

Close to 100 sailors have represented Ireland at the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Membership of Irish Sailing is either by direct application or through membership of an affiliated organisation. The annual membership fee ranges from €75 for families, down to €20 for Seniors and Juniors.