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Displaying items by tag: Kenny

#ROWING: A lightweight men’s four of Shane O’Driscoll, Anthony English, Mark O’Donovan and Niall Kenny impressed the selectors at the Ireland trial at the National Rowing Centre sufficiently to become the nominated crew to train in advance of the final trial in March. Sinéad Jennings and Emma Desmond, who are both injured, were missing from the trial for the lightweight women’s double sculls. The matrix for the available candidates ranked Claire Lambe and Denise Walshe as the fastest crew. Paul and Gary O’Donovan are the nominated men’s lightweight double for the March Trials.

Ireland Trial, National Rowing Centre, Cork (Selected Results; ranked on per centage of projected World Championship gold medal winning time)

Men

Four, Under-23 Double and U-23 Lightweight Double: 1 E Rowan, S McKeown (heavyweight double) 7:11.86 (82.4), 2 Coughlan, Deere, Crowley Meehan (four) 6:46.77 (82.4), 3 F McCarthy, M Ryan (lm double) 7:27.35 (80.9).

Sculling and Lightweight Four: 1 G O’Donovan, P O’Donovan (lightweight double) 6:55.94 (87.0), 2 N Kenny, M O’Donovan, A English, S O’Driscoll (light four) 6:42.50 (84.5), 3 J Keohane, P Doyle (heavy double) 7:07.0 (83.2).

Single Sculls: 1 J Ryan (Lightweight) 7:49.42 (84.8 per cent), 2 S Toland 7:59.6 (lwt, 83.0) 3 M Rowan (heavyweight) 7:51.8 (82.7).

Women

Single/Double Sculls, heavyweight – Race One: 1 L Dilleen 8:03.21 (88.0), 2 L Kennedy 8:21.14 (84.8), 3 Dineen/O’Brien 8:06.17 (80.6). Race Two: 1 O Finnegan 8:41.3 (81.5), 2 A Keogh 8:49.40 (80.3), 3 O Forde 9:00.18 (78.7).

Lightweight Double Matrix: 1 D Walsh, C Lambe 7:36.38 (88.1), 2 S McCrohan, Sarah Dolan 7:43.12 (86.8), 3 R Morris, Sarah Dolan 7:56.55 (84.4).

Published in Rowing

#ROWING: Ireland’s men’s lightweight pair finished fourth in their B Final, 10th overall, at the World Rowing Championships in Amsterdam today. China won in a fast time in tailwind conditions, with Bulgaria and the Netherlands battling each other and finishing second and third. Ireland’s Niall Kenny and Mark O’Donovan were fifth through the middle stages but won their own battle with Austria to take a clear fourth.

The women’s four of Marie O'Neill, Emily Tormey, Aifric Keogh and Barbara O'Brien were fourth in their B Final, behind the Netherlands, who won impressively from Italy, with Germany third.

World Rowing Championships, Amsterdam, Day Six (Irish interest, selected results)

Men

Lightweight Pair – B Final (Places 7 to 12): 1 China (Zhenwei Hou, Fangbing Zhang) 6:28.29, 2 Bulgaria 6:30.40, 3 Netherlands 6:31.01, 4 Ireland (M O’Donovan, N Kenny) 6:34.06, 5 Austria 6:37.65, 6 Chile 6:43.01.

Women

Four – B Final (Places 7 to 10): 1 Netherlands 6:28.95, 2 Italy 6:35.51, 3 Germany 6:37.90, 4 Ireland (M O’Neill, E Tormey, A Keogh, B O’Brien) 6:43.62.

Lightweight Double Sculls – C Final (Places 13 to 18): 1 Russia (D Stepochkina, O Arkadova) 6:58.21, 2 Ireland (C Lambe, D Walsh) 7:00.11, 3 Denmark 7:03.49, 4 Switzerland 7:03.51, 5 Belarus 7:09.08, 6 Greece 7:14.20.

Published in Rowing

#ROWING: Paul O’Donovan gave Ireland its first A Final place at the World Rowing Championships in Amsterdam today with a stirring performance which yielded second place in the lightweight single sculls semi-final. The UCD man lagged the field in the early stages; he was sixth at 500 metres as Zhao Jingbin of China and Marcello Miani of Italy commanded the race. By halfway O’Donovan was marginally in third place, but still over three seconds behind the leaders. As Miani moved clear in the final 1,000 metres, O’Donovan chased down and passed the Chinese. In a close finish, O’Donovan and Perry Ward of Australia took second and third, with Zhao Jingbin pushed into fourth and the B Final.

The Ireland lightweight men’s pair of Mark O’Donovan and Niall Kenny finished sixth in their semi-final and must settle for a B Final place. This was an exciting and fast race where all the boats were in with a chance of qualification until the very final stages, Switzerland, France and Australia took the A Final spots.

World Rowing Championships, Day Five (Irish interest; selected results)

Men

Lightweight Pair – A/B Semi-Final One (First Three to A Final; rest to B Final): 1 Switzerland (S Niepmann, L Tramer) 6:38.67, 2 France (A Mouterde, T Baroukh) 6:41.22, 3 Australia (A Foot, D Purcell) 6:42.39; 4 Bulgaria 6:44.00, 5 Netherlands 6:45.00, 6 Ireland (M O’Donovan, N Kenny) 6:46.60.

Lightweight Single Scull – A/B Semi-Final One (First Three to A Final; rest to B Final): 1 Italy (M Miani) 7:02.00, 2 Ireland (P O’Donovan) 7:03.59, 3 Australia (P Ward) 7:04.10; 4 China 7:04.99, 5 Denmark 7:08.21, 6 Hungary 7:15.08.

Women

Pair – A/B Semi-Final Two (First Three to A Final; rest to B Final): 1 United States (M Kalmoe, K Simmonds) 7:16.35, 2 New Zealand (L Trappitt, R Scown) 7:22.12, 3 Australia (C Sutherland, L Stephan) 7:30.02; 4 Serbia 7:34.92, 5 Ireland (L Kennedy, L Dilleen) 7:35.18, 6 Czech Republic 7:45.68.

Lightweight Double Sculls - C/D Semi-Final (First Three to C Final; rest to D Final): 1 Denmark 7:25.98, 2 Ireland (C Lambe, D Walsh) 7:26.35, 3 Russia 7:26.65; 4 Argentina 7:27.24.

Published in Rowing

#ROWING: The Ireland lightweight pair of Niall Kenny and Mark O’Donovan caused a major upset on the second day of the World Rowing Championships in Amsterdam today. The new crew at international level won their heat, beating World and European champions Switzerland. The Swiss set a blistering early pace and drew well clear, but the Irish had by far the better second 1,000 metres. They caught and passed the Swiss, who could not meet the challenge and actually stopped before getting going again, allowing China to take the second qualification spot.

World Rowing Championships, Amsterdam, Day Two (Selected Results, Irish interest)

Men

Lightweight Pair – Heat Two (First Two to A/B Semi-Finals; rest to Repechage): 1 Ireland (M O’Donovan, N Kenny) 6:53.54, 2 China (Zhenwei Hou, Fanbing Zhang) 6:54.57; 3 Switzerland 7:03.74, 4 Australia 7:10.31, 5 Bulgaria 7:13.05, 6 Austria 7:19.39.

Published in Rowing

#ROWING: The men’s junior coxed four was the standout race of the morning session at the Irish Rowing Championships at the National Rowing Centre in Cork today. It took a photo finish to confirm Cork Boat Club’s win over Presentation, with Portora also disputing the lead right to the last 50 metres.

Cork Boat Club also took the women’s junior single sculls title through Oisin Forde, who won a fine battle with Jasmine English of Belfast Boat Club. Forde is from Torrevieja in Spain and with her sister Dervla, who was third, will represent Ireland at the Coupe de la Jeunesse next month.

The men’s senior pair final gave Mark O’Donovan and Niall Kenny of UCD a chance to show why they are in the frame to represent Ireland at the World Championships this year, while a former international Fiola Foley partnered a current one, Monika Dukarska to win the women’s intermediate doubles title.

Irish Rowing Championships, National Rowing Centre, Cork (Selected Results; Finals)

 

Men

 

Eight – Intermediate: 1 Trinity 5:46.25, 2 NUIG 5:50.28, 3 UCD 5:56.96.

 

Four, coxed – Junior: 1 Cork BC 6:35.99, 2 Presentation 6:36.22, 3 Portora 6:38.08.

 

Pair – Senior: 1 UCD (M O’Donovan, N Kenny) 6:46.05, 2 NUIG 6:49.95, 3 Commercial B 7:00.16.

 

Sculling

 

Single: Lee (D O’Sullivan) 7:31.80, 2 St Michael’s (P O’Connor) 7:36.24, 3 Belfast BC (A Murray) 7:39.44.

 

 

 

Women

 

Eight – Novice: 1 Queen’s 7:19.74, 2 Trinity 7:55.75.

 

Sculling, Double – Intermediate: 1 Killorglin (F Foley, M Dukarska) 7:17.17, 2 Commercial 7:20.83, 3 Skibbereen 7:39.99.

 

Single – Junior: 1 Cork BC (O Forde) 8:06.14, 2 Belfast BC (J English) 8:07.11, 3 Commercial B 7:00.16.

   

Published in Rowing

# ROWING: Ireland had a good start at the European Rowing Championships in Seville today. Claire Lambe nailed the second place she needed to qualify directly for the A Final of the lightweight single sculls and Sanita Puspure qualified for her semi-final of the single sculls by taking the third of three qualification places.

Ireland’s two other crews face into repechages later today. Niall Kenny and Justin Ryan took third in a heat of the lightweight double sculls won by Italy, who took the one semi-final place on offer, repelling a challenge by Austria. Ireland won a mini-battle with Bulgaria for third.

John Keohane finished fifth in his heat of the single sculls. Germany’s Marcel Hacker had his expected win, with Mindaugas Griskonis of Lithuania taking the second qualification place. Keohane, who is new to this level, held off Russian Denis Kleshnev, who finished sixth.

European Rowing Championships, Seville – Day One (Irish interest)

Men

Lightweight Double Sculls – Heat Four (One Directly to A/B Semi-Finals; rest to Repechages): 1 Italy (A Micheletti, P Ruta) 6:39.92; 2 Austria 6:44.49, 3 Ireland (N Kenny, J Ryan) 6:47.43, 4 Bulgaria 6:48.89, 5 Czech Republic 6:51.76.

Single Sculls – Heat One (First Two Directly to A/B Semi-Finals; rest to Repechages): 1 Germany (M Hacker) 7:03.91, 2 Lithuania (M Griskonis) 7:08.15; 3 Italy 7:19.44, 4 Greece 7:22.19, 5 Ireland (J Keohane) 7:25.67, 6 Russia 7:27.89.

Women

Single Sculls – Heat One (First Three to A/B Semi-Finals; rest to Repechage): 1 Ukraine (N Dovgodko) 8:04.02, 2 Norway (T Gjoertz) 8:04.65, 3 Ireland (S Puspure) 8:09.24; 4 Bulgaria 8:18.54, 5 Armenia 9:41.08.

Lightweight Single Sculls – Heat One (First Two Directly to A/B Semi-Finals; rest to Repechage): 1 Austria (M Tauper-Traer) 7:25.35, 2 Ireland (C Lambe) 7:58.09; 3 Czech Republic 8:06.09, 4 France 8:09.57, 6 Cyprus 8:10.61.

 

Published in Rowing

# ROWING: Niall Kenny was the fastest man on the water at the Rowing Ireland National Assessments in Newry today. The 23 year old lightweight clocked 19 minutes 15 seconds for the five kilometres in the incessant rain. It was a good day for Galway competitors as the fastest crew was the heavyweight men’s pair of Fionnan McQuillan-Tolan and Sean O’Connor. Kenny was ranked as having hit 86.6 per cent of the projected world best time for his grade, but junior single sculler Bridget Jacques performed best of all on this rating, with a mark of 87.8 per cent. She was the third fastest woman after senior heavyweights Sanita Puspure and Monika Dukarska.

Rowing Ireland
Newry 5km Time Trial; 10th February 2013
Results - OVERALL
Category Crew Final Time %age
BHM2- Fionnan Mcquillan-Tolan / Sean O'Connor (St.Josephs RC / NUIGBC) 18:58.1 83.0%
LM1x Niall Kenny (Grainne Mhaol RC) 19:15.0 86.6%
LM1x Justin Ryan (Skibbereen RC) 19:17.0 86.4%
BLM1x Shane O'Driscoll (CIT RC) 19:37.0 87.1%
JM2- Kevin Fallon / jack smyth (St.Josephs RC / St.Josephs RC) 19:46.2 83.2%
BHM2- Adam Boreham / Matthew Wray (Belfast BC / Bann RC) 19:49.2 79.5%
BHM1x Johnathan Mitchell (Belfast BC) 19:51.5 83.5%
JM2- David Keohane / Brian Keohane (Presentation College RC / Presentation College RC) 19:53.6 82.7%
BLM1x Gary O'Donovan (CIT RC) 19:57.0 85.6%
JM1x Andy Harrington (Shandon B.C.) 20:01.0 86.2%
JM2- Aidan Kinneen / James Egan (St.Josephs RC / St.Josephs RC) 20:10.1 81.6%
BLM1x Paul O'Donovan (UCDBC) 20:11.0 84.6%
BLM1x Alan Prendergast (Clonmel RC) 20:12.1 84.6%
HM1x David Neale (UCDBC) 20:20.7 80.3%
JM1x Conor Carmody (Shannon RC) 20:24.7 84.5%
BLM1x Aodhan Burns (Skibbereen RC) 20:25.2 83.7%
JM1x David O Malley (St Michaels RC) 20:32.7 84.0%
JM1x Jack Casey (Shandon B.C.) 20:34.4 83.8%
JM1x Paddy Hegarty (Skibbereen RC) 20:35.9 83.7%
JM1x John Mitchel (Lee RC) 20:39.7 83.5%
HW1x Sanita Puspure (Old Collegians BC) 20:45.7 85.3%
JM1x Gareth McKillen (RBAIRC) 20:50.9 82.7%
JM1x Evan Stone (Lee RC) 20:51.2 82.7%
JM1x william yeomans (Commercial RC) 20:52.4 82.6%
BLM1x Eoghan O'Connor (Castleconnell Boat Club) 20:55.0 81.7%
JM1x Daniel Buckley (Lee RC) 20:55.0 82.5%
HW1x Monika Dukarska (Killorglin RC) 20:55.2 84.6%
JM2- Colin Finnerty / Jack Silke (St.Josephs RC / St.Josephs RC) 21:03.0 78.2%
JM1x Stephen Murphy (Cork BC) 21:04.7 81.8%
JM1x Eoghan Whittle (Castleconnell Boat Club) 21:05.2 81.8%
JM1x Sam Keogh (Lee RC) 21:07.5 81.7%
JM1x Rory O Sullivan (Lee RC) 21:07.8 81.6%
JM1x Neil McCarthy (Cork BC) 21:18.8 80.9%
JM1x Kevin Keohane (Presentation College RC) 21:22.7 80.7%
JM1x Matthew Ryan (Skibbereen RC) 21:28.2 80.3%
JM1x Karl Anderson (Portora BC) 21:29.7 80.3%
JM1x James Blackwell (Shannon RC) 21:29.9 80.2%
JW1x Bridget Jacques (Belfast BC) 21:32.4 87.8%
JM1x Ewan Murry (Portora BC) 21:32.7 80.1%
JM1x patrick munnelly (Athlone BC) 21:35.9 79.9%
BLM1x Nathan O'Reilly (University of Surrey) 21:36.7 79.0%
JM1x Evan Despard (St Michaels RC) 21:40.2 79.6%
JM1x Christopher Laffey (Garda RC) 21:47.8 79.1%
BLW1x Denise Walsh (Skibbereen RC) 21:51.8 85.9%
JW1x Hilary Shinnick (Fermoy RC) 21:52.5 86.5%
BLW1x Sinead Dolan (DULBC) 21:56.3 85.7%
JM1x Charlie Murray (Cork BC) 21:57.8 78.5%
JM1x Alex Chadfield (Clonmel RC) 21:58.6 78.5%
JM1x Thomas Cregan (Presentation College RC) 22:08.9 77.9%
JM1x Andrew GOFF (Waterford BC) 22:12.3 77.7%
JM1x Ewan Gallagher (Athlunkard BC) 22:15.4 77.5%
JM1x Kevin Hogan (Colaiste Chiarain RC) 22:18.9 77.3%
BLW1x Sally O'Brien (DULBC) 22:19.0 84.2%
JM1x Eoghan Fogarty (Neptune RC) 22:19.2 77.3%
JW1x Jasmin English (Belfast BC) 22:19.7 84.7%
JW1x Fiona Murtagh (Galway RC) 22:31.0 84.0%
JM1x Ger McNamara (Athlunkard BC) 22:37.5 76.2%
JM1x Aidan Murray 22:38.1 76.2%
LW1x Sarah Dolan (Commercial RC) 22:40.1 80.9%
JW1x Claire Beechinor (Cork BC) 22:46.6 83.1%
JW1x Phoebe Mulligan (Portora BC) 22:49.0 82.9%
JM1x Mark Breen (Lee RC) 22:52.9 75.4%
JW1x Leonie Hamel (Cork BC) 22:59.5 82.3%
JM1x Mike O'HANLON (Waterford BC) 23:12.0 74.4%
JM2- Eoghan Walls-Tuite / Kai McGlacken (Colaiste Iognaid RC / Colaiste Iognaid RC) 23:12.4 70.9%
JW1x Zoe Hyde (Killorglin RC) 23:17.2 81.2%
HM1x Colm Keenan (Molesey BC) 23:19.9 70.0%
JW1x Megan McClaughlin (Cork BC) 23:21.6 81.0%
JW1x Lauren McHugh (Shannon RC) 23:22.3 80.9%
JW1x Kara O'Connor (Muckross RC) 23:22.9 80.9%
JM1x Philip McCullough (CAIBC) 23:23.6 73.7%
JW1x aisling Rodger (Commercial RC) 23:26.9 80.7%
JW1x Eimear Lambe (Commercial RC) 23:31.1 80.4%
JW1x Erin Barry (Bann RC) 23:35.1 80.2%
JW1x Ruth Gilligan (Shannon RC) 23:37.1 80.1%
JW1x Kirsty Turner (Belfast BC) 23:43.9 79.7%
JW1x Sarah Murphy (St Michaels RC) 23:59.8 78.8%
JW2- Clodagh Scannell / Daisy Callanan (Shandon B.C.) 24:02.9 75.5%
JW2- Elizabeth Clarke / Chloe Finlayson (Portora BC / Portora BC) 24:30.2 74.1%
JW1x Erin Coll (Shannon RC) 24:45.6 76.4%
JW1x Megan Blackburne (Fermoy RC) 24:49.7 76.2%
BLM1x Andrew Bell (UCDBC) NTT
Published in Rowing

# ROWING: Niall Kenny won his repechage to qualify for tomorrow’s semi-finals of the lightweight single sculls at the World University Championships in Kazan in Russia. The 24-year-old Galway man had finished last in a difficult heat earlier, but he led through all four quarters of the semi-final, beating Rusian Momot of the Ukraine into second. Estonia’s Tamor Bakhoff took the third semi-final place.

World University Rowing Championships, Kazan, Russia – Day One (Irish interest)

Men

Four – Heat Two (First Two to A Final; rest to Repechage): 1 Netherlands 6:08,18, 2 Germany 6:08.22; 3 Italy 6:16.97, 4 Ireland (E Mullarkey, S O’Connor, S O’Driscoll, T Lynam) 6:24.25.

Lightweight Single Sculls – Heat Two (First Three to A/B Semi-Final; rest to Repechage): 1 Switzerland 7:07.60, 2 Poland 7:08.95, 3 Italy 7:09.48; 4 Ireland (N Kenny) 7:29.71. Repechage (Threee to Semi-Finals; rest to C Final): 1 Ireland (Kenny) 7:48.29, 2 Ukraine 7:50.64, 3 Estonia 8:20.69; 4 Malaysia 8:29.94.

Women

Four – Heat Two (Winner to A Final, rest to Repechage): 1 Russia 6:51.90; 2 Poland 7:04.19, 3 Ireland (A Greene, E Kerrigan, H Lavery, C McIlwaine) 7:17.07.

Lightweight Single Sculls – Heat Two (First Two to A Final, rest to Repechage): 1 Ireland (C Lambe) 7:53.86, 2 New Zealand (L Tester) 7:59.70; 3 Czech Republic 8:02.39, 4 Mexico 8:27.96, 5 Italy 8:40.06.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Published in Rowing

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]