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

Displaying items by tag: World Championships,

# ROWING: The Ireland senior men’s crews at the World Rowing Championships in Plovdiv in Bulgaria will finish their programmes competing in C and D Finals.

Lightweight single sculler Niall Kenny finished a safe second in his C/D semi-final, but the lightweight pair finished third of three in theirs and with the last crew being consigned to the D Final, this will be how they finish their regatta.

Paul O’Donovan won his C/D Semi-Final of the junior single scull. The Skibbereen man, who came within a tenth of a second of qualifying for the A/B Semi-Finals earlier in the day, was an emphatic winner from Peter Purcell Gilpin of Zimbabwe.

In the women’s junior single, Kate O’Brien finished fifth in her C/D Semi-Final. She tracked the leaders down the course in fourth for most of the race but was pushed into fifth near the end.

World Rowing Championships, Plovdiv, Bulgaria – Day Three (Irish interest)

Men

Lightweight Pair – C/D Semi-Finals (First Two to C Final, One to D Final; Only Three Crews Competed): 1 Russia 6:54.46, 2 Japan 6:57.50; 3 Ireland (M O’Donovan, A English) 7:00.77.

Junior Pair – Repechage Four (First Two to A/B Semi-Final; rest to C/D Semi-Final): 1 Ireland (C Black, J Cassells) 6:53.11, 2 Czech Republic 6:53.55; 3 Spain 6:56.80, 4 Ukraine 7:19.31, 5 Denmark 7:28.63.

Lightweight Single Sculls – C/D Semi-Finals (First Three to C Final; rest to D Final): 1 Germany 7:16.86, 2 Ireland (N Kenny) 7:19.67, 3 Japan 7:20.36.

Junior Single Sculls – Quarter-Final Two (First Three to A/B Semi-Final; rest to C/D Semi-Final): 1 Azerbaijan 7:08.77, 2 Germany 7:11.13, 3 Belarus 7:12.37; 4 Ireland (P O’Donovan) 7:12.46, 5 Austria 7:27.00, 6 Denmark 7:34.99. C/D Semi-Finals (First Three to C Final; rest to D Final): 1 Ireland (O’Donovan) 7:25.81, 2 Zimbabwe 7:27.99, 3 United States 7:31.97.

Women

Junior Quadruple Sculls – Semi-Final Two (First Three to A Final; rest to B Final): 1 New Zealand 6:40.77, 2 United States 6:42.25, 3 Germany 6:42.46, 4 China 6:43.28, 5 Ireland (K Cromie, H Shinnick, B Jacques, B Walsh) 6:51.54, 6 Greece 6:55.84.

Junior Single Sculls – Quarter Finals (First Three to A/B Semi-Final; rest to C/D Semi-Final): 1 Romania 8:02.92, 2 Sweden 8:07.68, 3 Poland 8:09.84; 4 Russia 8:13.92, 5 Ireland (K O’Brien) 8:17.69, 6 Tunisia 8:29.53. C/D Semi-Finals (First Three to C Final; rest to D Final): 1 Czech Republic 8:18.03, 2 Brazil 8:21.39, 3 United States 8:24.31, 4 Tunisia 8:27.27, 5 Ireland (O’Brien) 8:29.11, 6 Bulgaria 8:33.57.

Lightweight Single Sculls – A/B Semi-Final Two (First Three to A Final; rest to B Final): 1 United States 7:49.85, 2 Austria 7:49.92, 3 Belarus 7:50.25; 4 Italy 7:54.51, 5 China 8:00.95, 6 Ireland (C Lambe) 8:14.64.

Published in Rowing

# ROWING: Claire Lambe’s hopes of qualifying for the A Final of the lightweight single sculls at the World Rowing Championships in Plovdiv in Bulgaria fell away in the third quarter of her semi-final today. The Dubliner was competitive to halfway, although by this stage it was clear that the United States, Austria and Belarus had a strong hold on the three qualification places, though China’s Wang Miao was still pushing in fourth. Lambe had been holding off Elisabetta Sancassani of Italy in a battle for fifth, but the Italian pushed through her and later passed the Chinese as well. Lambe eventually finished sixth.

The Ireland junior women’s quadruple are also set for tomorrow’s B Final (places seven to 12). At the head of the field in their semi-final New Zealand, the United States and Germany took the A Final places, with China joining Ireland in the B Final after being pushed into fourth. The Ireland crew of Katie Cromie, Hilary Shinnick, Bridget Jacques and Bernadette Walsh won their private battle with Greece for fifth by virtue of a good finish.

World Rowing Championships, Plovdiv, Bulgaria – Day Three (Irish interest)

Men

Junior Pair – Repechage Four (First Two to A/B Semi-Final; rest to C/D Semi-Final): 1 Ireland (C Black, J Cassells) 6:53.11, 2 Czech Republic 6:53.55; 3 Spain 6:56.80, 4 Ukraine 7:19.31, 5 Denmark 7:28.63.

Junior Single Sculls – Quarter-Final Two (First Three to A/B Semi-Final; rest to C/D Semi-Final): 1 Azerbaijan 7:08.77, 2 Germany 7:11.13, 3 Belarus 7:12.37; 4 Ireland (P O’Donovan) 7:12.46, 5 Austria 7:27.00, 6 Denmark 7:34.99.

Women

Junior Quadruple Sculls – Semi-Final Two (First Three to A Final; rest to B Final): 1 New Zealand 6:40.77, 2 United States 6:42.25, 3 Germany 6:42.46, 4 China 6:43.28, 5 Ireland (K Cromie, H Shinnick, B Jacques, B Walsh) 6:51.54, 6 Greece 6:55.84.

Junior Single Sculls – Quarter Finals (First Three to A/B Semi-Final; rest to C/D Semi-Final): 1 Romania 8:02.92, 2 Sweden 8:07.68, 3 Poland 8:09.84; 4 Russia 8:13.92, 5 Ireland (K O’Brien) 8:17.69, 6 Tunisia 8:29.53.

Lightweight Single Sculls – A/B Semi-Final Two (First Three to A Final; rest to B Final): 1 United States 7:49.85, 2 Austria 7:49.92, 3 Belarus 7:50.25; 4 Italy 7:54.51, 5 China 8:00.95, 6 Ireland (C Lambe) 8:14.64.

Published in Rowing

# ROWING: Claire Lambe produced a good performance in her repechage of the lightweight single sculls at the World Rowing Championships in Plovdiv in Bulgaria today. The 22-year-old Dubliner needed to finish in the top two to qualify for the A/B semi-finals in a race which included Fabiana Beltrame of Brazil, the reigning World Champion, and Leonie Pless of Germany, a World Cup silver medallist in Lucerne this year. Lambe moved into second, over three lengths clear of Pless, by 1250 metres and pushed Beltrame over the rest of the race, although the Brazilian – who competed in the Olympics in the lightweight double sculls – did open up a gap by the finish.

Niall Kenny could not make it into the top three of his lightweight single sculls quarter final. His fourth-place finish behind Italy, Slovakia and Slovenia, sends him to the C/D semi-finals.

Mark O’Donovan and Anthony English finished a disappointing fourth and last  in their repechage of the men’s lightweight pair. Two crews qualified for the A/B Semi-finals, and Canada and Italy fought it out for the lead. Ireland were not able to make it into this set, but held third until they were passed coming up to the line by Hong Kong.    

World Senior and Junior Rowing Championships, Plovdiv, Bulgaria – Day Two (Irish interest)

Men

Lightweight Pair – Repechage Three (First Two to A/B Semi-Finals; rest to C/D Semi-Finals): 1 Canada 7:00.48, 2 Italy 7:01.81, 3 Hong Kong 7:06.93, 4 Ireland (M O’Donovan, A English) 7:07.40.

Junior Pair – Heat Three (Winner directly to A/B Semi-Final; rest to repechages): 1 Romania 6:46.98, 2 Germany 6:53.83, 3 Poland 6:58.00, 4 Ireland (C Black, J Cassells) 6:59.13, 5 Estonia 7:13.74.

Lightweight Single Scull – Quarter Final Two (First Three to A/B Semi-Finals; rest to C/D Semi-Finals) 1 Italy 7:16.04, 2 Slovakia 7:20.77, 3 Slovenia 7:21.94; 4 Ireland (N Kenny) 7:24.42, 5 Hong Kong 7:32.44, 6 Japan 7:37.21.

Junior Single Scull – Heat Four (First Four to Quarter-Finals): 1 China (Ganggang Li) 7:08,24, 2 Ireland (P O’Donovan) 7:13.05, 3 Zimbabwe (P Purcell Gilpin) 7:14.77, 4 Estonia (A Luenekund) 7:22.12; 5 Japan 7:27.06.

Women

Junior Quadruple – Repechage One (First Three to A/B Semi-Final; rest to C Final): 1 Germany 6:38.45, 2 Italy 6:43.88, 3 Ireland (K Cromie, H Shinnick, B Jacques, B Walsh) 6:46.34; 4 Denmark 6:47.68, 5 Ukraine 7:02.24.

Lightweight Single Scull – Repechage Four (First Two to A/B Semi-Final; rest to C/D Semi-Final): 1 Brazil (F Beltrame) 8:02.62, 2 Ireland (C Lambe) 8:05.35; 3 Germany 8:09.65, 4 Japan 8:10.58, 5 Mexico 8:26.49.

Junior Single Scull – Heat Four (Four Guaranteed Quarter-Finals; fastest of rest to Quarter-Finals; rest to Final E): 1 Belarus (K Staraselets) 7:57.89, 2 Chile (N Sanchez Rojas) 8:09.53, 3 Ireland (K O’Brien) 8:13.90, 4 Ukraine (D Serebrianska) 8:16.83; 5 Uganda 10:14.48.

Published in Rowing

# ROWING: The Ireland junior women’s quadruple of Katie Cromie, Hilary Shinnick, Bridget Jacques and stroke woman Bernadette Walsh showed great character to take third in their repechage and qualify for the semi-finals of the World Rowing Championships in Plovdiv in Bulgaria today.

Three places were available, and in the early stages it seemed that eventual winners Germany would be joined by Italy and Denmark. Behind them the young Ireland crew were battling with Ukraine for fourth. But by halfway the Irish, roared on by their support, were closing in on Denmark. They passed the Danes in the next 500 metres and fought off their attempts to regain third in the final quarter.

All but Cromie in the Ireland crew are 17 years of age.

World Senior and Junior Rowing Championships, Plovdiv, Bulgaria – Day Two (Irish interest)

Men

Junior Pair – Heat Three (Winner directly to A/B Semi-Final; rest to repechages): 1 Romania 6:46.98, 2 Germany 6:53.83, 3 Poland 6:58.00, 4 Ireland (C Black, J Cassells) 6:59.13, 5 Estonia 7:13.74.

Junior Single Scull – Heat Four (First Four to Quarter-Finals): 1 China (G Li) 7:08,24, 2 Ireland (P O’Donovan) 7:13.05, 3 Zimbabwe (P Purcell Gilpin) 7:14.77, 4 Estonia (A Luenekund) 7:22.12; 5 Japan 7:27.06.

Women

Junior Quadrple – Repechage One (First Three to A/B Semi-Final; rest to C Final): 1 Germany 6:38.45, 2 Italy 6:43.88, 3 Ireland (K Cromie, H Shinnick, B Jacques, B Walsh) 6:46.34; 4 Denmark 6:47.68, 5 Ukraine 7:02.24.

Junior Single Scull – Heat Four (Four Guaranteed Quarter-Finals; fastest of rest to Quarter-Finals; rest to Final E): 1 Belarus (K Staraselets) 7:57.89, 2 Chile (N Sanchez Rojas) 8:09.53, 3 Ireland (K O’Brien) 8:13.90, 4 Ukraine (D Serebrianska) 8:16.83; 5 Uganda 10:14.48.

Published in Rowing

# ROWING: Paul O’Donovan took second in his heat of the junior single sculls to ease into the quarter-finals of the World Rowing Championships in Plovdiv in Bulgaria. China’s Ganggang Li ran away with the race. Four of the five crews qualified, but the big Chinese sprinted away from the rest and was never caught. O’Donovan came closest, but even the pugnacious Skibbereen man could not wrest the lead from Li Ganggang. Zimbabwe and Estonia took third and fourth, while Japan, in fifth, lost out.

Kate O’Brien will also compete in the quarter-finals of the junior women’s single scull. A good scull in her heat by the St Michael’s athlete saw her take third place behind Belarus and Chile and ahead of Ukraine, with all four qualifying.

World Senior and Junior Rowing Championships, Plovdiv, Bulgaria – Day Two (Irish interest)

Men

Junior Pair – Heat Three (Winner directly to A/B Semi-Final; rest to repechages): 1 Romania 6:46.98, 2 Germany 6:53.83, 3 Poland 6:58.00, 4 Ireland (C Black, J Cassells) 6:59.13, 5 Estonia 7:13.74.

Junior Single Scull – Heat Four: 1 China (G Li) 7:08,24, 2 Ireland (P O’Donovan) 7:13.05, 3 Zimbabwe (P Purcell Gilpin) 7:14.77, 4 Estonia (A Luenekund) 7:22.12; 5 Japan 7:27.06.

Women

Junior Single Scull – Heat Four (Four Guaranteed Quarter-Finals; fastest of rest to Quarter-Finals; rest to Final E): 1 Belarus (K Staraselets) 7:57.89, 2 Chile (N Sanchez Rojas) 8:09.53, 3 Ireland (K O’Brien) 8:13.90, 4 Ukraine (D Serebrianska) 8:16.83; 5 Uganda 10:14.48.

Published in Rowing

# ROWING: Ireland’s Chris Black and Joel Cassells must negotiate a repechage to make the A/B semi-finals of the junior men’s pair at the World Rowing Championships in Plovdiv in Bulgaria. The Bann crew found themselves in the fastest heat of four this morning and finished fourth. Romania set the pace and won in a quick time of six minutes 46.98 seconds despite the challenge of Germany and Ireland over the first half of the race. Poland took over from Ireland in third in the closing stages and held off a late push by Black and Cassells.  

World Senior and Junior Rowing Championships, Plovdiv, Bulgaria – Day Two (Irish interest)

Men

Junior Pair – Heat Three (Winner directly to A/B Semi-Final; rest to repechages): 1 Romania 6:46.98, 2 Germany 6:53.83, 3 Poland 6:58.00, 4 Ireland (C Black, J Cassells) 6:59.13, 5 Estonia 7:13.74.

Published in Rowing

# ROWING: Niall Kenny claimed third place in his heat of the lightweight single sculls to progress to the quarter-finals of the World Senior and Junior Rowing Championships in Plovdiv in Bulgaria today. The Galway man slotted in behind Hungary and Poland and ahead of Korea to guarantee himself meaningful action tomorrow.

The lightweight men’s pair finished fifth and last in a fascinating heat. Just one crew moved directly into the semi-finals. Germany looked like that crew until the final 500 metres, when they folded under pressure from the United States, who won, and Denmark, who took second.

Claire Lambe was in an extremely difficult heat of the lightweight single sculls. Alexandra Tsiavou of Greece was fresh from claiming bronze at the Olympic Games in the lightweight double scull – and proved fresh in competition as well, giving no encouragement to ther opposition as she grabbed hold of the one direct qualification place for the semi-finals. Lambe could not shift out of fifth and will compete in a repechage tomorrow.  

World Rowing Championships, Plovdiv, Bulgaria – Day One (Irish interest)

Men

Lightweight Pair – Heat Three (Winner directly to A/B Semi-Finals; rest to repechages): 1 United States 6:49.02, 2 Denmark 6:49.61, 3 Germany 6:53.94, 4 Serbia 6:59.78, 5 Ireland (M O’Donovan, A English) 7:02.51.

Lightweight Single Scull – Heat Four (First Three and fastest losers to Quarter-Finals): 1 Hungary (P Galambos) 7:14.16, 2 Poland (B Lesniak) 7:15.33, 3 Ireland (N Kenny) 7:24.91; 4 Korea 7:31.27.

Women

Lightweight Single Scull – Heat Three: (Winner directly to A/B Semi-Finals; rest to repechages): 1 Greece (A Tsiavou) 7:49.89; 2 Belarus 7:52.99, 3 United States 7:54.22, 4 Australia 7:58.28, 5 Ireland (C Lambe) 8:06.07, 6 Kuwait 9:34.72

Junior Quadruple Scull – Heat Two (First Two to Semi-Final A/B, rest to repechage): 1 Romania 6:36.54, 2 New Zealand 6:39.41; 5 Ireland 7:00.39.

Published in Rowing

# ROWING: Ireland began their campaign in the World Senior and Junior Rowing Championships today at Plovdiv in Bulgaria. The senior programme is for non-Olympic events. The Ireland team has been boosted by the inclusion of Claire Lambe in the lightweight single scull.  The first Ireland crew in action was the junior women’s quadruple, which finished fifth and must compete in a repechage tomorrow. The were not helped by catching a crab (missing a stroke) in the middle of the race.

World Rowing Championships, Plovdiv, Bulgaria – Day One (Irish interest)

Women

Junior Quadruple Scull – Heat Two (First Two to Semi-Final A/B, rest to repechage): 1 Romania 6:36.54, 2 New Zealand 6:39.41; 5 Ireland 7:00.39.

Published in Rowing

# ROWING: Ireland will field just two senior crews at next week’s World Senior and Junior Rowing Championships in Plovdiv in Bulgaria. The lightweight men’s pair of Mark O’Donovan and Anthony English will be joined by lightweight single sculler Niall Kenny. The senior events are for crews in non-Olympic events.

The four junior crews representing Ireland will be a women’s quadruple scull, the men’s pair of Chris Black and Joel Cassells and single scullers Paul O’Donovan and Kate O’Brien.

Competition at the Championships begins on Wednesday and runs through to Sunday.

Published in Rowing

# ROWING; Four Ireland crews have been chosen to represent Ireland at junior level at the World Senior and Junior Championships in Plovdiv in Bulgaria in August. The men's single of Paul O'Donovan and the pair of Joel Cassells and Chris Black will be joined by Kate O'Brien in the junior women's single and a junior women's quadruple. The teams for the Coupe de la Jeunesse and the Home Internationals have also been picked. 

JUNIOR TEAMS
JUNIOR WORLD ROWING CHAMPIONSHIPS – PLOVDIV, BULGARIA
JM1X Paul O’Donovan (Skibbereen RC)
Coach: Teddy O’Donovan
JW 1x Kate O’Brien (St.Michael’s RC)
Coach : HP Team
JM2‐ Joel Cassells (Bann RC)
Chris Black (Bann RC)
Coach: Seamus Reynolds
JW4X‐ Bridget Jacques (Belfast Boat Club)
Hilary Shinnick (Fermoy RC)
Katie Cromie (Portora BC)
Bernadette Walsh (Skibbereen RC )
Coaches: Derek Holland , Nathan Adams
Team Manager: Martin McElroy
Lead Coach : Derek Holland
Details regarding the Junior World Rowing Championships can be found at
http://www.worldrowing.com/events/2012‐world‐rowing‐senior‐and‐juniorchampionships
COUPE DE LA JEUNESSE – BANYOLES, SPAIN
JM4‐ Henry Millar (Portora BC)
Lloyd Seaman (Portora BC)
Finnion Tolan (St. Joseph’s RC)
James Egan (St. Joseph’s RC)
Coaches: Derek Holland , David Ewart
JM2X Andrew Griffin (Neptune RC)
David Quinlan (Castleconnell BC)
Coaches: John Holland
JM4X Aodhan Burns (Skibbereen RC)
John Mitchell (Lee RC)
Jack Casey (Shandon BC)
Paddy Hegarty (Skibbereen RC)
Coaches: John Holland , Teddy O’Donovan
JW4x Aileen Crowley (Muckross RC)
Lucie Litvack (Belfast Boat Club)
Sarah Allen (Bann RC)
Sarah Higgins (Cork BC)
Coach: Nathan Adams
JW2‐ Brooke Edgar (Bann RC)
Aoife Cooper (Muckross RC)
Coach: Seamus Reynolds
Team Manager: Clare Cox
Lead Coach: Derek Holland
Details regarding the Coupe de la Jeunesse can be found at
http://www.cebanyoles.cat/en‐us/competicio/rem2012/inici.aspx
http://www.couperowing.org/
HOME COUNTRIES REGATTA
JM4‐ / JM 8+ William Yeomans (Commercial RC)
Colm O’Riada (Commercial RC)
Gary Thornton (Portora BC)
Chris Alcorn (Bann RC)
JM4+/ JM8+ Eric McEvoy (St.Josephs RC)
Aiden Kinneen (St.Josephs RC)
Kevin Keohane (Presentation College)
Niall Crowley (Presentation College)
JM2‐ Shane Walsh (Galway RC)
Alan Murtagh (Galway RC)
Colm Connelly – Cox (St. Joseph’s RC)
Coaches: John Walsh, Jamie Bradley
JM4X‐ Matthew Ryan (Skibbereen RC)
Andy Harrington (Shandon RC)
Daniel Buckley (Lee RC)
Paudie Leonard (Skibbereen RC)
Coach : David O’Donovan
JM2X Andrew Bell (Colaiste Iognaid)
Patrick Boomer (Methodist College )
JM1X David O’Malley (St.Michaels’s RC)
Coach: James Boomer
JW4‐ / JW8+ Ruth Gilligan (Shannon RC)
Lauren McHugh (Shannon RC)
Ruth Cummins (Galway RC)
Kellie Wade (Galway RC)
JW4+ / JW8+ Hanna McCarthy (St.Michael’s RC)
Hanna O’Sullivan (St.Michael’s RC)
Emily Hutchinson (Bann RC)
Fiona Murtagh (Galway RC)
JW2‐ Kara O’Connor (Muckross RC)
Jasmine English (Methodist College)
Affric O’Regan Cox (Galway RC)
Coach: Iain Cumiskey, Michael O’Callaghan
JW 4x Leonie Hamel (Cork BC)
Megan McLaughlin (Cork BC)
Rosin Merz (Shandon RC)
Laura Coleman (Shandon BC)
Coach: David O’Donovan
JW 2x Kathrine Cremin (Muckross RC)
Sadbh Cassidy (Neptune RC)
JW 1x Ella Ciallis (Skibbereen RC)
Coach: Cathal Moynihan
Team manager: Lisa O’Callaghan
Published in Rowing
Page 1 of 2

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]