Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

The Irish Cruiser Racing Association (ICRA) National Championships returns to Dublin Bay this weekend (September 3-5th) and brings one of the biggest Division Zero fleets the cruiser-racer body has ever seen. An expected fleet of 13 Zeros is bigger than the…

It was a one, two overall for the J109 design in this weekend's Kinsale Yacht Club SCORA Fastnet Race.  Royal Cork yacht Jelly Baby claimed a victory in a corrected time of 21 hours:13 minutes: 26 seconds from the host club's Artful Dodger (Finbarr…

An estimated fleet of ten boats is contemplating a light air forecast for Friday evening's SCORA Kinsale Yacht Club Fastnet Race. Sponsored by UK Sailmakers Ireland, the fleet includes the on form host club J109 entry of Artful Dodjer (Finnbarr…

With official club racing only permissible since last Monday, June 7th, and many fit-out schedules delayed through May's atrocious weather, the realists had been hoping for a turnout of maybe around 40 boats for Howth YC's opening major event of…

A Howth Yacht Club favourite for Wednesday's Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Race has pulled out of the biennial race. The entry has been withdrawn due to a number of factors, the most significant being that a key crew member has…

The Royal Ocean Racing Club organised two races over the May Bank Holiday weekend. 58 boats entered, including a 91nm race for IRC Two Handed, the first overnight race of the year. Giovanni Belgrano’s Classic Whooper won the race for…

The J109 Irish Championship saw a competitive fleet on 10 entries come together on 5/6 October in Dublin Bay to race in the aftermath of Hurricane Lorenzo. As Afloat previously reported, the full programme of six races was completed. Saturday…

John Maybury's consistent Joker 2 has won the J109 National Championships after six races sailed at the Royal Irish Yacht Club today.  Maybury won half of the six races in the series but counted all six results in the top three.…

The host club's Joker 2 skippered by John Maybury leads the J109 National Championships after the first three races sailed from the Royal Irish Yacht Club today.  Racing in southerly winds gusting to 20-knots, poor visibility on Dublin Bay kept crews…

Royal Cork Olympian Mark Mansfield was the tactician and main sheet trimmer on John Smart's J109 Jukebox at the 2019 UK J109 Nationals held last weekend at the Royal Southern Yacht Club in Hamble. The J109 Nationals was part of…

35 boats took part in the Hendrick Ryan Royal Dee Offshore Championship 2019 that took place over two weekends and over 5 races. The championship included the ISORA Offshore from Douglas IOM to Dun Laoghaire on Sunday the 7th July…

It was with the numerous J/109s in IRC 1 that blood was on the bay today at Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta, with the narrow overnight lead of Outrajeous (Richard Colwell & John Murphy) snatched away by a final win by…

The clear record of Seamus Fitzpatrick’s First 50 Mermaid IV (RIYC) in the coastal racing of Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta slipped today, taking quite a knock with an 11th while the Pwllheli J/109 (Peter Dunlop) was on top form to…

“Champagne sailing” is a choice expression which is in danger of being over-used every time a bit of sunshine happens upon a decent sailing breeze during race time in Ireland writes W M Nixon. But we’ve no doubt it was…

There is no doubt about it that 500 entries – so far – for Thursday's Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta is a great indication of the state of yacht racing in Ireland, especially when so many other regattas struggle for numbers.…

The Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Race is now such a significant event that inevitably it attracts the involvement of professional and semi-professional talent. But so many boats sail determinedly within the Corinithian ideal that in effect they created an extra…