Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

The Irish tricolour featured very high on the results board at last weekend's IOCA Volvo Gill, Optimist British Spring Championships at Royal Lymington Yacht Club. Ireland's winning weekend of sailing saw nine sailors in the top 20. The Irish Team…

#Optimist - Wednesday 21 March is the closing date for registrations for the 2018 Irish Optimist trials. The Royal St George and National Yacht Club in Dun Laoghaire will be the host venues for this year’s trials taking place from…

#Optimist - Howth YC/National YC sailor Luke Turvey secured third place in the Under 13s fleet in Spain’s Torrevieja Trophy last weekend (26-28 January). Turvey, who travelled as part of Irish Sailing’s 16-strong Optimist squad, topped the Irish contingent by…

A development of the single-handed Optimist dinghy has appeared in New Zealand that converts the boat into a two-handed, planing junior dinghy with a bow! When his young son asked why Optimists didn’t have a pointy bow like other boats, Matthew…

Last weekend, six Irish Optimist Sailors participated in the The Hague Optimist Cup 2017 in Scheveningen in the Netherlands. The event was the test event for the 2018 European Optimist Championships, Team Ireland, composed of Leah Rickard, Nathan van Steeberge,…

It was a clean sweep for Royal Cork Yacht Club junior sailors at the Optimist Leinster Dinghy Championships at the National Yacht Club last weekend.  Justin Lucas won the Merrion Private sponsored event where 139–sailors registered including 29 from the host club. Lucas's…

Recently crowned Irish Optimist champion Rian Geraghty-McDonnell (14) of the National Yacht Club leads a blustery Leinster Championships hosted by his own club on Dublin Bay. Four points behind, Royal Cork's Harry Twomey is second on seven, with Geraghty–McDonnell's club mate Nathan…

Rian Geraghty-McDonnell has won the Irish Optimist National and Open Senior Championship and Luke Turvey the Junior Optimist National and Open Championship at the IODAI championships hosted by the Royal Irish Yacht Club. With a full series of 10 races…

After six races sailed in blustery conditons off Dun Laoghaire, Rian Geraghty–McDonnell leads the 64-boat senior fleet from the National Yacht Club's Leah Rickard by three points. Third, after one discard, at the Royal Irish Yacht Club hosted event is Royal Cork's…

Howth Yacht Club's Hugh Turvey has taken an early lead at the Optimist National Championships on Dublin Bay. The fourteen–year–old has worked out a decent margin in light winds after only two races sailed at the Royal Irish Yacht Club.…

The Irish Optimist Sailing team are on their way to Burgas, Bulgaria to take part in the European Championships. Two hundred and fifty sailors will participate in the week-long event with ten races expected from 30th July to 5th August. The…

After a fine display of Team Racing by the Irish Optimist Team in Thailand, Ireland had a spectacular win over France to finish ninth overall in the Team Racing World Championships 2017. Things were looking good for Team Ireland when…

Thailand has been selected to host the Optimist World Championship 2017, and the event has now confirmed the participation of a total of 62 sailing nations – including Ireland – with 280 sailors, a record-breaking landmark for this world stage…

Howth Yacht Club hosted the Optimist Team racing Vice President's Cup last weekend. On the water there were lots of smiles, buckets of team spirit and great selfless tactical moves. The races were so effectively run (well done Richard Kissane…

Unseasonal weather provided very challenging conditions for the 145 entrants in The Davy Munster Optimist Championships at Kinsale Yacht Club. Sailors travelled from as far away as Dublin and Galway for the event. Six races were planned over Saturday and…

Howth Yacht Club’s annual 'Brassed Off' Cup for Optimist Sailors wil be held on the traditional day of Good Friday, 14th April. This fun Optimist dinghy event is designed as a great opportunity for junior racers to dust off their…