Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

Not content with hydrofoiling Moths, Laser dinghies or Mini Transat keelboats, the flying craze hits junior sailing with the news that Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, Sweden have figured out how to foil an Optimist dinghy. Seldén has provided the blocks taking Opti…

Five Irish Optimist sailors were in the top five of the UK's Spring Championships last weekend. IOCA UK and The Royal Torbay Yacht Club hosted IOCA UK's first championship of the year in Torquay. 119 sailors competed in the main…

IOCA UK announces it will host a Champion of Champions Race at its 2017 British Nationals in celebration of 70 years of the Optimist Dinghy. To be held at the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy, this invitation only event…

The traditional Optimist Baltimore Spring Training Week event, one of the top International sailing clinics in Europe, takes place next week.  Baltimore Week is Ireland’s largest sailing camp and this year has seen over 140 Optimist sailors from 8 – 15…

The Irish Optimist class has published its 2017 calendar highlighting the youth boat's national championships at the Royal Irish Yacht Club as the season's penultimate fixture from August 17 to 20.  February kicks off the season with the Baltimore Sailing…

Nearly 200 Optimist sailors took to Rutland Water last weekend for the final IOCA UK ranking event of 2016, the Volvo Gill Optimist End of Season Championship at Rutland Sailing Club. Members of the British Sailing Team, having just returned…

Royal St. George Yacht Club Optimist sailor Tom Higgins continued his successful season at last weekend's Munster Championships at Royal Cork Yacht Club. The Dublin Bay youth sailor finished the six race series on 14 points, three–points clear of the…

Counting four race wins in a ten race series, recently crowned British open Optimist Champion Tom Higgins of the Royal St. George Yacht Club in Dun Laoghaire added the Irish title in Lough Derg YC on Friday. With a scoreline…

#Optimist - Results from Day 2 of the 2016 Optimist National and Open Championships on Lough Derg on Tuesday 16 August: Senior Division, Gold Fleet1st: Harry Twomey (RCYC and Crookhaven YC) – 21 pts; 2nd: Tom Higgins (RStGYC) – 23…

#Optimist - Results from Day 1 of the 2016 Optimist National and Open Championships on Lough Derg, comprising Races 1, 2 and 3 on Monday 15 August: Senior Division, Gold Fleet1st: Harry Twomey (Royal Cork Yacht Club and Crookhaven YC)…

Lough Derg Yacht Club in County Tipperary plays host to two hundred and eight sailors from ten countries in this week's five-day, ten-race Optimist National and Open Championships. Today's opening ceremony took place at Dromineer. Led by pipers from the…

Tom Higgins of the Royal St. George Yacht Club was the winner of the British Optimist Open Championships with a huge margin of 24–points in a fleet of 89 boats at Largs in Scotland at the weekend. The Dun Laoghaire…

205 sailors have registered for the Irish National Optimist and Open Championship at Lough Derg Yacht Club, Dromineer, Co.Tipperary from Monday 15th to Friday 19th August 2016. One hundred and fifty five (155) will sail in the Main Fleet and…

Racing at the Optimist European Championships in Crotone in Southern Italy was postponed this morning again after a long postponement yesterday after which one race was sailed in 25–knots and large seas. The event opened last Friday. The conditions so far have…

The Irish Optimist Sailing team comprising of five Dublin sailors and two from Royal Cork Yacht Club pictured yesterday at Dublin Airport on their way to Crotone in Southern Italy for the Optimist European Championships. The event starts on Friday…

Eleven teams of four sailors each took part in the IODAI–organised Optimist event on Friday 1st July at Malahide Yacht Club. Royal Cork Yacht Club and Monkstown Bay Sailing Club were well represented with five teams. The sailors completed 25…