Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

Lough Derg Yacht Club, with the support of Dinghy Performance, will be running three days of mid-term coaching for Optimist sailors from Thursday 24 to Saturday 26 February 2022. “We are sure this is going to be a great event…

The final stop on the Optimist dinghy calendar found this intrepid bunch of sailors and their families back in Malahide Yacht Club for the IODAI National Training Week 27-30th October sponsored by CH Marine, the Grand Hotel and Dinghy Performance.…

The IODAI in conjunction with Malahide Yacht Club will be hosting the junior Optimist dinghy National Training week 27-30th October. Although normally part of the Youth Sailing Nationals, due to COVID safety measures in 2021 the decision was made to organise…

Fourteen-year-old William Walsh of the National Yacht Club at Dun Laoghaire won the 35-boat Senior fleet after six races sailed at the Optimist Munster Championships in Cork Harbour. Walsh won by nine points from Howth Yacht Club's Des Turvey. Third was Royal…

National Yacht Club (NYC) junior sailors lead two of three Optimist dinghy divisions in a 119 boat fleet racing for Munster Championship honours at Monkstown Bay Sailing Club in Cork Harbour. The youth sailing championships are utilising the new purpose-built public…

East Antrim Boat Club on Larne Lough on the Antrim coast welcomed 60 Optimists from all over Ireland to the Ulster Championships last Saturday and Sunday 18th and 19th September. A stalwart of the club, Tom Jobling, reckons it may…

130 young sailors aged between 8-15 years from across Ireland competed in the late Summer Optimist Championships in Dun Laoghaire Harbour sponsored by Citroen South at the weekend (4-5 September 2021).  Clubs from Kinsale to Lough Ree and Antrim took…

The host club's 13-year-old Caoilinn Geraghty-McDonnell continues her winning run in the Optimist dinghy class and added a victory in the Royal St. George Yacht Club's Summer Optimist Championship yesterday in Dun Laoghaire to her National Championships success on Lough Derg…

Sailed over four days, the Irish Optimist Nationals 2021 for youth sailors had a fleet of 133 boats representing over 13 different clubs, competing across the Regatta Fleet and Main, Senior and Junior fleets on Lough Derg Yacht Club. The…

After eight races sailed and with two discards applied, Oisin Pierse is the leader of Royal Cork Yacht Club's Optimist dinghy July Main fleet Series.  With for race wins on his scorecard, Pierse has a six-point margin over Isha Duggan on…

Howth Yacht Club's Cillian Twomey won the 49-boat senior fleet after five races sailed at the Irish Optimist Connaught Championships at Lough Ree Yacht Club. Just two points behind on nine points was Royal St. George Yacht Club's Caoilinn Geraghty-McDonnell…

Howth Yacht Club's Cillian Twomey leads the 49-boat senior fleet after the first two races sailed of the Irish Optimist Connaught Championships at Lough Ree Yacht Club. Two points behind is Royal St. George Yacht Club's Caoilinn Geraghty-McDonnell in second place…

Rocco Wright of Howth started the 9-day 2021 Optimist Worlds on Lake Garda with a race win. And he finished with another really stylish race win, as captured in this vid   In between, things didn’t go quite so smoothly, and…

While Brazil’s Alex Di Francesco Kuhl continued his improving performance today on Lake Garda to topple the USA’s Gil Hackel from the overall lead to become the new Optimist World Champion, Ireland’s top helm Rocco Wright of Howth concluded with…

It had been hoped to provide three races today (Thursday) at the Optimist Worlds 2021, but increasingly unstable weather over Lake Garda saw only one completed. In flukey conditions, with the wind drawing from the north for the first time…

A slowly fading southerly breeze on Lake Garda today - declining from an initial 10 knots - favoured early fleet leaders in the three day finals of the Optimist Worlds 2021, and the USA’s Gil Hackel found extra speed to…