Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

The two-day 48-country Team Racing sector of the Optimist Worlds at Lake Garda concluded this evening (Tuesday) with host nation Italy retaining the title against Thailand in a straight 2-0 victory, while Portugal took the bronze against USA. The Italian…

The nine-day Optimist Worlds currently under way on the marvellous Lake Garda have a programme which would be demanding for mature athletes at the peak of their career-developing stamina curve. But the young sailors seem game for it all, as…

The Provident CRM Optimist Leinsters finished up on Sunday at Howth Yacht Club with three more great races in a fresh breeze, with both the Junior & Senior titles not being decided until the final race. The 60+ competitors were…

A steady performance with a second and third in races 4Q and 5Q in the mega-fleet 58-nation Optimist Worlds Day 3 on Lake Garda has enabled Howth's Rocco Wright to discard his blip of a 19th yesterday, and move into…

Rocco Wright of Howth’s impressive scoreline in the qualifying stages of the 58-nation Optimist Worlds on Lake Garda was dented yesterday when he logged a 19th in Race 3. This was - when set against his recent performance standards -…

The Provident Optimist Leinsters got underway at Howth Yacht Club today, with 61 boats on the start line. There was lots of excitement and adrenaline running in the young sailors, delighted to be racing again. Three races were sailed, with…

The Optimist World championships 2021 started today in Fraglia Vela Riva in Lake Garda, Italy and Ireland has five sailors competing. Over 60 countries are competing in this event with a total of 266 sailors at the freshwater Italian venue. Lucia…

The Optimist Worlds currently getting into their stride on Lake Garda (they conclude on July 10th) find Howth's Rocco Wright to be the target helm, as his countdown to the big one has been wellnigh perfect. In mid-June he took…

The flags are up for the Provident CRM Optimist Leinsters and the Howth Yacht Club boat park is being cleared of other boats, to make space for the 65 or so Optimists who will compete for the Leinster Championships this…

Howth’s Rocco Wright is continuing his successful countdown to the Optimist Worlds 2021 with a runaway big-fleet win on Lake Garda. Promoted as the best warmup opportunity before this week’s World Championships, the 46th Trofeo Optimist d’Argento ended on Sunday…

Howth’s Optimist ace Rocco Wright has built some strong foundations towards the up-coming Optimist Worlds at Lake Garda with third overall in the weekend’s preliminary Meringa Cup, which was sailed on the waters of big championship venue. Scheduled for June…

With the uncertainty of event restrictions and requirements, the International Optimist Dinghy Association of Ireland (IODAI) and Howth Yacht Club have jointly decided to limit numbers competing in the postponed Leinster Championships to 80 main-fleet boats. Expressions of interest for…

Just over a month to go before the start of the most awaited youth sailing event in the international sailing scenario, the Optimist World Championship: after the postponement of the regatta in 2020, Riva del Garda, Italy is getting ready…

Craftinsure will be supporting the Irish Optimist dinghy class again this year. IODAI president, Alexander Walsh, says "IODAI are delighted to welcome Craftinsure as sponsors again for 2021". The partnership has now passed its 10th anniversary. Craftinsure director, Rod Daniel,…

The Irish Optimist calendar will look a little different for 2021 due to continued disruption amid the coronavirus pandemic. The first casualty of the present restrictions is the spring training week in Baltimore. However, the International Optimist Dinghy Associaton of…

Registration is now open for the 28th annual International Optimist Regatta (IOR), TOTE Maritime Clinic and TOTE Team Race will take place from 14-20 June at the St Thomas Yacht Club in the US Virgin Islands. Clinic and regatta director…