Afloat.ie is your resource for the latest reports and results on regattas and races at Ireland's Sailing Clubs, among the most established and distinguished institutions in the sport of sailing worldwide.
We can't talk about sailing in Ireland without mentioning the Royal Cork Yacht Club, not only the oldest yacht club in the world that still exists today but still one of Ireland's most innovative and welcoming.
A regular host for major national, European and world championship events - including Ireland's biggest regatta, the biennial Cork Week - the Royal Cork claims a membership of 1,500 with 280 berths, and is a regular host club for national, European and world championships. Moreover, it is a proving ground for Olympic-level talent such as Peter O'Leary, paired with David Burrows in the Star class - a duo who distinguished themselves at the London 2012 Olympics. Cork is also home to one of the younger clubs on the Irish sailing map in Kinsale Yacht Club, founded in 1950 with humble beginnings in two cottages by the slip at Scilly but now a bustling fixture of the Harbour with an emphasis on junior sailing in Optimists, Lasers and 420s, not to mention the cruiser classes and strong one design racing in Dragons and Squibs.
If you want to talk Olympic success, you can't overlook the National Yacht Club in the South Dublin coastal town of Dun Laoghaire, home base of Ireland's Olympic sailing hero Annalise Murphy but also the launchpad for future top-flight talent like Laser Radial Youth Worlds silver medallist Finn Lynch. With more than 140 years of tradition to look back on since its founding as the Kingstown Royal Harbour Boat Club, the National has evolved and expanded over the decades - in terms of both its facilities and its membership - but still retains its original Victorian clubhouse building, as well as its commitment to mutual support and friendship among its members. This mirrors the club's commitment to Ireland's sailing future, by providing training facilities for the ISA's Youth Sailing Scheme among other initiatives.
An arguably loftier position is held in Dun Laoghaire's harbour by the Royal St George Yacht Club, which celebrates the 175th anniversary of its founding in 2013. Referred to by members and locals alike as simply 'the George', the club is a mainstay of the waterfront community with deep roots in the town, and is as relevant today as it's always been - with last year's ISAF Youth Worlds just the latest in a long line of prestigious events for which the Royal St George has played host. We can't leave out the Dublin Bay Sailing Club, an institution since 1884 and one that brought us the iconic Mermaid class dinghy that's still sailed regularly today, more than 80 years after it was first designed for the club by John B Kearney. But the DBSC is also one of Europe's biggest yacht racing clubs, with some 1,600 members and a weekly racing schedule for more than 360 yachts of all shapes and sizes. North of Dublin Bay, the thriving fishing port of Howth is home of one of Ireland's largest and successful sailing clubs in the shape of the Howth Yacht Club. Founded in 1895, and most recently expanding its facilities in 2001, the HYC operates a 300-berth marina and organises racing or cruisers, keelboats and dinghies all year round.
This August it will also be the host club for the BMW J24 Worlds, one of only two sailing events to receive funding under The Gathering Ireland 2013 initiative. Bridging the gap between both sides of the bay is the Royal Alfred Yacht Club. Yet more than just an umbrella body uniting racers from these rival harbours, the Royal Alfred is also the world's oldest amateur yacht club, the world's first club for offshore racing, and the birthplace of the first national yacht racing rules that formed the basis of today's racing rules worldwide. That's a legacy that should never be ignored.
