Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

The 2020 IRC European Championship will be held at Cork Week as part of the unique celebration of the 300th anniversary of the Royal Cork Yacht Club. As Afloat previously back as 2016, the 5th edition of the IRC European Championship…

Representatives of the International Rating Certificate (IRC) from around the world met in France for two days of debate and discussion at the beginning of October. The 2019 Congress was hosted by l’Union Nationale pour la Course au Large (UNCL)…

When an “explosion of a storm” tore its way through the Fastnet yacht race off the Irish coast 40 years ago, there were those among the survivors who could not speak about the experience for years writes Lorna Siggins However, over…

77 boats competed in the 2019 Royal Ocean Racing Club Channel Race. The international fleet experienced a variety of conditions and wind angles, testing boat handling and tactical skills writes Louay Habib. Perhaps the surprise overall winner, from a fleet…

This weekend forty years ago, I was the chirpy co-skipper of the smallest boat in the Cruise-in-Company fleet as we closed in on Glengarriff in far West Cork for the Golden Jubilee party of the Irish Cruising Club in the…

The Royal Ocean Racing Club's ongoing interest in Ireland continues to grow with rumours that RORC's annual Morgan Cup race will set sail for Ireland from Cowes in 2020.  The London Club lists both of Ireland's top offshore races, the Round…

Teams from all over the world will be racing with the Royal Ocean Racing Club this weekend in the RORC Channel Race, the 11th race of the RORC Season's Points Championship, which precedes next month's Rolex Fastnet Race. Teams from…

The Royal Ocean Racing Club's 2019 IRC National Championship has been won out of the blue by a first timer not from the Solent. The 22 boat IRC Two fleet was led from the outset by Stuart Sawyer's J/122 Black…

The most competitive class at the Royal Ocean Racing Club's IRC National Championship has an Irish leader in that Howth Sailor Shane Hughes of North Sails Ireland is a tactician on the J122  Black Dog. IRC 2 is also the biggest fleet…

A strong line-up, ranging from TP52s, FAST40+s and Performance 40s, down to nimble HP30s and the cruiser-racers majority will take to the Solent this Friday for three days of intense competition at the Royal Ocean Racing Club's IRC National Championship.…

The atmosphere in Cowes in the days leading up to the start of the Fastnet Race inevitably provides a heightening sense of anticipation and tension writes W M Nixon. And for 2019’s race on Saturday, August 3rd, there is an added…

Howth Yacht Club’s Laura Dillon is among six women profiled by the Royal Ocean Racing Club ahead of their participation in this year’s Rolex Fastnet Race. While crew lists for August’s race are not yet finalised, at present just over 10% of those…

The Royal Ocean Racing Club's race to Dieppe for the Morgan Cup started in the Solent on midsummer's day in superb conditions. The RORC fleet enjoyed a spectacular downwind start off the Royal Yacht Squadron Line, heading east for the…

 The Royal Ocean Racing Club's Season's Points Championship continues this weekend with the Morgan Cup. The seventh offshore race of the series will start on Friday 21 June at 7 pm from the Royal Yacht Squadron Line. Bound for Dieppe…

Last year's Round Ireland Race Champion winning yacht, the Ker 43 Baraka GP (skippered then by Niall Dowling of the Royal Irish Yacht Club) has this weekend won the 2019 Royal Ocean Racing Club's North Sea Race sailed by Harmen De Graaf…

The Royal Ocean Racing Club's Myth of Malham Race, with 138 boats competing, produced a thrilling finish for overall victory. Botin IRC52 Tala took up the early running, but having led for much of the race on corrected time, the…