Menu

Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

A Sigma 33 One Design keelboat racing on Dublin Bay Photo: AfloatA Sigma 33 One Design keelboat racing on Dublin Bay Photo: Afloat

Sailing in Ireland. Sailors, Yachting, Clubs, Regattas
Three of the restored Dublin Bay 21s during Sunday afternoon's Grand Parade of Classic Sail as part of the Coastival 2024 festival at Dun Laoghaire Harbour
The restored Dublin Bay 21s keelboats were centre stage in Dun Laoghaire Harbour on Sunday afternoon in the Grand Parade of Classic Sail, part of the town's nautical Coastival 2024 festival, running until next Saturday. One-design yachts and dinghies sailed past…
Roy Van Maanen of Greystones SC in IRL 4446 competing in the 2024 RS Aero European Championships at Yacht Club de Carnac in France
The RS Aero fleet returned to Yacht Club de Carnac in France, the site of their first World Championships as 112 RS Aeros from fourteen nations contested the 2024 RS Aero European Championships from 21-24 June. The bay of Quiberon…
The start of a competitive IRC Class Two at Bangor Regatta 2024 on Belfast Lough
In like a lion and out like a lamb is said to mean that the month of March should end with quiet weather compared to a lion. But this is June, and the Belfast Lough weather hasn't reached the lamb…
Designer Alfred Mylne at his most stylish -  the Dublin Bay 24 Zephyra brought back to life at the Apprenticeshop in Maine
It's seventeen years since Afloat.ie stumbled upon the forgotten Dublin Bay 24 Zephyra out the back of a castle in Mayo while walking the dog. The undergrowth around the Alfred Mylne-designed classic was breaking through the tiles and concrete at…
After seven days, 20 hours, four minutes and 20 seconds, Fulmar Fever crossed the finish line of the 2024 Round Ireland race at 09:14h Irish time 30th June 2024
After riding out the southwest to west gales on the North Coast on Friday night and early Saturday morning by finding shelter at Rathmulllan in Lough Swilly, Robert Marchant's Fulmar 32 Fulmar Fever from Dunmore East resumed racing, and finished…
The 64-metre superyacht Scout berthed at Dun Laoghaire Harbour's Carlisle Pier, with the masts of the American schooner Alvei also visible on berth number three
The 64-metre superyacht Scout, which recently lit up Cork’s Kinsale marina, arrived in Dun Laoghaire Harbour on Sunday morning (June 30th). The Dublin Port Pilot Boat Tolka escorted it to the town's Carlisle Pier number two berth. As Afloat readers…
Tim and Richard Goodbody's J109 White Mischief won both races in a 12-boat IRC One division fight at the Drumshanbo Royal Irish Yacht Club Regatta 2024
Saturday's Drumshanbo Royal Irish Yacht Club Regatta 2024 featured racing across 32 divisions for over 130 boats, ranging from ocean-going cruisers to 12-foot dinghies off Dun Laoghaire Harbour. Racing was postponed for an hour to allow a light northerly wind…
Rankin dinghy racing at the 2024 'Worlds' at Royal Cork Yacht Club in Cork Harbour
Andrew Crosbie and Dan O'Connell are tied on points at the top of the scoreboard (see below) at the Rankin dinghy 'Worlds' after the first three races sailed at the Royal Cork Yacht Club, Crosshaven, on Saturday. Both are on nine points with John…
Stevie Andrews' Hanse 371 Dark and Scary from Strangfrod Lough with Kevin Byres' Sigma 33 Signet from Ballyholme Yacht Club competing at Bangor Regatta 2024
Patience is a virtue they say and that is what was needed this morning when Belfast Lough was like a mirror and the Bangor Regatta fleet was motionless in the Marina. However word was that this forced stoppage was very…
The Royal Yacht Squadron in Cowes on the Isle of Wight
The K25 team will represent Howth Yacht Club in the Royal Yacht Squadron’s Commodore’s Invitational Regatta, which will be raced from Cowes in the Isle of Wight next week between Monday 1 and Wednesday 3 July. This is an inter…
Irish Olympian Finn Lynch (centre) with Elkstone’s head of clients Joe Bergin (left) and chief of staff Rob Kearney
Leading alternative investment firm Elkstone has announced a new partnership with Irish Olympic sailor Finn Lynch. The Irish athlete first represented Ireland at the 2016 Olympic Games, and he secured his place at the 2024 games after a bronze medal…
Carina rounding the Rock during the Fastnet Race of 2011
Our header photo really says it all. It was 2011 when Rives Potts' now four times Bermuda Race winner Carina rounded the Fastnet Rock in conditions a whole world away from the murky early morning eleven hours earlier, when George…
Ben and Jono Shelley's J109 Mocking J, from Fairlie YC in Scotland are lying third in IRC 2 at 2024 Bangor Regatta on Belfast Lough
Never mind what's going on elsewhere In Ireland this weekend; with Shania Twain in Belfast's Ormeau Park, Taylor Swift at the Aviva, the All-Ireland Quarter GAA Finals in Croke Park and the Foyle Maritime Festival in Derry, there was plenty…
The highly-revered Rankin dinghy class is based in Cobh and was revived in 2016
The Rankin dinghy 'Worlds' will be sailed out of the Royal Cork Yacht Club at Crosshaven this weekend. The highly reverered class based across Cork Harbour in Cobh was revived in 2016 and is moving to the world's oldest yacht…
Team Wildcard from Royal Cork Yacht Club comprises Harry Twomey, Neil Hegarty, Rosario Travascio, Dara O’Shea and William Twomey at the Italian J/70 Cup event at Riva del Garda
The Italian J/70 Cup Event starts today in Riva del Garda. Team Wildcard, the only Irish entry for this year's highly competitive event, will fly the flag for Ireland. Team Wildcard from Royal Cork Yacht Club comprises Harry Twomey, Neil…
Fireball dinghy racing at the 2024 Munster Championships hosted by Monkstown Bay Sailing Club in Cork Harbour. This Saturday, the club will hold its annual 'At Home' Regatta
Monkstown Bay Sailing Club's weekly evening leagues have big numbers on the water in Cork Harbour. Twenty-six dinghies have registered to race Class 1 in the June League. After seven races, the club’s Laser ‘veteran, David O’Connell, took over the…

How to sail, sailing clubs and sailing boats plus news on the wide range of sailing events on Irish waters forms the backbone of Afloat's sailing coverage.

We aim to encompass the widest range of activities undertaken on Irish lakes, rivers and coastal waters. This page describes those sailing activites in more detail and provides links and breakdowns of what you can expect from our sailing pages. We aim to bring jargon free reports separated in to popular categories to promote the sport of sailing in Ireland.

The packed 2013 sailing season sees the usual regular summer leagues and there are regular weekly race reports from Dublin Bay Sailing Club, Howth and Cork Harbour on Afloat.ie. This season and last also featured an array of top class events coming to these shores. Each year there is ICRA's Cruiser Nationals starts and every other year the Round Ireland Yacht Race starts and ends in Wicklow and all this action before July. Crosshaven's Cork Week kicks off on in early July every other year. in 2012 Ireland hosted some big international events too,  the ISAF Youth Worlds in Dun Laoghaire and in August the Tall Ships Race sailed into Dublin on its final leg. In that year the Dragon Gold Cup set sail in Kinsale in too.

2013 is also packed with Kinsale hosting the IFDS diabled world sailing championships in Kinsale and the same port is also hosting the Sovereign's Cup. The action moves to the east coast in July with the staging of the country's biggest regatta, the Volvo Dun Laoghaire regatta from July 11.

Our coverage though is not restricted to the Republic of Ireland but encompasses Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales and the Irish Sea area too. In this section you'll find information on the Irish Sailing Association and Irish sailors. There's sailing reports on regattas, racing, training, cruising, dinghies and keelboat classes, windsurfers, disabled sailing, sailing cruisers, Olympic sailing and Tall Ships sections plus youth sailing, match racing and team racing coverage too.

Sailing Club News

There is a network of over 70 sailing clubs in Ireland and we invite all clubs to submit details of their activities for inclusion in our daily website updates. There are dedicated sections given over to the big Irish clubs such as  the waterfront clubs in Dun Laoghaire; Dublin Bay Sailing Club, the Royal Saint George Yacht Club,  the Royal Irish Yacht Club and the National Yacht Club. In Munster we regularly feature the work of Kinsale Yacht Club and Royal Cork Yacht Club in Crosshaven.  Abroad Irish sailors compete in Royal Ocean Racing Club (RORC) racing in the UK and this club is covered too. Click here for Afloat's full list of sailing club information. We are keen to increase our coverage on the network of clubs from around the coast so if you would like to send us news and views of a local interest please let us have it by sending an email to [email protected]

Sailing Boats and Classes

Over 20 active dinghy and one design classes race in Irish waters and fleet sizes range from just a dozen or so right up to over 100 boats in the case of some of the biggest classes such as the Laser or Optimist dinghies for national and regional championships. Afloat has dedicated pages for each class: Dragons, Etchells, Fireball, Flying Fifteen, GP14, J24's, J80's, Laser, Sigma 33, RS Sailing, Star, Squibs, TopperMirror, Mermaids, National 18, Optimist, Puppeteers, SB3's, and Wayfarers. For more resources on Irish classes go to our dedicated sailing classes page.

The big boat scene represents up to 60% of the sail boat racing in these waters and Afloat carries updates from the Irish Cruiser Racer Association (ICRA), the body responsible for administering cruiser racing in Ireland and the popular annual ICRA National Championships. In 2010 an Irish team won the RORC Commodore's Cup putting Irish cruiser racing at an all time high. Popular cruiser fleets in Ireland are raced right around the coast but naturally the biggest fleets are in the biggest sailing centres in Cork Harbour and Dublin Bay. Cruisers race from a modest 20 feet or so right up to 50'. Racing is typically divided in to Cruisers Zero, Cruisers One, Cruisers Two, Cruisers Three and Cruisers Four. A current trend over the past few seasons has been the introduction of a White Sail division that is attracting big fleets.

Traditionally sailing in northern Europe and Ireland used to occur only in some months but now thanks to the advent of a network of marinas around the coast (and some would say milder winters) there are a number of popular winter leagues running right over the Christmas and winter periods.

Sailing Events

Punching well above its weight Irish sailing has staged some of the world's top events including the Volvo Ocean Race Galway Stopover, Tall Ships visits as well as dozens of class world and European Championships including the Laser Worlds, the Fireball Worlds in both Dun Laoghaire and Sligo.

Some of these events are no longer pure sailing regattas and have become major public maritime festivals some are the biggest of all public staged events. In the past few seasons Ireland has hosted events such as La Solitaire du Figaro and the ISAF Dublin Bay 2012 Youth Worlds.

There is a lively domestic racing scene for both inshore and offshore sailing. A national sailing calendar of summer fixtures is published annually and it includes old favorites such as Sovereign's Cup, Calves Week, Dun Laoghaire to Dingle, All Ireland Sailing Championships as well as new events with international appeal such as the Round Britain and Ireland Race and the Clipper Round the World Race, both of which have visited Ireland.

The bulk of the work on running events though is carried out by the network of sailing clubs around the coast and this is mostly a voluntary effort by people committed to the sport of sailing. For example Wicklow Sailing Club's Round Ireland yacht race run in association with the Royal Ocean Racing Club has been operating for over 30 years. Similarly the international Cork Week regatta has attracted over 500 boats in past editions and has also been running for over 30 years.  In recent years Dublin Bay has revived its own regatta called Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta and can claim to be the country's biggest event with over 550 boats entered in 2009.

On the international stage Afloat carries news of Irish and UK interest on Olympics 2012, Sydney to Hobart, Volvo Ocean Race, Cowes Week and the Fastnet Race.

We're always aiming to build on our sailing content. We're keen to build on areas such as online guides on learning to sail in Irish sailing schools, navigation and sailing holidays. If you have ideas for our pages we'd love to hear from you. Please email us at [email protected]