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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
Heading for Rio: Cork keeping up the pace
Ireland's first-ever entry in the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race, Cork, seems to be holding her own – and staying motivated – even though she's slipped to fifth. However, the leading pack is all contending with light fluky winds…
Hot competition at O'Flynn Exhams Autumn League
There was a southerly breeze and lumpy sea with low skies and mist, but the Red Fleet – under race officer Richard Leonard – got the best of the racing for races five and six of the Royal Cork Yacht…
Lee to Defend Carribbean Title
Adrian Lee intends to defend his title in this years RORC Carribbean 600 event but he will have stiff opposition from her sistership, another Cookson 50 called Privateer, which is based on the East Coast of America. The RORC Caribbean…
Slade's Maxi may beat course record
Rolex Middle Sea Race, Day 3 – It's 'game on' for Mike Slade, as his turbo-charged Maxi is in a race against time to beat the course record for the Rolex Middle Sea Race. Leopard are passed Lampedusa in a…
Howth Yacht Club Autumn League Finishes on a High
It is often said that some the best sailing weather seems to be reserved for each year's Autumn League at Howth Yacht Club and after five very good Sundays, the fleet was not to be disappointed for the finale, with…
ICRA AGM Returns to Kilkenny
The Irish Cruiser Racing Association (ICRA) goes back to its roots when it hosts its annual sailing Conference and AGM in the Newpark Hotel Kilkenny on Saturday, November 21st. The event is open to all cruiser sailors. Among the items…
Poll: Who Will Win ICRA Boat of the Year?
Who will win the ICRA Boat of the sailing Year award is this week's question on afloat.ie's reader poll. Five boats are shortlisted as potential winners including Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Race Winner Legally Brunette. Mick Cotter's Whisper, fifth in…
Phillippe Falle's Puma Logic Wins RORC Yacht of the Year
Puma Logic has been awarded the ‘RORC Yacht of the Year’ and her skipper, Phillippe Falle will collect the Somerset Memorial Trophy at the RORC Prizegiving dinner in London on 7th November. The famous award is made by the RORC…
Two's company for Rolex Middle Sea Race
The Rolex Middle Sea Race has attracted its share of characters over the years and more often than not in the double-handed division. This year is no exception and there are a number of crews embarking on the short-handed challenge…
ICAP Leopard set to tackle second leg of historic treble
ICAP Leopard, the 100ft super-maxi racing yacht owned by Helical Bar PLC Chief Executive Mike Slade, will once again take centre stage this weekend as she competes in the prestigious Rolex Middle Sea Race in Malta. Having already taken line…
Where to Sail in the West of Ireland Shannon Estuary – and from Dingle to Slyne Head At over 100 kilometres long, the Shannon estuary stretches from the western edge of Ireland at Loop Head to east of Limerick city…
Whether you want to learn to sail, are already an experienced sailor and want to cruise the canals, or feel like touring around the coast, our Island of Ireland can accommodate you. PAGE UNDER CONSTRUCTION ;-)
Cork needed fair clip for Rio
The Clipper round the world yacht Race Team has arrived in the Brazilian port and is making preparations for the yachts' arrival at the prestigious Iate Clube do Rio. According to Race Director Joff Bailey, who has been studying the…
Irish Match Racing Video Released
The Irish Match Racing Association have publshed a video in advance of the Match Racing National Championships in Kinsale in two weeks time. Click below for the latest in Irish match racing:
Hot Toddy time for GPs at Donaghadee SC
The Irish GP14 fleet returned to Donaghadee Sailing Club for the first time in 12 years to a very welcome return and with bonus points available for Goacher Sails League, competition was fierce with the winner of fleet receiving a…
Challenge and change for Rolex Middle Sea Race
The Rolex Middle Sea Race, which this year starts on Saturday, 17 October, has witnessed many changes and challenges over its forty-one year history and 2009 is no exception. For the first time ever the race will start from Malta's…

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]