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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
File image of Portballintrae harbour and boat club
Police in Northern Ireland are treating a fire on a boat flying the Irish tricolour as a sectarian hate crime. According to the Belfast Telegraph, the incident in Portballintrae on the North Coast on Monday evening (3 June) followed the…
GP14 Leinster Champions Stephen Boyle (left) and Sean Craig receive the McDowell Trophy from Christina Knowles (Howth Yacht Club Rear Commodore)
The Leinster Championship for the GP14 fleet held at Howth Yacht Club on the June Bank Holiday weekend attracted a strong turnout, demonstrating the growing depth of talent in the mainstay Irish dinghy class.  A fleet of 34 boats gathered for the third…
Carrybridge RNLI’s inshore lifeboat approaches an 8m vessel with four people on board which had lost steering south of Crom Castle
Carrybridge RNLI’s inshore lifeboat launched on Sunday evening (2 June) at the request of Belfast Coastguard to assess an eight-metre vessel with four people on board which had lost steering south of Crom Castle. Winds were north-westerly Force 2 and…
Full sail at Cork Week 2022
The start of Volvo Cork Week 2024 is now less than six weeks away, with five days of racing in Cork Harbour and beyond set for 15-19 July. Organisers at the Royal Cork Yacht Club say entry numbers have been steadily…
UCD Sailing Varsities 2024 Overall Winners (From left to right) Jamie McMahon, Leonie Judge, William Lacey, Tom Higgins, Peter Fagan, and Cian Lynch
University College Dublin Sailing Club's (UCDSC) win of the 2024 Varsities Trophy at 2024 Sailing Varsities at the Fastnet Marine & Outdoor Education Centre in West Cork has been recognised with two prestigious awards. Student Sport Ireland National Awards -…
Team spirit. The RIYC team that won the Women At The Helm Team Event in May at the National YC were (left to right) Joan Sheffield (Jasmin), Katherine Sheehan (Great Escape) and Catherine Day (Shearwater). With them are DBSC Hon. Sec. Rosemary Roy (whose late husband Jack donated the trophy) and Rosemary Cadogan (Vice Commodore, National YC)
When success is achieved in a team event, it can be difficult to highlight the individual who most contributed to the win. And with nine teams providing a total of 27 female-helmed boats to contest the Roy Family Trophy under…
Royal Cork Yacht Club's May Coastal Race winner in IRC was Ronan and John Downing’s Miss Whiplash
There has been strong support for evening cruiser racing at the Royal Cork Yacht Club since it began last month. The number of yachts taking part is considerably higher than last season. “It has been a fantastic show,” Rear Admiral…
Darrach Dineen (with trophy) and crew Sean Pecknam and Breda Magner, were the winners of the 2024 Munster Mermaid Championship at Foynes Yacht Club on the Shannon Estuary
The recent Munster Mermaid Championships at Foynes Yacht Club on the Shannon Estuary were filled with intense racing, camaraderie, and some special moments. Despite a disappointing start on Saturday, as racing had to be abandoned due to a lack of…
Rankin racing in Cork Harbour at the Cove Sailing Club Wednesday night dinghy racing series
The Cove Sailing Club Wednesday night dinghy racing series overall league leader is Ruadhán Jackson, with Dan O’Regan’s Rankin 14 second and John Cotter third. Rankin 14 is leading the Rankin Class with Owen O’Connell’s TR3 second. MONKSTOWN BAY MBSC…
Cruising Association logo
The UK’s Cruising Association has welcomed a new protocol for small boats entering France from outside the European Union. As of 1 June 2024, 53 marinas in France along its Channel coast now have the right to process boats both…
Irish student Skipper Michéal O’Suilléabhain and his Irish University Sailing Team will compete in Lake Garda at the  International University Sports Federation (FISU) World Sailing Championships on Lake Garda this week
University College Cork (UCC) will compete in the FISU world sailing fleet racing championships on Lake Garda, Italy, later this week.  UCC was selected to represent Ireland after the Irish University Sailing Association (IUSA) completed a 'rigorous' selection process. The…
Cork Harbour Festival Gold Sponsors Ardmore Shipping training for the Ocean to City Race taking place on the 8th of June
Some 200 craft will participate in the 28 km-long Ocean to City or "An Rás Mór" event in Cork harbour on June 8th. Organisers Meitheal Mara have appealed for volunteers for the event, with a variety of roles available including…
A file photo of GP14 racing on Dublin Bay. 34 boats competed at the 2024 GP14 Leinster Championships at Howth Yacht Club at the weekend
With no race wins but five results in the top four, Dubliners Sean Craig and Stephen Boyle proved consistency pays at Howth Yacht Club on Sunday with overall victory by a single point at the 34-boat GP14 Leinster Championships. Royal North Of…
Dun Laoghaire's Kenny Rumball brought 14 robotic marks to Scotland to transform race management at the Scottish Series Regatta's three-course areas: six German-made Smartmarks and eight Swiss-made Gipsybuoy marks on the dock at Tarbert
Dun Laoghaire Harbour sailors were at the forefront of the rejuvenation of Scotland's biggest Regatta earlier this week, when they brought groundbreaking technology to the Scottish Series hosted by the Clyde Cruising Club. This year's regatta feature was the use…
French skipper Charlie Dalin leads again as low-pressure trough is negotiated in the New York Vendée-Les Sables d’Olonne solo race to France
After being hampered by small technical problems at a critical point on the outward race to the USA, French skipper Charlie Dalin would dearly like to be first back to Les Sables d’Olonne at the conclusion of the New York…
Barry Cunningham's Royal Irish J109, Chimaera, was second on IRC One in the sixth AIB Saturday race of the 2024 season
Dublin Bay Sailing Club's sixth AIB Saturday race of the 2024 season was sailed on June 1st in light to medium easterly winds on a sunny Dublin Bay. In a seven-boat turnout in IRC One, under Race Officer Barry MacNeaney,…

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]