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
Trinity Win Colours Team Race in River Liffey Test
#coloursmatch – The annual Colours races between UCD and Trinity underwent a revitalisation this year, with a new location, new format and all new commentary. It was run over the whole day on Saturday (12th April). The event was held in the…
British Youth Sailing Talent on Show at Record RYA Week
Next week will see a record number of the nation's top Youth sailors compete on the Olympic waters of Weymouth and Portland for the chance to be crowned RYA Youth National Champion 2014. The premier event on the RYA's Youth…
Checkmate Crew Back in French Waters Again & Set for Easter's SNIM Regatta
#checkmate – Following a number of delays on the long road journey, Checkmate XV from the Royal St George Yacht Club finally arrived in Marseille in the early hours of Friday, the first day of racing. Having arranged launching with…
'Survival Mode' at Greystones Harbour RS Sailing Event in Breezy Conditions
#rssailing – Launching at Greystones Harbour was a sight and sound to behold at 11 yesterday for the first day of the RSEasterns, with both slips operational and the beach in use too. 55 RS dinghies were registered and almost…
55 RS Dinghy Fleet Launches in Greystones For Eastern Championships
#rssailing – Greystones Sailing Club has long been the Irish home of the RS fleet writes Sarah Byrne.  In the late 90s, the formerly vibrant Enterprise fleet was looking around for a new toy and found the fast, furious and responsive RS400…
American-Led Team Latest To Launch Volvo Ocean Race Bid
#VOR - Scuttlebutt Sailing News reports on the American-led Team Alvimedica, the latest - and youngest - team to hit the water running in their preparations for this year's Volvo Ocean Race start. Spearheaded by young guns Mark Towill and…
Howth Stage Irish Quarter Ton Cup as Part of Cruiser 2 & 3 East Coast Championship
#quarterton – Hot on the heels of its Sportsboat Cup announcement for June, busy Howth Yacht Club in North Dublin has today announced that its Class 2 and 3 East Coast Championships scheduled for August will incorporate the Irish Quarter…
42 Cruiser–Racers Entered for ICRA Nationals at Royal Irish Yacht Club
#cruiserracing – Arrangements are being finalised to provide top class racing on the water to decide National Champions in all divisions at this year's ICRA Nationals that take place at a prime time in the season from 13th to 15th June…
Women’s ISAF Match Racing Selection Trials to Be Held in Howth This Sunday
#matchracing – Ireland has been granted two wild card places at the 2014 ISAF Women's Match Racing World Championships to be held at Royal Cork Yacht Club from the 3rd - 8th of June 2014. In order to select teams…
RORC Easter Challenge IRC Fleet Building Nicely
#rorc – The RORC Easter Challenge, which offers a unique training ground for owners and crews over a three-day inshore regatta starts on Good Friday. A new initiative for 2014 is the North U. Regatta Service that will enhance what…
Weymouth Sailing Academy Announces the Andrew Simpson Sailing Centre
The home of the 2012 sailing  Olympic regatta, the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy (WPNSA) has announced a prestigious new collaboration with the 'Andrew Simpson Sailing Foundation' (ASSF). The ASSF founded by the Academy's Director, Sir Ben Ainslie, Iain…
Howth Yacht Club Launches Sportsboat Cup for 1720s, SB20s, Quarter Tonners, RS Elites, Dragons & J Boat Classes
#hyc – A Sportsboat Cup for Irish keelboat classes to be held around Midsummers day and tailored especially for 1720s, SB20s, Quarter Tonners, J24s, RS Elites, Dragons, J80s and J70s, is to be staged for the first time at Howth…
Latest World Rankings Show Irish Olympic Team Improvements
#isafworldrankings – The latest world ISAF sailing rankings published this morning show improvements for Ireland's three Olympic squad members even after last week's 'rusty' performance at the penultimate round of the ISAF World Cup in Palma. Ireland's Annalise Murphy moves into…
UCD Return to Student Yachting World Cup (SYWoC) After Howth Win
#UCD – University College Dublin (UCD) sailing team won the five race Student Yachting Nationals title in Howth at the weekend to qualify for the Student Yachting World Cup (SYWoC) in France and represent Ireland in La Rochelle later this year. …
Brewster & Tidey Aim for Rio Sailing Medal in 49erfx
#49erfx – In this six minute video production former British Laser ace Andrea Brewster reveals how with no option to further her sailing career in the UK she has opted to sail for Ireland with new crew Saskia Tidey and…
ISORA Sponsor Presents Trophy for July's Dun Laoghaire to Pwllheli Race
#isora – As the leading Irish offshore series gets ready for a coastal race in a fortnights time, ISORA series sponsor, Kona, marked its third year of sponsorship with a new trophy presentation for the Dun Laoghaire to Pwllheli ISORA…

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]