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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
RS 200: the 'ideal' next step for Irish Youth Sailing?
Questions over the next step for juniors after the RS Feva point to the bigger RS200 writes Feva sailor Ciara Byrne The RSFeva has become the world's best selling two-person dinghy in recent years with fleets also growing in clubs…
Nick Craig Reflects on Fourth OK Dinghy World Title
Nick Craig chats to Robert Deaves after his record-equalling fourth OK Dinghy World title How times have changed. A little over seven years ago, no British sailor had ever won the OK Dinghy World Championship. It was a commonly held…
Racing Round-Up: ISORA, DBSC, Royal Cork, Stars, 1720s, Flying fifteens, SB3s,
An exotic weekend in Dun Laoghaire with the start of an Olympic class keelboat event plus the arrival of a Volvo 70 into the harbour but Irish weather meant all did not go to plan. Click our links for a…
SB3 Team Sanya Welcome Scuppered by Strong Winds
Plans for an SB3 flotilla to escort Volvo Ocean Race Chinese entry, Team Sanya in to Dun Laoghaire harbour today were scuppered when winds reached gale force for a time this afternoon. Regular Dun Laoghaire fleet Sunday racing was to…
Killyleagh Pair Scoop Flying Fifteen East Coast Cup
Andrew McCleary and Colin Dougan from Killyleagh Yacht Club won this weekend's the East Coast Flying Fifteen championships, hosted this weekend by Cushendall Sailing and Boating Club. Strangford Sailing Club's Brian McKee and Ian Smyth finished second after five races…
Surviving West Country Schooner Evokes Days of Irish Sea Sail Cargo Trade
One of the last surviving West Country ketches tallships out of a fleet of around 700, the Bessie Ellen was making passage through the Irish Sea yesterday from Falmouth bound for Liverpool, writes Jehan Ashmore. The 120-foot vessel was built…
Lively Lady Sails to Victory in Fickle ISORA Race to Rockabill
Thirteen boats from an entry list of 24 came to the start line for the M2 Buoy day race, the tenth race in the 2011 ISORA Offshore series. Due to the forecast of light winds on the day it was…
Squall Puts Paid to First Race of Star Europeans in Dun Laoghaire
It was electric and certainly no picnic, that's the verdict after 28-knot gusts put paid to the first days racing of the Star European's on Dublin Bay this afternoon. Howth Race Officer David Lovegrove opted to send the 27-boat fleet…
Mansfield Wins 1720 Euros in Baltimore
Perfect sailing conditions off Sherkin Island yesterday with a steady 12-16 knot breeze provided champagne conditions for Mark Mansfield and Terry English and the crew onboard Gut Rut to secure the championship with a 10 point lead and a race…
West Kirby Teams Top ISAF Worlds in Schull
Saturday's racing in the ISAF World Team Racing Championships in Schull Harbour began in light southwesterly winds which developed into a fresh northwesterly by late morning. First action was the semi-final stages of the World Youth Championship. Here, the host…
Johnston's Beneteau 31.7 is Good Prospect
Chris Johnston sailed his Beneteau 31.7 Prospect sailed to success in yesterday's Dublin Bay Sailing Club Race beating Levante (B.Leyden/M.Leahy) and Gerry Jones's Thirty Something. DBSC Results for 3 SEPTEMBER 2011 BENETEAU 31.7 Echo - 1. Levante (B.Leyden/M.Leahy), 2. Attitude…
Mansfield Holds 1720 Lead
Mark Mansfield holds the lead after six races at the 1720 Corona Euro Championships in Baltimore, West Cork. Nicholas O'Leary onboard T-Bone owned by Crosshaven duo Tom Durcan and Clive O'Shea is now in second place having discarded an ocs…
Rosanna Davison Goes Back to Her Roots Sailing with Team Sanya
Rosanna Davison will revisit her Miss World connections when the Team Sanya yacht arrives into Dublin Port on Monday (5th September) at 2pm. It is the build-up to this year's Volvo Ocean Race. Skipper and past race winner Mike Sanderson…
Kieran Cotter and Jerry Smith Named Sailors of the Month for August
Kieran Cotter and Jerry Smith of Baltimore are the Afloat.ie/Irish Independent "Sailors of the Month" for August in recognition of the key roles they played in the superb rescue of all 21 of he crew of the capsized super-maxi Rambler…
Royal Cork Autumn League Entry fee Reduced to €90
Royal Cork's Autumn Regatta starts on Sunday October 2nd and continues each Sunday in October, with the last race on Saturday October 29th. The Notice of Race has been published. Two races are scheduled for each Class every day with…
 Dolan and Lightweight Double Hit Form at World Rowing Championships
Ireland won two races in the second half of the programme at the World Rowing Championships in Bled in Slovenia today. Sarah Dolan had an outstanding second 1,000 metres to win the C Final of the lightweight single sculls. 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]