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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
Puma Finishes Transatlantic Race
The Puma Ocean Sailing team completed their Atlantic crossing early Monday morning, July 11, at 05:40 UTC to finish the Transatlantic Race 2011. PUMA's Mar Mostro was the second boat to cross the finish line at Lizard Point, Cornwall, U.K.,…
New Visitor Centre in Dunbrody Opened by Michael Flatley and Minister for Tourism
Ireland’s first National Centre for Emigration History entitled “Dunbrody, An Irish American Story,” which incorporates the Irish America Hall of Fame has opened in Wexford.This new state of the art visitor centre was constructed in a brand new, 1500 square…
Waterford Men Brave the Atlantic For Charity
Favourable wind conditions, the summer sun and the inviting blue sea is calling Waterford man, Michael Murphy and Cork based, Darren Nicholson to set sail on one of the most prestigious sailing events for amateur competitors in the world –…
Racing Round up: Dun Laoghaire Regatta, ISAF Youths, Optimists, Paralympic, RORC, WIORA, Quarter Ton, Kiteboarding.
In one of the busiest racing weekends of the Irish sailing calendar a vintage Quarter tonner sailed by six friends lifted the top prize in Dun Laoghaire. We report on Supernova's success. In a weekend of extremes for the biennial…
Four Oppy Fleets Take to the Water in Crosshaven
There was fun on the river at Crosshaven for the Second Saturday of Royal Cork's Optimist July League for all four fleets Gold, Silver, Bronze and Copper. Three races were sailed starting out very light and ending up with about…
Going West Paid for RORC Yachts
The 164-mile race to St Malo from Cowes is one of the most popular races in the RORC Season's Points Championship and this year 177 yachts entered the race. It was a spectacular start from the Squadron Line. The impressive…
Murphy Wins Laser Radial Race at Youth Worlds
Very light conditions prevail at the ISAF Youth Worlds in Zadar, Croatia as they do at home but Northern Irish Laser Radial sailor Sophie Murphy held her nerve to deliver a race win in the second race of the day…
Supernova is Overall Winner of Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta
Local success is being toasted in Dun Laoghaire tonight following the Volvo Dun Laoghaire regatta prizegiving this afternoon. SCROLL DOWN FOR PRIZEGIVING PHOTOS by Gareth Craig. The bulk of the major trophies were divided among sailors from the waterfront Dublin…
McCann Ends Optimist Europeans in Eighth
Leader of the Optimist dinghy Europeans at the half way stage, Peter McCann of Royal Cork Yacht Club has ended the 12 races series at Tavira, Portugal  in eighth place overall yesterday.  The top Irish youngster had a disappointing second…
Tall Ships Videos from Waterford
There's been a range of videos coming into Afloat.ie following the Tall Ships visit to Waterford on the 30th June 201. Below is a short observational documentary shot on The Tall Ships Race. The piece was shot on a Canon…
Doran Fourth at ISAF Youth Worlds
Wexford's Philip Doran lies fourth overall after an impressive opening two rounds at the 41st ISAF Youth Sailing World Championship in Zadar, Croatia. Doran who is sailing in the Boys Laser Radial class has scored a 7 and 12 to…
Transatlantic Race 2011 Nears Finish
A new Transatlantic record is expected be set in the next day. 26 yachts departed Newport, R.I., USA, during three staggered starts over the last two weeks, for a finish off The Lizard Newport, R.I. USA (July 9, 2011) –…
Day Three: Top Race Management Saves the Day at Dun Laoghaire Regatta
Responsive race management in trying conditions pulled off a successful day afloat and – averted a major regatta set back  – for the massive 420 boat fleet in the penultimate round of the four day Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta today.…
16 foot Wayfarer Dinghy Sails Across the Irish Sea to Dun Laoghaire Regatta
Dun Laoghaire Regatta in conjunction with the National Yacht Club is currently hosting the British Wayfarer Nationals and there are 27 racing, many from the UK. Some decided to skip the ferry and sailed straight here writes Tim Fenelon. The…
Paralympic Sailing - Kinsale Trio are London Bound
John Twomey and his crew have qualified for the London Paralympics in a nailbiting finish at the IFDS worlds writes Claire Bateman. Coming into racing today at the IFDS World Championships at Weymouth with one race to go, in the…
Day Two: Heavy then Light at Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta
Light winds replaced heavy for day two of Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta and although it has been a regatta of extremes so far it is also one that has completed the full schedule for all 25 classes. Ireland's largest sailing…

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]