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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
Cork Harbour 'Mid-Summer Madness' Attracts 40 Boats
The annual "Midsummer Madness" racing and Barbeque took place on Friday at the Royal Cork Yacht Club in Crosshaven.  There was no racing on Thursday night as the last races of Union Chandlery June League and Victoria Cross Cycles Whitesail…
Dunmore East Bids TallShips Farewell
As the Russian 'A' class Mir passed the LE Aoife off Dunmore East in mid-morning, the largest tall ship of the festival headed the start of the Parade of Sail, writes Jehan Ashmore. Crowds left their cars in fields outside…
It's Official: Third Time Tallships for Waterford
In glorious sunshine an estimated 200,000 visitors flocked to see the Tall Ships in Waterford on the final day of the festival before tomorrow's departing 'Parade of Sail' spectacle writes Jehan Ashmore. Scenes of the tallships moored alongside the north…
Tiamat Returns to Cruisers Zero with a Win
Tiamat's return to Dublin Bay Sailing Club on Saturday also marked the return of Cruiser Zero racing to the bay after an absence so far this season. Tiamat is back and – as Saturday's peformance shows – in winning form…
Martin Breen is June's Sailor of the Month
Martin Breen of Galway is the Afloat.ie/Irish Independent "Sailor of the Month" for June with his clearcut overall win in 2011's main offshore event in Irish waters, the Dun Laoghaire-Dingle classic. It's the fourth time that a Galway boat has…
Tom Webb Sail Around Britain Challenge
Seventeen-year-old Tom Webb is poised to sail solo round Britain in his Hyde Sails-powered Beneteau First 211 'Danera'. Tom believes sailing is a sport to be enjoyed by people of all abilities and to highlight the opportunities in sailing, particularly…
Irish Yacht Wins Three Peaks Yacht Race
In the biggest and most competitive race in the 34 year history of the Three Peaks Yacht Race, the Irish boat 'Danu Technologies', skippered by Glen Ward, stayed ahead of the competition to win in a time of 77 hours…
One Month to Southampton Start of World's Longest Ocean Race
The start of the Clipper 11-12 Round the World Yacht Race from Southampton is just one month away. Celebrations to mark the start of the 40,000-mile race around the globe will take place all weekend in Ocean Village, beginning with…
Tall Ships kicks off with 80,000 turnout in Waterford
With an estimated 80,000 people turning out to welcome the Tall Ships yesterday, things are hotting up in Waterford. Aswell as the Tall Ships themselves there are craft and food villages in the city centre throughout the weekend. Traffic restrictions…
Supernova Does the Double on Dublin Bay
Ken Lawless's Supernova was a double winner in last night's Dublin Bay Sailing Club (DBSC) race, a result that sets up the Dubois Starflash design as a favourite in the biggest fleet of next week's Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta at…
Countdown to VOR Begins in Galway
The countdown to the arrival of the Volvo Ocean Race in Galway begins tomorrow night in the City of the Tribes. http://www.afloat.ie/sail/events/volvo-ocean-race/ The Galway Advertiser reports that TV personality Hector O’Heochagain will be on hand for the countdown party in…
Tall Ships Races Could Mean Big Money for Waterford
This weekend's Tall Ships Races in Waterford could bring in up to €35 million to the local economy, according to Fáilte Ireland. http://www.afloat.ie/sail/tall-ships/ Gerry Breen of Fáilte Ireland also told The Irish Times that the event would complement the new…
Transatlantic Race 2011 and Small Cat v Mega Yacht (Video!)
Like any good sailing match race, the second class to depart in the Transatlantic Race 2011 today was a duel of two radicals – this time between a 66ft carbon cat, and a 289ft 3 masted mega yacht. Today size…
Cheering Sailing Corinthians on Dublin Bay
Donal O'Sullivan of Dublin Bay Sailing Club writes on cheering the winner. This is an old sailing custom whereby the winner is applauded by the loser - is not much practiced nowadays in Dublin Bay. The Dragons do it, or…
Irish Sailors in Six Classes at Olympic Test Event in Weymouth
Ireland is on the entry list in six classes for the Weymouth and Portland International Sailing Regatta 2011, the London 2012 Olympic Test Event, that has been finalised today. Ireland's leading hopes for  a top result is in the Radial…
King Hops from Figaro Class to Cookson 50 for a Transatlantic dash
UK sailor Nigel King who recently finished a creditable second place overall in the Transmanche Race sailing his Figaro class yacht – E-line Orthodontics – is currently competing in the Transatlantic Race aboard Chris Bull's Cookson 50, Jazz writes Sue…

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]