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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 Week's Harbour Race start, featuring over 100 boats, was won by the IRC One leader J109 Chimaera
Barry Cunningham’s Royal Irish Yacht Club J/109 Chimaera (RCYC/RIYC) is putting in a phenomenal performance in Volvo Cork Week's IRC One division with five race bullets. Chimaera not only won class today but was the overall winner under IRC for…
Clarion under the ownership of Rory O'Hanlon (RStGYC) on her way to winning the Philip Whitehead Cup in the 1971 Fastnet Race
The 1963 classic S&S 43 Clarion of Wight, well-known in Ireland for her offshore racing successes and long-distance cruises (including the Arctic) while under the ownership of Rory O'Hanlon of Dun Laoghaire in the early 1970s, is in a bad way.…
Volvo Cork Week's Harbour Race start for 100 plus boats as seen from Weavers Point
Volvo Cork Week Regatta's International Race Officer Con Murphy got its famed Harbour race off to a clean start this Wednesday (July 17) afternoon with yachts of all sizes jostling for position on the all-in start on Ireland's longest startline.…
Forget post-war austerity. It is 16:30 hrs on the afternoon of Monday August 19th 1946 in the entrance to Dun Laoghaire Harbour, and the starters are getting away in a brisk nor'wester in the Royal Ocean Racing Club/Irish Cruising Club Dublin Bay to Cork Harbour Race, with (left to right) Lara (Kenneth Poland, RORC) a 1938 Robert Clark yawl from England, Harry Donegan Jnr's vintage Fife Clyde 50 Sybil from Cork, Erivale (Dr E G Greville RORC, a Robert Clark sloop from England and still hoisting her genoa), John B Kearney's own-designed-and-built 9-ton gaff yawl Mavis (NYC) of 1925, Col. Blondie Hasler's 30 Square Metre Tre Sang (RORC), Col. James Hollwey's 14-ton 1937 Scandinavian-built ketch Viking O (RIYC). Billy Mooney's 16-tn gaff ketch Aideen (ICC/RStGYC) Fred Shepherd design, built Tyrrell 1934, and Michael Sullivan's 14-ton Norman Dallimore-designed Marchwood Maid (Royal Munster YC). Missing from photo is the 72ft Robert Clark-designed 1939-built sloop Benbow, which was manoeuvring up-harbour, and started when the line was clear
In last weekend's Sailing on Saturday (July 13th) we tried to interweave the story of offshore racing development with the long history of racing offshore along the 160 miles from Dublin Bay to Cork. It's an event which has been…
Close racing at the RSGYC regatta in the Melges 15 class
One small cohort has welcomed the low pressures we have seen this Summer. The Melges fleets in Dun Laoghaire and Howth have been enjoying the great sailing conditions, even if the expected blue summer skies have been forty shades of…
The National Yacht Club's on form J/112e, skippered by Johnny Treanor, leads Cork Week's IRC coastal fleet after victory in Tuesday's race off Cork Harbour
The National Yacht Club's on form J/112e, skippered by Johnny Treanor, leads Volvo Cork Week's IRC coastal fleet after a successful race on Tuesday and a winning margin of over four minutes on corrected time. Treanor, with Irish professional Maurice…
Ireland's Clementine Van Steenberge and Jessica Riordan are one point off the lead at the World Youth Sailing Championships on Lake Garda, Italy
In the women’s skiff, Ireland's Clementine Van Steenberge and Jessica Riordan (pictured top) are just one point off the lead as the World Youth Sailing Championships reaches its halfway stage on Lake Garda, Italy. The Dun Laoghaire duo got off…
Full sail off Cherbourg at the start of the Drheam Cup on Monday 15 July
The start of the fifth edition of the Drheam Cup/Grand Prix de France au Large was given on Monday 15 July at 16:30 in Cherbourg-en-Cotentin in a steady south-easterly breeze. On the agenda for the 70 boats taking part, two…
Royal Cork’s Maurice Collins's Bavaria 42 Sepideh is the class leader in Non-Spinnaker Two at Volvo Cork Week in Cork Harbour
In Non-Spinnaker One under ECHO, Royal Cork’s Frank Caul racing Grand Soleil 37 Prince of Tides leads on four points after two races sailed at Volvo Cork Week Regatta. Lying second is Frank McGrath's Dehler 34 Big Mac on six, and in a…
Simon Coveney TD on the helm of the Irish Defence Forces J109 Artful Dodjer (IRL1713) as they cross the finish line as winners of the 150-mile first race of the 2024 inter-services Beaufort Cup at Volvo Cork Week
The overnight offshore race for the Beaufort Cup came to a finish off Roches Point on Tuesday. The 150NM race around the Fastnet Rock was won by the Irish Defence Forces racing J/109 Artful Dodjer, claiming Line Honours as well…
Fiona Young's Albin Express North Star in command in IRC Three division of Volvo Cork Week Regatta
Fiona Young's Albin Express North Star of the host club is the clear leader of a mixed Volvo Cork Week IRC Three division on three points. The Crosshaven helmswoman took three firsts, while her Royal Cork clubmate Conor Phelan, who scored 4,2,2…
The orange-hulled Farr Half Tonner '2 Farr' (Boardman, Kelly, O'Leary) scored 2,1,1 to lead the IRC Two fleet at Volvo Cork Week
The Rush Sailing Club and Baltimore Sailing Club team on the distinctively coloured Farr Half Tonner '2 Farr' (Boardman, Kelly, O'Leary) leads overall after three close races sailed in the IRC Two fleet at Volvo Cork Week. Three windward leeward…
The 14-boat 1720 European Championships is being sailed as part of the Volvo Cork Week Regatta off Cork Harbour
Defending champion Ross McDonald of Howth Yacht Club is back in the driving seat of the 2024 1720 European Championships after three straight wins on day two of Volvo Cork Week Regatta. On the second day of the championships, winds were from 320…
Royal Irish's Barry Cunningham in the J109 Chimaera continues to lead overall in the IRC One division of Volvo Cork Week Regatta
Consistent sailing from Royal Irish's Barry Cunningham in Chimaera means the Dublin Bay J/109 continues to lead overall in the IRC One division of Volvo Cork Week Regatta, according to provisional results. Despite the onboard assistance, however, of Italian Melges ace Stefano Cherin…
Overall IRC Zero leader Nicholas Burns' Blitz (HKG 2709) pictured centre continues to lead after day two of Volvo Cork Week Regatta
Flat seas, wind from 320 degrees up to 15 knots, and sunshine were a marked contrast to Monday's Volvo Cork Week opening races off Cork Harbour; still, the same result prevailed at the top of the IRC Zero division. After six races…
As a concession to advancing years, the late Padraic de Bhaldraithe of Galway Bay gifted himself the new gaff cutter Mrs Mouse which was, as he put it,
President Michael D Higgins has led the tributes to the late Padraic de Bhalraithe, "The Boatman of Barna", whose natural talents as a teacher and mentor went far beyond the classrooms of Galway and Connemara. These talents enabled him to…

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]