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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
Fireballs Revive Classic Boats
#FIREBALL – The boat (below) on the left sailed by Ian Pinnell and Daniel Cripps won the 1994 Worlds in Durban South Africa. The boat on the right was sailed by Tom Gillard & Sam Brearey to the World title…
Galway Volvo Ocean Race Climax Worth €65m for Ireland
#VOLVO OCEAN RACE – The Government backed sailing yesterday when Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore and Marine Minister Simon Coveney hosted a press conference at Government Buildings to highlight plans to harness the opportunity for Irish business and tourism presented by the…
Council and Sailing School Join Forces to Get Dun Laoghaire Children Afloat
#LEARN TO SAIL – Dun Laoghaire's Irish National Sailing School (INSS) run by Fireball dinghy champion Kenneth Rumball has joined forces with Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council Sports to provide sailing lessons for children from a number of primary schools…
Howth YC Expands Spring Warmer Series
#SAILING – Howth Yacht Club's highly successful Spring Warmer series in April, again sponsored by Key Capital Private, has an added significance for crews seeking early season practice before the BMW Cruiser Nationals at Howth in late May. That event…
No Red Arrows for VOR Galway
#VOLVO OCEAN RACE - Red Arrow jets will not be returning to the skies over Galway Bay when it hosts the Volvo Ocean Race finale this summer, the Galway Sentinel reports. The Royal Air Force (RAF) has turned down a…
Jezequel 116 Newcomer is Bay's Spring Chicken Winner
#DBSC – The club's only Jezequel 116 marque, Cri-Cri skippered by Paul Colton who last November picked up the trophy for 'the best new boat on the DBSC racing scene' at the annual DBSC prizegiving has also won the 2012…
Local Favourites Relegated in 'George Invitational' Team Race Event
#TEAM RACING – The Royal St. George Yacht Club Team Racing Invitational was once Ireland's most prestigious team racing event. After a lapse of a few years, the club hosted a revived "George Invitational" on Saturday March 10th. One tradition…
NI Clipper Yacht Endures Night of Drama
#CLIPPER – The extreme wind speeds, which were predicted to return and once again test the skills and endurance of the crew taking part in Clipper 11-12 Race, made a grand entrance yesterday with a variety of welcomes. "I don't…
Malahide Yacht Club Opens Redeveloped Dinghy Centre
#SAILING CLUB – Malahide Yacht Club has unveiled its newly re-developed Dinghy Sailing Centre at the Broadmeadows to herald a new era in the Club’s dinghy racing and sail training activities, a move that coincides with a new membership drive.…
Foxall Victorious in Auckland
#VOLVOOCEANRACE – Inspite of being on the far side of the world and on his ninth voyage round the planet Groupama's only Irish crewmember Damian Foxall was ecstatic on Saturday as he and his team mates arrived victorious into Auckland…
Dublin's Clarke Stays Third in Miami Melges Final
#MELGES24 – There was no change in the top-five positions in the 21-boat Melges 24 class on the final day of racing for Bacardi Miami Sailing Week. Franco Rossini (Switzerland) won the final race of the series to cement his…
Sunshine Turns to Grey Skies for Irish Fireballs
#FIREBALL – For the Irish Fireballers sailing in Dun Laoghaire Motor Yacht Club’s Frostbite Series, the morning of Sunday 11th March might as just as easily have been Sunday 10th June such was the weather – clear blue skies, temperatures…
French Crew Pip O'Leary/Burrows for Bacardi Honours
#BACARDI CUP – Peter O'Leary and David Burrows have been pipped for a second year running by a French team for overall honours in the prestigious Bacardi Cup. The Irish Olympic pair lost out by three points yesterday but will…
Clarke Slips to Third in Miami
#MELGES – The three races won by Riccardo Simoneschi (Milan, Italy) in the 21-boat Melges 24 class, plus a fifth-place finish in the third race of the day, moved him up one place in the overall standings, just three points…
Ailsa Craig Race Celebrates 50th Anniversary
#RACING UPDATE - This summer the Royal Ulster Yacht Club will stage the 50th anniversary edition of the Ailsa Craig Race, one of the classics of the Northern Ireland offshore yacht racing calendar. Many of the competitors from the inaugural…
Another Race Win for O'Leary and Burrows
#BACARDI CUP – London Olympic pair Peter O'Leary and David Burrows took another race win in their new boat in Miami yesterday to put them two points off the overall lead gonig into today's final two races of the prestigious…

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]