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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
Squib Nationals at Howth over Bank Holiday Weekeend
 Howth Yacht Club hosts the SIAC Construction Squib National Championships over the Bank Holiday Weekend, with the biggest fleet in a decade – 36 and growing - contesting the 7-race series. The 2010 National Champions, Gordon Patterson and Ross Nolan…
Irish Yachts Line Out for the Fastnet Race
In just over two weeks' time, on Sunday 14th August, the biggest fleet ever (350 boats) will set sail from Cowes to take on one of the ultimate challenges in offshore racing – the Rolex Fastnet Race – a milestone…
Racing Round Up - Weekend Irish Sailing Review
If you missed our e-news bulletin yesterday (sign up) here's a chance to catch up with all the Irish sail racing news from the weekend. Diane II Races to Ruffian Success on Dublin Bay. McKee and Smyth Lead Irish hopes…
Cock O' the North National 18 Photos HERE!
There was frustration yesterday until late in the afternoon for the biggest ever National 18 fleet that is gathered in Cork Harbour for Cock o'the North trophy honours. The morning race was postponed waiting for wind. After 40 minutes or…
Tall Ships 2011: Young Sailors 'Buoyed' with their Successes
Marine Academy students from Plymouth on the English south coast who have been taking part in the 2011 Tall Ships Race have certainly proved they are able-bodied sailors. Not only has their ship, The Moosk been placed third in class…
McGrotty and Grimes Win Fireball Ulster Title
Considering there were only two entries in the Inbox of Ballyholme Yacht Club a week before the regatta, the turnout of 19 boats over the weekend of the Fireball Ulster Championships at Ballyholme Yacht Club was quite a turnaround writes…
Ireland Fails to Conquer the World at Match Racing Challenge
The Royal St. George Yacht Club in Dun Laoghaire Co. Dublin played host to the second annual International Match Racing Challenge over the weekend of the 23rd and 24th July. Ireland's top Match Racing Teams went head to head against…
Ireland v the World Match Racing Photos HERE!
Scotsman's Bay provided the backdrop for the Royal St. George's second staging of the Ireland versus the World Match Racing event on Dublin Bay. SCROLL DOWN FOR PHOTOs by Gareth Craig. More here.
Irish Youth Lasers Compete in La Rochelle
In La Rochelle, France Ross Vaughan lies 82nd in a fleet of 132 at the European Laser Radial Mens Championships. Over 300 Lasers started their World Championships off La Rochelle yesterday in sunshine, a 20-25 kn breeze and a big…
Lula Belle Wins ISORA Night Race
Shifting winds for the ISORA Lee Overlay night race with a course from Dun Laoghaire to North India Buoy on the Irish Sea at the weekend provided the fleet with a beat out and a beat back to Dun Laoghaire.…
Butler and Andreasson 16th at 470 Youth Worlds
With 30 knots blowing racing at the 470 Youth Worlds in Medemblik, Holland was abandoned on Friday. Dun Laoghaire pairing Jane Butler and Jenny Andreasson lie 16th in the 32-boat fleet. It is the first big step on the international…
Optimist Sailor Hyland Wins Howth Dinghy Regatta
HOWTH YACHT CLUB. DINGHY REGATTA (O'ALL) 24/07/2011 Optimist: 1, Adam Hyland RStGYC (2.00); 2, Ronan Cournane RCYC (3.00); 3, Richard Hogan HYC (6.00); Optimist Junior: 1, Jamie McMahon HYC (7.00); 2, Luke Rickard NYC (9.00); 3, Megan Cahill HYC (14.00);…
Royal Navy to Start Clipper Race from Southampton
With one week to go until the gun fires to signal the start of the Clipper 11-12 Round the World Yacht Race, the first global event to set off from the Solent since 2004, organisers are thrilled to welcome the…
Largest Ever Fleet of National 18s Assemble at RCYC
Every four years the National 18 Championship or as it is known, the Cock O'the North, comes to Crosshaven and this year Class Captain Peter O'Donovan had the brainwave to stage a reunion for the Class writes Claire Bateman. Much…
McKee and Smyth Lead Irish hopes at Flying Fifteen Worlds
Brian McKee and Ian Smyth lead Irish hopes after five races sailed at the Flying Fifteen World championships at Hayling Island Sailing Club this morning. The Strangford Lough pair have had a consistent string of results in a mainly patchy…
Diane II Races to Ruffian Success on Dublin Bay
Taking the Ruffian prize at Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta two weeks ago, Class vice-captain Alan Claffey sailing Diane II added the national title yesterday after a three day series on Dublin Bay. SCROLL DOWN FOR PHOTOS BY GARETH CRAIG. 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]