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Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

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
James Dwyer and Thomas Chaix of the RCYC / NYC competing in the 49erFx in Weymouth
A real resurgence has emerged in the UK in the last months or so, following on from several initiatives such as the Crew for Gold Programme run by the RYA and the British Sailing Team has injected a number of…
The best of 2024's mixed summer days at Howth, with Squibs returning to port after racing. The regularly-watered window-boxes in the lighthouse accommodation avoided the relative drought that has been affecting the peninsula during 2024
The steady approach of last weekend's Sunday storm provided a sailing weekend of two halves in Howth. The third stage of the six Saturday Autumn League fixtures was sailed in an interesting mainly southwest breeze which increasingly heralded the approaching…
Johnny & Suzi Murphy's Outrajeous the class One and overall winners of the IRC European Championships on Dublin Bay
The first fortnight of September served up such an intensive programme of national and international cruiser-racer competition in Dublin Bay that it provided an exceptionally informative insight into how a mixed crew of professionals and amateurs can be moulded together…
Nigel Biggs on the helm of the First 50 Checkmate from Howth, with Jonny Sargent keeping an eye on the fleet to windward and Paddy Evans on the mainsheet during the RIYC-hosted IRC European Championships
When the Royal Alfred Yacht Club was established on Dublin Bay in 1870, it was the first in the world to codify amateur sailing, though its rule did allow that larger yachts might carry paid hands in the form of…
Tom Dolan, the skipper of Smurfit Kappa – Kingspan, leading the overall ranking at the end of the first two acts, did not disappoint in taking the historic win in the 2024 Solitaire du Figaro
There are longtime competitors in the elite Figaro Solo series in France who have never won a stage, let alone become overall winner. Yet they are still considered serious and newsworthy contenders who merit continuing and generous sponsorship. But back…
Cora McNaughton from Blessington Sailing Club and Isha Duggan from Royal Cork Yacht Club are the 2024 Junior Champion of Champions
Sailing in Ireland's "Championship of Champions" has a special niche in the junior division, as it is raced in the TR 3.6s at the Fastnet Marine Centre in Schull, and there's a genuine feeling that the most level playing field…
The Shanahan family's J109 'Ruth' was the overall ISORA winner this season
It was 1988 when the Patriarch of the family, the late Liam Shanahan, put the already successful sailing family firmly among the brightest lights by his win in the Round Ireland Race with the db2s Lightning. With the next generation,…
Luxury residential –rental cruise ship Odyssey sets off from Belfast Harbour after being stranded for four months. Above a selection of the refurbished interiors on board the former Fred Olsen cruise ship Braemar.
A luxury residential cruise ship has set off from Belfast Harbour having been docked for four months after unexpectedly spending that time in the city ahead of a maiden three-and a half year world voyage. As The Belfast Telegraph reports,…
ILCA sailors round a mark at Malahide Yacht Club's End of Season Event on Dublin's Broadmeadow
Malahide Yacht Club (MYC) hosted the highly anticipated ILCA End of Season Event this past weekend, bringing together 73 of Ireland's top sailors. The Broadmeadows Estuary provided a challenging setting for the event, which featured all three ILCA classes: ILCA…
DMG MORI Sailing Team will build a new IMOCA race boat ahead of The Ocean Race 2027
The DMG MORI Sailing Team is announcing a new build of an IMOCA 60 with the aim of participating in the The Ocean Race 2027 and the Vendée Globe 2028. With performance and reliability in mind, the DMG MORI Sailing…
INEOS Britannia duel with Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli in Barcelona on Monday 30 September
The decision to utilise the first reserve day of the Louis Vuitton Cup proved to be a far-sighted one by race director Iain Murray, as perfect conditions greeted INEOS Britannia and Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli on Monday (30 September) for…
The Atlantic Youth Trust tall ship Leader
Last week, the tall ship Leader arrived in Bangor Harbour on Belfast Lough. This significant development will offer a fantastic opportunity to expand the Atlantic Youth Trust's development programme through maritime sail training voyages. Leader will serve participants from across…
Career breakthrough. Donal Conlon of Carnadoe on his trusty tractor (it was to serve him for more than fifty years) bringing his first cold-moulded boat, the Billy Brown-designed Half Tonner Garland of Howth, out of the then-new shed at Carnadoe Bridge at the North Shannon's Inner Lakes in June 1973
Afloat.ie regrets to record the death of Donal Conlon of Carnadoe Bridge in Kilmore, County Roscommon. His remarkable natural talents as a boatbuilder of all kinds in wood were recognised in the 1960s by O'Brien Kennedy, with whom he served…
Tommy Dwyer of the host club, also a well-known National 18 sailor, crewed in his Rankin by Chloe Coole, took the top prize of €300 in the Monkstown Bay Sailing Club's annual 'Dash for Cash' race
Thirty-one boats raced in Monkstown Bay Sailing Club's annual 'Dash for Cash' on Saturday, "a fantastic turn-out", according to the organisers. Entries for the 'pursuit' event, predominantly from the host club, were boosted by dinghies from RCYC at Crosshaven and…
National and European 1720 Champion Ross McDonald added the Southern title  on Lough Derg to conclude a successful 2024 season
Ross McDonald's dominance of the 1720 Sportboat class continued at the weekend, with the National and European Champion adding the southern title on Lough Derg. LDYC Race Officer John Leech provided five good races on Saturday, which decided the event,…
Charlie Cullen successfully defended his Irish Waszp dinghy title at the Royal St. George Yacht Club on Dublin Bay at the weekend
With two wins from four races sailed (along with a DSQ in the opening race), foiling sailor Charlie Cullen successfully defended his Irish Waszp dinghy title in a cut-short programme on Dublin Bay at the weekend. Belfast Lough's Robert Espey was second…

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]