Menu

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
Lough Ree Yacht Club, located on the picturesque River Shannon
Lough Ree Yacht Club, located on the picturesque River Shannon in Ireland, is seeking passionate and skilled instructors to join their existing team of 18+ instructors for their burgeoning Junior Sailing Course. The course runs for three weeks at the…
Clayton Love retained a special affection for the IDRA 14 Class, and he is seen here at the class’s 70th Anniversary Regatta at Clontarf in 2016 with fellow IDRA 14 “seniors” Sean Flood (left) and Ian Sargent (right)
Tributes continue to be paid to Clayton Love Jnr, the accomplished sailor and leading businessman who made a remarkable contribution to Ireland’s marine sector. As The Sunday Independent reports, he left a distinct footprint on his native city through his…
While Robert Dickson and Seán Waddilove enjoyed a welcome final-day score, it wasn’t enough to lift them from 25th place in the Gold fleet
After a disappointing week for both Irish crews competing at 49er World Championship in Lanzarote a final-race second place on Sunday (10 March) for Robert Dickson and Seán Waddilove was a welcome early season morale boost. After a clean start,…
Alfie Mayrs' H Boat Final Fling competing in Antrim Boat Club's Winter Series
With Antrim Boat Club on the north west corner of Lough Neagh in Northern Ireland nearing the end of the second half of its Winter Series it will be a close gallop to the final result. There is little between…
Robert Dickson and Sean Waddilove (pictured centre in IRL 99) are lying 25th overall going into the final race of the World Championships in Lanzarote
Day 5 of the 49er and 49erFX World Championships in Lanzarote featured challenging conditions with stronger winds and waves. French sailors Erwan Fischer and Clément Pequinsecured consistent finishes, keeping a big lead between them and the Dutch in second place.…
TG 4 TV drama Tarrac, which involves rowers Rachel Feeney, Kate Finegan, Kate Nic Chonaonaigh, and Kelly Gough, is set on the Dingle peninsula and will be aired on TG4 and TG4.ie on Monday, March 18th, 2024,at 9.30 pm.
A drama which involves a group of female rowers training in the Atlantic off the Kerry Gaeltacht will have its first television screening on TG4 this month. Tarrac, which involves rowers Rachel Feeney, Kate Finegan, Kate Nic Chonaonaigh, and Kelly…
Star sailors Mateusz Kusznierewicz/Bruno Prada secure their fifth successive Bacardi Cup victory in Miami
 The climax of the Star class at the 97th Bacardi Cup and Bacardi Invitational Regatta in Miami was a day of anticipation and pressure. The relaxed and friendly atmosphere in the boat park this morning belied the intensity about to…
The Last Hurrah. The late Clayton Love Jnr and regular crewman Neil Hegarty revel in racing the 505 Miss Betty in IYA Dinghy Week in July 1970 at Ballyholme on Belfast Lough. This was to be Clayton Love’s last actively dinghy racing season, and it was also the last Dinghy Week, as the event had become too big for most sailing centres to handle
The widely-mourned death of Clayton Love Jnr of Cork at the age of 94 may leave a void in the lives of his very large circle of family, friends and colleagues in many parts of the world and numerous areas…
Star - Eric Doyle / Payson Infelise in race five of the 97th Bacardi Cup in Miami, Florida
It was another intense day of racing on Biscayne Bay at the 97th Bacardi Cup and Bacardi Invitational Regatta. The usual shifty breeze was around 8-10 knots with plenty of race track nuances. The all-important discard came into play in…
Laura Grondin / Taylor Canfield / Luke Muller / Malcolm Lamphere advance into the lead of the J70 class at the Bacardi Cup, Miami
Three back-to-back races for the forty-nine boat J/70 fleet saw Anthony O'Leary's skippered 'Antix' succumb to a black flag penalty in race four of the Bacardi Cup in Miami, Florida on Friday. Crewed by Ben Field, Harry Durcan and son Nicholas O'Leary,…
Robert Dickson and Sean Waddilove remain in 25th place overnight after a challenging first day in the 49er Worlds Gold fleet in Lanzarote
Tricky wind conditions have exposed a weakness for the leading Irish crew competing at 49er World Championship in Lanzarote on Friday (8 March). Competing in the Gold fleet final round, Robert Dickson (Howth Yacht Club) and Sean Waddilove (Skerries Sailing…
Participants of all background and experience in a previous Women On Water Festival hosted by RYA Northern Ireland
RYA Northern Ireland’s Women On Water Festival will take place at the Royal North of Ireland Yacht Club in Cultra on Sunday 12 May and online sign-ups are now open to women across Northern Ireland and the wider island of…
Daragh Sheridan was Aero and overall dominator in PY HYC Dingy Frostbites, and was the man to beat in the enlarged Aero fleet for the now cancelled HYC dinghy round the island race on March 9th
Howth Yacht Club has cancelled Saturday's (March 9th) Round the Island Dinghy Race due to strong easterly winds, going against a large ebb tide. The Round the Island Race typically marks the end of the winter dinghy season in HYC. The…
Jonathan Anderson's Scottish J122E yacht 'El Gran Senor', pictured leading the Sovereign's Cup Coastal Division in the first race off Kinsale in 2023. The boat, which now has new owners, Peter Dunlop and Vicky Cox, will be renamed 'Mojito' and will take part in the 2024 ISORA races, the IRC Welsh Championships, Cork Week, the J Cup, IRC Europeans, and the ICRA Nationals before returning to Wales for the Pwllheli Challenge at the end of September
The potent J122E cruiser-racer Scottish 'El Gran Senor' from the Clyde Cruising Club will be renamed under new ownership when she embarks on her 2024 summer season, which includes next month's ISORA 2024 Offshore Series on the Irish Sea, Cork…
Chief Executive Officer of Loughs Agency, Sharon McMahon, welcomes Minister of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs, Andrew Muir to Loughs Agency
Northern Ireland's new Minister of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs, Andrew Muir, recently paid a visit to the Loughs Agency Headquarters in Prehen, gaining first-hand insights into the organisation's essential work. The visit was warmly welcomed by Sharon McMahon, Chief…
Despite Peter O'Leary and Stephen Milne's turbulent scorecard of 39, 9, 33, the Cork Harbour-Belfast Lough duo managed to take the lead and move up to 16th place overall
Ireland's Star keelboat sailors Peter O'Leary and Stephen Milne clinched victory in race 4 of the 97th Bacardi Cup, marking a new winner for the day in Miami, Florida. Despite their turbulent scorecard of 39, 9, 33, the duo managed…

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]