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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
A bumper 22-boat Irish Fireball National Championship fleet starts a race in Cork Harbour
Barry McCartin and Conor Kinsella of the RStGYC lead a bumper 22-boat Irish Fireball National Championship and Youth Championship 2024 after three races sailed in Cork Harbour at Crosshaven.  McCartin and Kinsella scored 3,1,3 on the opening day races on Friday…
Cora McNaughton and Sean Cronin of Blessington SC and Malahide YC (55281) lead Waterford Harbour SC, pairing Max Sweetman and Fionn Lynch into a weather mark on the first day of the Irish 420 Class National Championships 2024 at Royal Cork Yacht Club
Cora McNaughton and Sean Cronin of Blessington SC and Malahide YC lead a 31-boat Irish International 420 Class Association National Championships 2024 after three races sailed in Cork Harbour at Crosshaven.  McNaughton and Cronin scored 1,3,1 on the opening day races on…
Ronan Twomey's Beneteau 40.7, Rosmarina competing in Cove Sailing Club's Titanic Race in Cork Harbour
A good mix of cruiser racers – from 18 to 40 feet – and a late breeze got Cove Sailing Club's Titanic Race in Cork Harbour off to a prompt start on Friday evening (August 16th). Under Race Officers Dom Losty…
A 29er skiff team competing at the nine-boat Irish 29er Class Association National Championships 2024 in Cork Harbour at Crosshaven
After a busy international season, there are some absences from the Irish 29er fleet, but Royal Cork YC's Oisin Pierse and Fionn Daly lead a nine-boat Irish 29er Class Association National Championships 2024 after three races sailed in Cork Harbour at Crosshaven. …
Satellite image of Lough Neagh, the largest lake on the island of Ireland
Anglers in Northern Ireland have been advised not to eat any fish caught in Co Antrim’s Six Mile Water, which feeds into Lough Neagh, for the foreseeable future. As BBC News reports, Antrim & District Angling Association (ADAA) posted the…
Britain's Matt Mee and Chris Robinson of Red Warf Bay Sailing Club were the overall winners with a race to spare at the GP14 World Championships in North Wales Plas Heli, Pwllheli
Four Irish boats finished in the top ten of the 2024 GP14 World Championships at the Welsh National Sailing Academy in Plas Heli, Pwllheli in North Wales. In a dominant display in the 85-boat fleet, Britain's Matt Mee and Chris Robinson of Red Warf…
Thursday night's race on August 16th was one of the longest races of the DBSC season thus far
The eight-mark course set by RO John McNeilly last night gave the 13-boat DBSC Flying Fifteen fleet one of the longest Thursday night races of the season thus far and it was a very enjoyable evening as a consequence. With…
The annual 44 Cup World Championship next week sets sail out of Brunnen on Lake Uri (Lake Lucerne) in the heart of Switzerland
For the second time this season, the 44Cup is to visit a new venue. After racing in Baiona, Spain in May, for its fourth and penultimate event, the high performance owner driver one design class will compete for its annual…
Overall winners of WIORA 2024 – Darragh McCormack & Crew (Vincent McCormack, Oisin Finucane, Eoin Boylan, Tommy Flynn, Cathal McMahon, and Lucy Keane) on Relativity
Foynes Yacht Club on the Shannon Estuary recently hosted the 2024 WIORA Championships from Wednesday, August 7th, to Saturday, August 10th. Nineteen boats from various locations participated in the competition, including Kilrush, Galway, and Mayo. The event was run on…
Royal St. George's Brendan Foley, at the helm of the First8 Allig8r, won by nearly three minutes in IRC Two of DBSC Thursday night's AIB Summer Series
Dublin Bay Sailing Club's (DBSC) Thursday night fleet raced in medium-strengthened westerly winds with plenty of shifts in the 17th race of the AIB Summer Series off Dun Laoghaire. A two-boat turnout in Class Zero IRC saw the Royal Irish…
Reigning Edinburgh Cup and Gold Cup champion Lawrie Smith, who sails under the burgee of Glandore Harbour YC, will contest the Irish Dragon National Championships at the Royal St. George Yacht Club on Dublin Bay
Britain's Lawrie Smith will add international spice to next week's Irish Dragon National Championships at Dun Laoghaire's Royal St George Yacht Club. Smith, the current Edinburgh Cup and Gold Cup champion, is among some big international names coming to Dublin…
Sean Craig and Stephen Boyle of the Royal St. George Yacht Club and Sutton Dinghy Club took lie fourth overall after six races. sailed at the GP14 World Championships in North Wales Plas Heli, Pwllheli
Dublin Bay sailors Sean Craig and Stephen Boyle of the Royal St. George Yacht Club and Sutton Dinghy Club, third after Monday's first day of racing, still lead Irish hopes in fourth place at the GP14 World Championships after six races sailed at the Welsh…
The start of the 21-boat AIB Dublin Bay Sailing Club (DBSC) Water Wag race at Dun Laoghaire Harbour on Wednesday, August 14th
21 boats turned out for the AIB Dublin Bay Sailing Club (DBSC) Water Wag race on Wednesday, August 14th, at Dun Laoghaire Harbour. Race Officer Harry Gallagher, aboard committee vessel Corinthian, hoisted the AP at 18.40 as the Assistant Harbour…
The Lough Ree Yacht Club Annual Regatta took place from Saturday, 3rd of August to Friday, 9th of August reports LRYC Commodore Donie Heraghty. It was Lough Ree's turn to host the 1922-vintage Shannon One Designs' National Championships, as it…
Chris Johnston from the National Yacht Club will defend his Beneteau 31.7 title on Dublin Bay as part of the Unio-ICRA National Championships at the Royal Irish Yacht Club from August 30th
For the first time, the national championships of the Beneteau First 31.7 class will feature as part of this month's 2024 ICRA National Championships on Dublin Bay. The Unio-sponsored national championships, hosted by the Royal Irish Yacht Club, will be…
Locals Mike and Sarah Evans training for the Melges 15 National Championships at Howth Yacht Club
Race Officer Richard Kissane and the team are getting ready for a new challenge as they prepare for the upcoming Melges 15 nationals in Howth on August 24th and 25th. The championships will see the Irish debut of RaceSense, a…

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]