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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
Black Flag and Top Threes for O'Dowd
Dun Laoghaire sailor Matthew O'Dowd will be hoping for wind at the Laser Radial Youth Worlds in Largs today so that he can bring a discard into play. Dowd will want to shed a black flag disqualification that he has…
 'Prospect' Offers Good DBSC Odds
Dublin Bay Sailing Club Results for 22 JULY 2010 BENETEAU 31.7 Echo- 1. Levante (B.Leyden/M.Leahy), 2. Violet Flame (B.Murphy/L.Osbourne), 3. Extremity (Paul D'Alton) BENETEAU 31.7 - 1. Prospect (Chris Johnston), 2. Levante (B.Leyden/M.Leahy), 3. Levana (Jean Mitton) CRUISERS 0 Echo…
Up to 20 expected for ISORA overnight
As many as 20 sailing boats could line out for the ISORA overnight race to the India North buoy tomorrow night. The race starts at 7.30pm, leaving the Muglins to starboard as the fleet heads south to the cardinal mark…
Storm Blown Out by Tantrum
HOWTH YACHT CLUB.  WEDNESDAY SERIES 3 (RACE) 21/07/2010  Class 1  IRC:  1, Tantrum 3 Klimche/O'Leary;  2, Storm P Kelly;  3, Makutu Doyle/Others;  Class 1  HPH:  1, Tantrum 3 Klimche/O'Leary;  2, Storm P Kelly; 3, Makutu Doyle/Others;  Class 2  IRC:  1,…
Silver and Gold SB3s in Lake Garda
With Tuesday's protests completed, the Gold and Silver Fleets were decided for the Volvo Laser SB3 World Championships finals and a further three races were scheduled for each of the fleets yesterday, taking the Championship race tally to nine. Top…
Top Five Start for O'Dowd
Fresh from a top ten finish at the ISAF Youth Worlds, Dun Laoghaire sailor Matthew O'Dowd has started the Radial Youth World Championships in Largs with a second place finish. The Laser fleet numbers some 210 boats, and has been…
Big Interest in Women's Match Racing
More than 20 ladies from around Ireland took to the water in Dun Laoghaire last weekend for a women's match racing training weekend, which may result in a ladies' Match Racing nationals taking place later in 2010. A recent rise…
All Quiet at Largs, Penney Drops in Poland
There was no racing for the Laser Radials in Largs, Scotland, yesterday, and with the centre of a weak low sitting over the northern Irish sea today, racing has already been postponed at the venue for today, which means no…
Young Bigboaters Sought for UK Academy
Applications are open for the RYA's British Keelboat Academy, which aims to give keelboats sailors aged between 18 and 24 a leg-up into competitive international sailing. The programme utilises a fleet of J80s, identical to the ISA's sailfleet J80s, and…
Meet the Teams - Match Racers Line Out
The International Match Racing Challenge, taking place this weekend in Dublin Bay, has been profiling their twelve teams, six from Ireland and six from around the world, on their site over the last few days. The event is shaping up…
Belfast Boats are Top Irish at SB3 World Champs on Lake Garda
After six races sailed on shift Lakec Garda two Belfast boats are vying for the top Irish slot at the the the Volvo Laser SB3 World Championship. David Cheyne,Bob Espey and Richie McCullough of Royal Northern Ireland Yacht Club are…
Blind Squirrel Finds Nuts on Dublin Bay
Frank Miller's Blind Squirrel  won on Dublin Bay last night  from a fleet of eight Fireballs. Miller of the DMYC beat Louis Smyth's Licene to Thrill in second and Neil Colin's Elevation in third. Racing took place in medium, southerly…
Blue Velvet Wins in Howth Yacht Club
HOWTH YACHT CLUB.  TUE + SAT SERIES 3 (RACE) 20/07/2010   17 Footer  SCRATCH:  1, Rita Lynch/Curley;  2=, Aura I Malcolm;  2=, Leila R Cooper;  17 Footer  HCAP:  1, Echo B & H Lynch;  2, Rosemary Curley/Jones; 3=, Aura I Malcolm…
More Irish Youth Lasers in Worlds Action
Ireland's youth laser sailors are once again in action in Europe, with the Radial Youth Worlds taking place in Largs, Scotland, and the Standard Rig Youth Worls ongoing in Poland. Chris Penney posted good results to sit 34th out of…
Ballyholme's Flannigan is Top Irish SB3 on Lake Garda
Gareth Flannigan, Michael Ferguson and  Brian Spenc, Ballyholme Yacht Club lead are top Irish boat at the Volvo Laser SB3 World Championships 2010 at Torbole on Lake Garda, Italy. Three races were scheduled on two race courses, Course Alfa "Torbole" (yell0w)…
Cowes Week Radio Celebrates 25 Years
Cowes Radio, the longest running Special Event Radio Station in the UK, is an award winning and integral part of Cowes Week and celebrates its 25th birthday during the forthcoming July 31 to August 7 2010 regatta. Streamed on 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]