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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
Marina Gdynia in Poland is the host venue for the two-person events at the 2026-2027 World Sailing Championships
World Sailing has selected the cities of Valencia in Spain and Gdynia in Poland to host the 2026-2027 World Sailing Championships as the event moves to a split format for the first time. Real Club Náutico Valencia (RCNV) will stage…
Monkstown Bay Sailing Club Secretary Ronan Kenneally (right) presents the Commodore's Cup to winner Brendan Dwyer
Brendan Dwyer won the Commodore’s Cup 2024 Race at Monkstown Bay Sailing Club in Cork Harbour in a “windy race”, as it was described by those racing. The trophy was first presented in 1986 by former Commodore and international sailor…
International voyaging star. John Gore-Grimes with his Blue Water Medal in 1980
It may seem odd to mention an event which is already a sell-out. But it’s now 44 years since John Gore-Grimes of Howth was first awarded the Blue Water Medal of the Cruising Club of America for his remarkable Arctic…
A short documentary (vid below) follows Robert and Seán on preparations for what they claim is a behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to succeed at the very highest level of sport, from their beginnings at Howth and Skerries Sailing Clubs to soon-to-be two-time Olympians at Paris 2024
While many reckoned that the "Fingal Flyers" duo of Rob Dickson and Sean Waddilove had taken Ireland's 49er place for the July-August 2024 Sailing Olympiad in Marseilles before Christmas 2023 had passed, it was still theoretically possible until very recently…
A group of 120 former submariners visited Commander Bill King's home at Oranmore Castle, Co Galway last week where they planted a “tree of peace”. The visit was hosted by Commander King’s daughter, Leonie, and grandson, Cian Finn (fourth from right), and was organised by the International Submariners Association (ISA)
In tribute to the late Commander Bill King, a group of 120 former submariners visited his home at Oranmore Castle, Co Galway, last week, where they planted a “tree of peace”. The visit was hosted by Commander King’s daughter, Leonie,…
Glandore Harbour Yacht Club's Sailing Secretary Michelle Hayes with race winner Mike Carroll, skipper of Chancer with Anthony Scannell Commodore of Kinsale Yacht Club and Hal Andrew’s, Commodore of Glandore Harbour Yacht Club
Five boats participated in the annual Kinsale Yacht Club pilgrimage to Glandore, West Cork, during the June bank holiday weekend. Sailors were welcomed by abundant sunshine and calm seas. The fleet of five starters included Chancer owned by Michael Carroll, Genesis…
The scene at Donaghdee Harbour on the Ards Peninsula when Donaghadee Sailing Club played host to the third Topper Ireland/ITCA Traveller event of 2024
Donaghadee Sailing Club on the Ards Peninsula in Northern Ireland recently hosted the third Topper Ireland/ITCA Traveller event of 2024, welcoming young sailors from various clubs for a weekend of friendly competition and skill-building. The event kicked off with a…
Water Wag dinghy Women at the Helm Regatta race Prizewinners were third placed Judy O’Beirne, Vice Commodore of the National Yacht Club, Rosemary Cadogan, winner Cathy MacAleavey, race organiser Ann Kirwan, and runner-up Ann-Marie Cox
After two postponements due to weather, the Water Wag dinghy Women at the Helm Regatta race took place at Dun Laoghaire Harbour on Wednesday evening, June 5th, in strong, testing conditions. As Afloat reported earlier, 1988 Olympian Cathy MacAleavey's Mariposa,…
Cathy MacAleavey and Con Murphy, sailing Water Wag Number 45, Mariposa, cross the finish line in the AIB DBSC Water Wag Wednesday series at Dun Laoghaire Harbour
Dublin Bay Sailing Club (DBSC) Race Officer Harry Gallagher set a two-round course for the 18 dinghies competing in the first race on Wednesday evening in the AIB DBSC Water Wag series at Dun Laoghaire Harbour. In a blustery NW…
Tom Dolan sprays Champagne over his boat in Le Havre to celebrate his second-place success in the Allmer Cup in France
Ireland's solo star Tom Dolan is delighted with second place in the Le Havre Allmer Cup, but what most pleases him is his consistency in the race. Twelfth at the intermediate mark at Eddystone light, Irish solo sailor Tom Dolan…
Our journey to Kinsale was well worthwhile.....SCORA Commodore Daragh Connolly (left) with Aurelia's winning owner-skipper Chris Power Smith (RStGYC) and race sponsor James Matthews of The Matthews Centre, together with ECHO winner Paul Tingle (RCYC) of Alpaca, Aurelia crewman Daniel Fitzgerald and (right) Dave Cullinane (Kinsale YC), front row are crewmen Zixi Dong and Jamie Tingle
While the first weekend of June suddenly brought summer, the last weekend of May seemed to be winter re-asserting itself on the Atlantic coasts, and merely to finish the shortened Kinsale YC Inistearaght Race(it rounded the Bull Rock off Kerry,…
File image of Portballintrae harbour and boat club
Police in Northern Ireland are treating a fire on a boat flying the Irish tricolour as a sectarian hate crime. According to the Belfast Telegraph, the incident in Portballintrae on the North Coast on Monday evening (3 June) followed the…
GP14 Leinster Champions Stephen Boyle (left) and Sean Craig receive the McDowell Trophy from Christina Knowles (Howth Yacht Club Rear Commodore)
The Leinster Championship for the GP14 fleet held at Howth Yacht Club on the June Bank Holiday weekend attracted a strong turnout, demonstrating the growing depth of talent in the mainstay Irish dinghy class.  A fleet of 34 boats gathered for the third…
Carrybridge RNLI’s inshore lifeboat approaches an 8m vessel with four people on board which had lost steering south of Crom Castle
Carrybridge RNLI’s inshore lifeboat launched on Sunday evening (2 June) at the request of Belfast Coastguard to assess an eight-metre vessel with four people on board which had lost steering south of Crom Castle. Winds were north-westerly Force 2 and…
Full sail at Cork Week 2022
The start of Volvo Cork Week 2024 is now less than six weeks away, with five days of racing in Cork Harbour and beyond set for 15-19 July. Organisers at the Royal Cork Yacht Club say entry numbers have been steadily…
UCD Sailing Varsities 2024 Overall Winners (From left to right) Jamie McMahon, Leonie Judge, William Lacey, Tom Higgins, Peter Fagan, and Cian Lynch
University College Dublin Sailing Club's (UCDSC) win of the 2024 Varsities Trophy at 2024 Sailing Varsities at the Fastnet Marine & Outdoor Education Centre in West Cork has been recognised with two prestigious awards. Student Sport Ireland National Awards -…

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]