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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
Lively Lady is Winner on ECHO Handicap
DUBLIN PORT Dublin Bay Sailing Club Results for 8 JULY 2010  BENETEAU 31.7 - ECHO 1. Levana (Jean Mitton), 2. Fiddly Bits (Kevin Byrne et al), 3. Prima Nocte (Patrick Burke) BENETEAU 31.7 - 1. Levana (Jean Mitton), 2. Magic…
Asgard Artefacts Come to the Surface
A team of Irish Divers has brought to the surface items from the wrecked hull of the Sail training Vessel Asgard II. Photographs of the dive team with the ships wheel and bell are below. The Sail training organisation Coiste…
McCann Leaps Into European Opti Top Ten
Ireland's top-ranked Optimist sailor, Peter McCann, asserted himself at the front of an international fleet yesterday, posting a first and fourth to leapfrog his compatriots into the top ten. McCann, from RCYC, is now in seventh position overall in the…
Good Start for Student Match Racers (Updated)
Ireland's Student Match Racing team got their World Championship campaign off to a good start in Crete yesterday, with five wins from six races yesterday giving them the overall lead. Marty O'Leary, team captain, emailed a bulletin yesterday, with team…
Cork's Lord Mayor Welcomes Clipper Fleet
Last night the Lord Mayor of Cork Cllr. Michael O'Connell honoured Skippers and Crew of the Clipper Round the World yacht race with a Civic Reception at Millennium Hall in Cork City Hall. The event was held to welcome the…
Tiger Takes Howth Yacht Club IRC1 Class
HOWTH YACHT CLUB, WEDNESDAY SERIES 2 (RACE) 07/07/2010 Class 1 IRC: 1, Tiger Hughes/Harris; 2, Storm P Kelly; 3, Joslim J Connolly; Class 1 HPH: 1, Joslim J Connolly; 2, Tiger Hughes/Harris; 3, Storm P Kelly; Class 2 IRC: 1,…
Coiste an Asgard Statement
What follows is a press statement from Coiste an Asgard regarding the divers who retrieved items from the wreck of the Asgard II "The wreck of Asgard II is lying on the sea-bed, 21 miles from the French Island of…
Tie-Break Denies Irish Sailor Bronze
Irish Laser Radial sailor Rory Lynch missed out on a bronze at Warnemunde Woche on countback yesterday, finishing on equal points with Pole, Tadeusz Kubiak. The Blessington sailor posted a 5,3,4 scoreline in his final three races, but with Kubiak…
Irish 49ers Move up Scoreboard
Ireland's 49er campaigners Ryan Seaton and Matt McGovern made moves on the top half of the fleet at the 49er Europeans yesterday, with three top 15 results propelling them into 40th overall. They still have some way to go to…
Irish Optis Inside Top 20
After light airs delayed things, Ireland's Optimist sailors got back on course in Poland yesterday, putting in a solid three races at the European Championships. Sean Donnelly retains his crown as top Irish sailor, sitting 15th of 146 boats in…
Asgard Divers Spark Salvage Controversy (w/ Podcast)
A team of divers, including a member of the Garda Siochana, who removed items from the wreck of the Asgard II have become embroiled in a maritime law controversy. The team faced questioning by French police yesterday and may also…
'Trick or Treat' Wins Howth's Tuesday Race
HOWTH YACHT CLUB. TUESDAY SERIES 2 (RACE) 06/07/2010 Puppeteer SCRATCH: 1, Trick or Treat A Pearson; 2, Eclipse A & R Hegarty; 3, Harlequin Clarke/Egan; Etchells SCRATCH: 1, Fetching Quinn/O'Flaherty; Puppeteer HPH: 1, Schiggy G Kennedy; 2, Ile Molene Byrne/Stanley;…
Slow Start for 49ers in Poland
Ireland's 49er crews have a long way to go if they are to qualify for the gold fleet in the European Championships, being held in Gdynia, Poland. Olympic campaigners Ryan Seaton and Matt McGovern are top Irish at the moment,…
New Boat Donated to Howth Juniors
Euro Car Parks today presented Howth Yacht Club with a brand new Laser Pico to be used for junior sailing. At the handover, Dave Cullen commented ... "We are delighted to support junior sailing in Howth Yacht Club and are ever keen…
Innovative Spectator Packages for Match Racing
The organisers of the first Ireland v the World Match Racing Invitational have come up with some innovative spectator packages for what promises to be a hard-fought event in Scotsmans Bay, Dun Laoghaire. Spectators can pay to 'hotseat' aboard the…
McGibney yacht 'Disaray' is Overall West Coast WIORA 2010 Winner
The West of Ireland Offshore Racing Association (WIORA), 'West Coast Championships' concluded at the weekend, which was hosted by the Royal Western Yacht Club based in Kilrush Co. Clare. Strong winds prevailed thought the event and unfortunately no sailing took…

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]