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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
Commodores' Cup: Ireland is 'Team to Watch'
The pre-event press release says 'no clear cut favourite but Irish eyes are smiling'. It's the kind of pressure Ireland's three boat team can do without after so many near misses in this event. But as they go afloat this…
White Mischief Beats Gwilli Two in Bay Sigma Race
DUBLIN PORT Dublin Bay Sailing Club Results for 14 AUGUST 2010 CRUISERS 0 Echo- 1. Tsunami (Vincent Farrell), 2. Lively Lady (Derek Martin), 3. Tiamat (Tim Costello) CRUISERS 0 - 1. Tsunami (Vincent Farrell), 2. WOW (George Sisk), 3. Tiamat…
Kinsale Yacht Club Hosts a Crowded Prize Giving Ceremony
During a very friendly and informal ceremony,  (Click HERE for photos by Bob Bateman) Kinsale Yacht Club’s Commodore Alice Kingston welcomed back the La Solitaire du Figaro fleet after 12 years’ absence and said that she hoped her hometown will…
Update: O'Leary and Kleen Win Gold in Weymouth
Peter O'Leary and Frithjof Kleen have won gold for Ireland this afternoon at the Skandia Sail for Gold Regatta.  The Irish -German duo left in their wake a string of world champions and Olympic medallists  including Torben Grael, Robert Sheidt…
Ireland Guaranteed Medal in the Star Class Today (Podcast here)
Ireland is guaranteed a medal today at the British Skandia Sail for Gold regatta in the Star class but Peter O'Leary's clean run in the keelboat this week was not without drama yesterday when his crew Fritjof Kleen slipped overboard…
'Lack of Interest' Forces  Cancellation of Pwhelli Race
Due to lack of interest in the proposed day sailing race from Pwllheli on the 21st August ISORA has decided to cancel the race. The day race from Dun Laoghaire to the M2 Buoy on the same day is not effected. Instructions…
Ireland Racing for Medals in Star and Laser Radial
Ireland races in two medal races tomorrow at the Skandia Sail for Gold Regatta following strong performances by its Olympic squad across dinghy and keelboat classes. Annalise Murphy is ninth and on her way to a convincing overall performance but…
Phantom a Worthy Winner in Blustery DBSC Bay Race
Exhilarating north westerly winds brought the one design fleets sailing planing downwind into forty foot mark tonight in DBSC. There was some spectacular reaching in the Squib and Flying Fifteen classes but none more so than in the Dragons where 20…
Crazy Horse Faster than Storm
HOWTH YACHT CLUB. WEDNESDAY SERIES 3 (RACE) 11/08/2010 Class 1 IRC: 1, Crazy Horse Reilly/Chambers; 2, Tiger Hughes/Harris; 3, Storm P Kelly; Class 1 HPH: 1, Trinculo M Fleming; 2, Crazy Horse Reilly/Chambers; 3, Joslim J Connolly; Class 2 IRC:…
Mulligan Stays on as Flying Fifteen President, New Venues Planed for 2011
Ben Mulligan has been relected as Flying fifteen President for another term at the recent annual general meeting of the class. Colin Dougan. A number of  new fixtures were proposed for the 2011 season including Larne, County Antrim YC (Whitehead),…
MGM Boats to Sponsor Dublin Bay Sailing Club Cruiser Challenge
MGM Boats of Dun Laoghaire will sponsor Dublin Bay Sailing Club's (DBSC) Cruiser Challenge 2010 sailing taking place at the last weekend of August. Racing for Cruisers 0,1, 2 the Sigma 33 and First 31.7 will start late afternoon on…
Figaro fleet in Kinsale
The penultimate leg of the Solitaire du Figaro finished last night in Kinsale with Adrien Hardy claiming the leg win in a time of 2 days, 6 hours, 8 minutes and 45 seconds, arriving just after 8.00pm. Jonny Malbon on…
Ireland's Commodores' Cup Yacht for Sale at Euro 295,000
Ireland's Commodores' Cup boat 'Marinerscove.ie' skippered by Dave Dwyer is up for sale priced Euro 295,000. The Mills 39 is available after next week's Rolex Commodore Cup according to an advertisement on an online advertisement in the UK, click HERE. Described…
Irish Team Making the Grade in Weymouth
Management expectations of its young team are on target in Weymouth if both Peter O'Leary and Annalise Murphy can continue their impressive performances at the Sail for Gold regatta. Listen to team manger James O'Callaghan's podcast HERE. O'Leary and stand…
O'Leary and Kleen Eight Points Clear in Weymouth
Royal Cork's Peter O'Leary and Frithjof Kleen have built an eight pont advantage to lead the Star class in Weymouth tonight. A fifth and a sixth were added to yesterday's stunning results (a first place after protest redress) in the 36…
Polish Entry into Velux 5 Oceans Race
Zbigniew 'Gutek' Gutkowski has moved one step closer to his goal of becoming the first Polish person to race solo around the world after getting his hands on a high-tech Eco 60 yacht for the VELUX 5 OCEANS. Gutek, one…

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]