Menu

Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

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 leisurely cruise in a dinghy out of Enniskillen on Lough Erne
Afloat was ahead of its time in predicting the popularity of dinghy cruising in Ireland, says Stephen Foyle, who represents part of a new effort to share the cruising experience here. Citing a 2012 article — Is ‘Adventure Sailing’ a…
Canadian skipper Duncan Gladman and American owner Tom Kassberg along with four further crew, sailed the Marsaudon Composites designed performance catamaran 3,108NM across the Atlantic
November has seen some near-perfect trade wind conditions across the mid-Atlantic for the 37th edition of the ARC, which has meant a fast crossing for the fleet of 2022. So far, it has been a true ocean sleigh ride, a…
Andoo Comanche at the start of the 2022 Cabbage Tree Island Race
Andoo Comanche set a new record time to take Line Honours in the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia's 2022 Cabbage Tree Island Race. The race is part of the six race Sydney Blue Water Pointscore schedule that concludes with the…
Start of the third leg of 2021’s The Ocean Race Europe from Alicante to Genoa
A new trophy has been announced for the VO65 one-design class in The Ocean Race 2022-23, which sets sail from Alicante in Spain next month. Along with five confirmed IMOCA teams racing around the world, up to five VO65 teams…
The Erskine Childers Centenary Stamp cover version
Time was when the launch of commemorative stamps by An Post was done with considerable fanfare. But these days it seems that they believe good work is best done by stealth, as the launching last week of stamps to mark…
The Hunter F1 JouJou skippered by Ivan Miles  competing in the ABC Winter Series  third race
The conditions for Race 3 of the Antrim Boat Club Winter Series were not just as gusty as the previous weeks but nevertheless, it was blowing hard. With its situation on the North shore of Lough Neagh at the mouth…
Racing in the 2022 AIB DBSC Turkey Shoot Series on Dublin Bay
After more unstable offshore wind conditions for last Sunday's race four, the forecast for Sunday's race five of the DBSC Turkey Shoot Racing on Dublin Bay indicates winds from a new direction. The forecast says Dublin's 78-boat winter cruiser-racing fleet can expect easterly winds gusting…
Ballyholme Yacht Club
Two Northern Ireland sailing clubs have been chosen as finalists for the Royal Yachting Association’s Club of the Year 2023 award. Ballyholme Yacht Club and County Antrim Yacht Club have both been announced as finalists as well as 10 other…
In his element – David Lovegrove assessing the readings while setting a course
September is always a bit of a gamble as the time for staging a major sailing championship, for although the sea temperature may be at its warmest, the closing in of the evenings and a sometimes unexpected nip in the…
Bill O’Hara when he was Race Officer for the Ocean Race
Bill O’Hara first leapt to national fame when he skippered the Bangor Grammar School team to overall victory in the annual Britain & Ireland Schools Championship in Scotland in the days when it was an event of prime importance, which…
A round Ireland sailing record holder for 19 continuous years, Con Murphy is noted for many other sailing achievements
There are few sailors in Ireland with more eclectic interests afloat than Con Murphy, as he is the husband and father of Olympic sailors, his wife Cathy having raced the 470 in the 1988 Olympics, while his daughter Annalise won…
The affable Peter Crowley brings comprehensive experience of participation and organisation to any major championship with which he becomes involved
Affable Race Officer and former Royal Cork YC Admiral Peter Crowley brings comprehensive experience of participation and organisation to any major championship with which he becomes involvedThe 505 Worlds 2022 from 3rd to 13th August at the Royal Cork came…
The America's Cup 2024 set up at Port Olímpic, Barcelona with match dates fixed for October 24
With two years left until the 37th America’s Cup takes place in Barcelona, organisers have confirmed further details of the event format, including the agreed race area and 2024 dates. The racing area for both the Challenger Selection Series and…
Racing at RORC's De Guingand Bowl Race off Cowes
The London Headquartered Royal Ocean Racing Club (RORC) are looking to appoint a full-time racing co-ordinator to join their race team based in Cowes, Isle of Wight. The offshore racing club says it is 'seeking a self-motivated, team player to…
Barry Cunningham's Cape 31 'Blast' competing in this winter's  DBSC Turkey Shoot Series on Dublin Bay
The all-new Cape 31 keelboat is now available on the Italian market. Savona Shipyard will exclusively distribute the one design yacht.  Savona is working in collaboration with sales agent 31 North Yachting, which brought in the first Cape 31 boat…
The first photo reveals the lost Antarctic ship Endurance in the Weddell Sea
Marine Archaeologist Mensun Bound, named by National Geographic as ’the Indiana Jones of the Deep’, will thrill Ireland's Atlantic Youth Trust organisation with the story of how the Endurance, Sir Ernest Shackleton's ship, was found in the most hostile sea on…

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]