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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
Northern Ireland Waszp dinghy sailors will compete in the Four Nations Cup this season
Now that the Six Nations Rugby is over, the Waszp class is embarking on its Four Nations Cup. For the first time in Northern Ireland, one of the fixtures will be at Ballyholme Yacht Club on Belfast Lough. The others…
RS Aero racing in Spring sunshine at the Super Series 2024 in Dun Laoghaire Harbour
The now annual RS Super Series ran over the winter of 2023/2024, with racing open to the Waszp, RS Neo and RS Aero classes. Unfortunately, the winds were never quite right for the Waszps, either too windy or not enough…
The Crosshaven Lifeboat crew members with the Dublin Bay Old Gaffers Association on the ketch Ilen off Kinsale at the weekend are (left to right) Kline Pennefeather, Sandra Farrell, Darryl Hughes, Phil Maguire & Conor Barry
There is now only one branch of the international Old Gaffers Association in all Ireland. But though it draws in its membership from every county, it continues to be known as the DBOGA, for it seems that the Dublin Bay…
Irish sailor Tom Dolan (pictured) and his French co-skipper Paul Morvan were fourth in France's Laura Vergne Trophy
Irish sailor Tom Dolan and his French co-skipper Paul Morvan secured a commendable fourth-place finish in the Laura Vergne Trophy following a 270-mile offshore race that ended on Monday. Dolan and Morvan, who sailed Dolan’s Smurfit Kappa-Kingspan, held their own…
President of Irish Sailing, John Twomey
Sailing is in a very healthy state the President of Irish Sailing told the organisation’s annual general meeting in the Royal Cork Yacht Club at Crosshaven in Cork Harbour. “We’re growing the membership and participation on the water in Ireland…
Light conditions during Race 1 of the Viking Marine DMYC Dinghy Frostbites, the penultimate race of the 2023/24 Series at Dun Laoghaire Harbour
The last Sunday of the DMYC Viking Marine sponsored Frostbites at Dun Laoghaire Harbour on Dublin Bay arrived with a forecast of contrasting conditions, blustery winds for the morning, followed by winds of between 5 and 7 knots during the…
The 2024 Etchells World Championships in Fremantle
Nowhere in the world do they regard the Etchells 22 with as much reverence as they do in Australia. And nowhere in Australia is the sailing as demanding as it can be at Fantastic Freo, otherwise Fremantle at Perth on…
The 15th-anniversary edition of the race is scheduled for Sunday, September 15, 2024
The CIC Normandy Channel Race 2024, the highlight of the Class40 circuit, has extended its registration deadline to April 1 to accommodate the growing interest in the event. The 15th-anniversary edition of the race, scheduled for Sunday, September 15, 2024,…
Racing in the 2023 Kinsale Yacht Club Axiom Spring Series at Kinsale Yacht Club
Kinsale Yacht Club is all set to host its Axiom Spring Series 2024 for sailing cruisers and one designs, which incorporates the SCORA League 2024, on Easter Monday, April 1st. The event promises an 'impressive lineup' of contenders already signed…
RNLI lifeguards on a beach
The RNLI lifeguard team are returning to patrol seven beaches along the Causeway Coast in Northern Ireland over the upcoming Easter period. The lifeguard service is also adjusting its operational hours this season from 10am to 6pm each day. From…
Australia survey the damage to the F50 after the collision with a course mark in Christchurch on Sunday 24 March
Australia’s SailGP team suffered a massive collision that forced their retirement from the second annual New Zealand Sail Grand Prix in Christchurch at the weekend. As Marine Industry News reports, Tom Slingsby and his crew were rocked by the collision…
Peter Haden (Irish Cruising Club, left), of Ballyvaughan on Galway Bay, becomes the inaugural awardee of the Friendship Cup from Bob Medland of the Cruising Club of America at the ICC Annual Dinner in Cork in Saturday night
The Annual Dinner of the Irish Cruising Club in Cork on Saturday night was outstanding for many reasons, with the most important being the first awarding of the Friendship Cup. This was presented to the ICC last year at the…
Tom Dolan (left) and Paul Morvan will compete in the Laura Vergne Trophy Offshore Race
Irish offshore sailor Tom Dolan is all set to take part in the Laura Vergne Trophy offshore race, which is a part of the 2024 French Elite Offshore Racing Championship. The event is named in memory of Laura Vergne, who…
Annalise Murphy claims first place in the 43rd Des Hanlon Memorial in Co Carlow on Sunday 24 March
Annalise Murphy has begun a new pursuit in competitive road cycling in winning style with first place in the 43rd Des Hanlon Memorial, the first event of the Road National Series on Sunday (24 March). As Cycling Ireland reports, the…
Carrybridge RNLI to feature in popular documentary series as Saving Lives at Sea returns to the screen
The RNLI, renowned for its 200 years of lifesaving, is set to feature on the popular maritimeTV show Saving Lives at Sea on BBC Two and iPlayer. The ninth series, which focuses on the lifesaving work of today's lifeboat crews…
Irish Sailor of the Year Eve McMahon (extreme right) with the Women's U21 European Championship ILCA 6 prizewinners in Mallorca
A retiral in race nine of the 2024 Women's U21 European Championships dropped Ireland's Paris 2024 representative in the ILCA 6 class, Eve McMahon, off the podium.  Just crowned Irish Sailor of the Year recovered four places overall but despite scoring a second in race…

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]