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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
Goodbody Finishes Second at OK Europeans
Sole Irish competitor at the OK Dinghy European championships Tim Goodbody of the Royal Irish YC, Dun Laoghaire has taken second overall in Medemblik, Holland today. The final round brought sunny skies and high temperatures, but more of the same…
Dragon Sailor Martin Byrne is July's Sailor of the Month
Martin Byrne of Dun Laoghaire is the Afloat.ie/Irish Independent "Sailor of the Month" for July with his convincing victory in the Irish Dragon Championship on Belfast Lough, a four-day event of first class racing which concluded on Sunday July 25th…
Optis Enter Final Day of UK Nats
The penultimate day of the Volvo Musto Optimist Nationals provided plenty of thrills, and that wasn't just restricted to the water!! Ireland's sailors fought hard to stay in contention, with Peter McCann retaining sixth place in the senior gold fleet…
Irish Storm the Feva Worlds Top Six
A day of consistent results for Irish teams at Carnac yesterday saw the top six split evenly between British and Irish crews at the RS Feva Worlds.  Vicky Cudmore and Amy Harrington leapfrogged into third place, taking full advantage of…
Perfect Day for Goodbody at OK Euros
The final day of the OK Dinghy European championships will be a fight between youth and experience. After two more races on Thursday, the gap at the top has narrowed though the young Bartosz Rakocy (POL) still maintains a 13…
Nuits St.George Tops the Ruffians
DUBLIN PORT Dublin Bay Sailing Club Results for 29 JULY 2010 BENETEAU 31.7 ˆ ECHO 1. Levante (B.Leyden/M.Leahy), 2. Prospect (Chris Johnston), 3. Fiddly Bits (Kevin Byrne et al) BENETEAU 31.7 - 1. Prospect (Chris Johnston), 2. Levante (B.Leyden/M.Leahy), 3.…
McCann Retains Top Ten Slot
Royal Cork sailor Peter McCann had a tough day in the Gold Fleet of the UK Optimist Nationals yesterday, along with many of the top ten who posted results in the low teens, twenties and beyond in Weymouth. The black…
60 Confirmed for Calves Week
With over 60 confirmed entries at present, the 2010 Calves Week in Schull, is hoped to top the 80 boat mark for the annual West Cork festival of sailing.  This year’s event will feature racing for eight cruiser classes, together…
Fevas Split into Silver & Gold
As the 140-boat fleet at the RS Feva World Championships splits into silver and gold, it's Brendan Lyden and Marc Cudmore who lead the Irish charge, seventh overall. In a range of wind strengths yesterday, from 10 to 18 knots,…
Black Flag Not OK for Goodbody
Irish sailor Tim Goodbody was one of six sailors to suffer under the black flag at the OK Dinghy Europeans in Medemblik yesterday. The result in race five, followed up with a second place in race six, puts Goodbody in…
Kinsale Teenagers Go Offshore on Mercy Mission
A group of nine teenagers from the Kinsale area is embarking on a Round Ireland Challenge in aid of the world's largest charity hospital ship.The keen sailors, most of whom have just finished their exams, will be sailing a 39ft…
'Makutu' Beats 'Tantrum' in Howth
HOWTH YACHT CLUB. WEDNESDAY SERIES 3 (RACE) 28/07/2010 Class 1 IRC: 1, Makutu Doyle/Others; 2, Tantrum 3 Klimche/O'Leary; Class 1 HPH: 1, Makutu Doyle/Others; 2, Tantrum 3 Klimche/O'Leary; Class 2 IRC: 1, Dux A Gore-Grimes; 2, Superhero Burne/Banahan; 3, Toughnut…
Bumper entry for UK's 50th Endeavour Trophy
This historic annual event, which was first held in 1961, is invitation only to determine the overall dinghy champion of champions from the UK's most popular dinghy racing classes, but in this special 50th year, the organisers have opened up…
Figaro Sailors Face Difficult Night at Sea
The 45 Figaro sailors set off from Le Havre in Northern Normandy yesterday on their first leg, 515 miles to the Gijón, in Asturias on the Spanish Cantabrian coastline. The race is calling to the Cork coast next month. Eric…
Irish Fevas in Top Ten
Three of Ireland's Feva crews are currently in the top ten at the RS Feva Worlds after six races in Carnac, France. Dermot and Brendan Lyden have three wins between them in their 70-boat groups, ahead of the split into…
Cork Sailor Near Top of Opti Fleet
Cork Sailor Peter McCann lies fourth in the 164-boat senior fleet at the UK Optimist nationals as the championships enters its third day. McCann has posted two wins in the group stages, and his success is mirrored in the junior…

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]