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
Cruiser-racing at Wave Regatta 2022 off Howth in County Dublin
Howth Yacht Club is set to host the biennial Wave Regatta in May 2024, inviting sailing enthusiasts from Ireland and beyond to compete in a showcase keelboat-racing event. The three-day regatta welcomes all cruiser-racing class boats competing under current IRC…
Anthony Marchand (Actual) has made a technical stopover in the solo round the world Ultim Challenge race. The giant trimaran is now at anchor in Dunedin, on the east coast of New Zealand
At 0143hrs UTC Anthony Marchand notified the Ultim Challenge race direction that he had started a technical stopover. Now at anchor in Dunedin, on the east coast of New Zealand's South Island, his repairs have begun. Meanwhile, Cape Horn is coming…
Sailing history comes alive in Half Ton Classic racing at Kinsale. The 1976 Farr-designed Swuzzlebubble - now owned by James Dwyer of Royal Cork – is current ICRA “Boat of the Year”, while the blue Humphreys-designed 1985 Checkmate XV won outgoing ICRA Commodore Dave Cullen of Howth the Half Ton Classics Cup in Belgium in 2018
The weather may have decided that winter is far from gone in the last couple of days, but in Dun Laoghaire this morning, the annual conference of the Irish Cruiser Racing Association at the Royal Irish YC remembers only sun-filled…
Ballyholme Yacht Club's 2024 silver medal winner Colin Leonard in race-winning form on day five of the ILCA 7 Apprentice World Championship fleet in Adelaide, Australia Photo: Jack Fletcher
Irish sailors held their nerve over the final two back-to-back races on Saturday to win ILCA 7 silver and bronze at the World Masters Championships in Adelaide, Australia. Irish champion Colin Leonard of Ballyholme Yacht Club in Northern Ireland won silver in…
The Dun Laoghaire Harbour Melges15 fleet will join Dublin Bay Sailing Club (DBSC) 2024 summer season racing starting this April
As the Irish Melges 15 dinghy fleet grows and evolves, Dublin Bay's newest class will debut in Dublin Bay Sailing Club (DBSC) 2024 summer season racing starting this April. The fledgeling two-man class are looking forward to racing on Tuesday nights…
The National Yacht Club's Mark Lyttle in downwind mode on day three of the ILCA 7 Great Grand Masters World Championship fleet in Adelaide, Australia Photo: Jack Fletcher
Two final back-to-back races on Saturday will decide if Ireland will be on the podium in the ILCA/Laser World Masters Championships in Adelaide, Australia, with Irish boats contesting medal places in two divisions. In the ILCA 7 Great Grand Masters 35…
Éric Péron, racing the non-foiling Adagio Ultim in the solo Ultim Challenge race round the world
In fifth place on the Ultim Challenge, Éric Péron, racing the non-foiling Adagio Ultim, was just about to cross Cape Leeuwin this Friday morning at around 0730hrs. At the other end of the race course, climbing north in the South…
File image of the Royal Courts of Justice in Belfast
Judgement has been reserved in campaigners’ legal bid to overturn the decision to approve the excavation of gas storage caverns under Larne Lough. As the Belfast Telegraph reports, the coalition of local campaigners — under the banner of No Gas…
In the 2022 race, Cinnamon Girl finished eighth overall and second in the Two-Handed class to the Sunfast 3300 Bellino (Deb Fish), a British entry from the Royal Ocean Racing Club that has also registered an interest in the 2024 race
The latest campaign to enter June's 2024 SSE Renewables Round Ireland Race is Saturday's keynote speakers at the ICRA National Conference in Dun Laoghaire. Sam Hunt and Cian McCarthy have signed up the successful doublehanded Sunfast 3300 Cinnamon Girl from…
Ultim Challenge Race Management have spotted icebergs further north
Before Charles Caudrelier passed Cape Horn last Tuesday, icebergs were seen north of the AEZ (Antarctic Exclusion Zone). And so with Armel Le Cléac'h (2nd) and Thomas Coville (3rd) set to round the third great cape this weekend, the Ultim…
Ireland's Cillian Dickson, Ryan Glynn, Marcus Ryan, Louis Mulloy and Sam O'Byrne won the 2023 J24 Europeans on
J/24 One Design keelboat enthusiasts are in for a treat as the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda (YCCS) teams up with the International and Italian J/24 Classes to host the J/24 European Championship in 2024. The event is open to all…
Royal St. George's Sean Craig of Dun Laoghaire Harbour competing in the ILCA 6 Grand Masters World Championships in Adelaide, Australia Photo: Jack Fletcher
Ireland's assault on the ILCA/Laser World Masters Championships in Adelaide, Australia, continues into the penultimate day of competition, with Irish boats in podium places in two divisions. In the ILCA 7 Great Grand Masters 35 boat fleet,1996 Olympian Mark Lyttle…
National 18 action from the 2023 Royal Cork Yacht Club Crosshaven House PY1000 Dinghy Race
The Royal Cork Yacht Club is gearing up to host the 10th anniversary of the popular PY1000 dinghy race on Saturday, April 20th, 2024. The event, which has become a highlight of the club's calendar, is sponsored once again by…
National Yacht Club Commodore Peter Sherry (left) with chef Cormac Healy (centre) and NYC Master of Ceremonies Ian Meldon on the occasion of Healy's retirement after thirty years of service
The National Yacht Club (NYC) in Dun Laoghaire Harbour bid farewell to Chef Cormac Healy on Saturday night, as he retired from his role after 30 years of service. The event was attended by present and past Commodores, Flag Officers,…
Armel Le Cléac'h, the skipper of the Maxi Banque Populaire XI in the Ultim Challenge solo round the world race
The Pacific and Indian Oceans give the Ultim Challenge skippers conditions for making meaningful speeds. A big low is a major impediment to progress for race leader Charles Caudrelier in the South Atlantic, but with a lead of 2,577 nms, the…
Puppeteer 22 prize-winners in Howth Yacht Club – everyone knows everyone else, and some of the boats have been with the same families since the class established its own identity at Howth in 1984
In recent years, the large and varied membership of Howth Yacht Club have seen so many major anniversaries come and go – after proper programmes of lively celebration afloat and ashore – that casual observers might expect an element of…

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]