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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
Some of Dublin Bay Sailing Club One Design keelboats, including Glens, Shipmans, J80s, Dragons and Mermaids, sail past the moored visiting cruise liner Norwegian Dawn during Thursday night (August 8th) AIB Summer Series races
Dublin Bay Sailing Club's (DBSC) Thursday night fleet faced 30-knot gusts for an all-action 16th race of the AIB Summer Series off Dun Laoghaire. As in Royal Cork club racing on the south coast this week, numbers were down in…
Derry Good's Laser 28, Summer Light, competing in Royal Cork's Thursday League in Cork Harbour
With some key campaigns competing this week in West Cork's Calves Week Regatta at Schull, the normal turnout for Royal Cork Yacht Club's Thursday August/September League was expected to be lower. Nevertheless, there was some great racing in Cork Harbour…
Patrick Boardman's West Cork and Rush crew in 2 Farr lie third overall going into the final day of the In Advance Half Ton Classics Cup 24 in Nieuwport, Belgium
After scoring 15th in Thursday's light air 'large inshore race', Ireland's 2 Farr crew has dropped from first to third overall at the In Advance Half Ton Classics Cup 24 in Nieuwport, Belgium.  The Boardman, O'Leary, and Kelly partnership – from…
An impressive fleet of 25 420s from Ireland and the UK are confirmed to take part at the Royal Cork Yacht Club-hosted national championships
Cork Harbour is set to welcome back the Irish 420 National Championships after a long hiatus. The prestigious event was last hosted by the Royal Cork Yacht Club in 2010, drawing a strong attendance from sailing enthusiasts. The event, scheduled…
Guy and Jackie Kilroy's Water Wag No. 38 Swift was second in both of Wednesday, August 7th's races at Dun Laoghaire that constituted the first races of the 2024 class National Championships
19 Water Wags turned out on Wednesday, August 7th, for AIB DBSC summer season racing, also marking the first day of the class National Championship. Race Officer Harry Gallagher ran two races in very pleasant weather conditions in Dun Laoghaire harbour. The first…
Calves Week Regatta in Schull, West Cork, has been postponed on Thursday (August 8) until 13.30 due to poor visibility
Racing at West Cork's biggest sailing event, Calves Week Regatta in Schull, has been postponed until 13.30 on Thursday due to poor visibility. The 61-boat fleet has had two blustery days of inshore racing, but the schedule has already been…
The brigantine Florette at anchor on Dublin Bay
The 186-ton brigantine Florette made a maiden call to Dun Laoghaire on Wednesday evening (August 7th) and anchored off the town's East Pier in Scotsman's Bay. Built by the renowned Picchiotti shipyard in Italy, 28-metre Florette holds a special place…
Patrick Boardman's West Cork and Rush crew in 2 Farr (orange hull) look set for a good from row start at the In Advance Half Ton Classics Cup 24 in Nieuwport, Belgium
After winning races five and six on Wednesday, Ireland's 2 Farr crew leads the In Advance Half Ton Classics Cup 24 in Nieuwport, Belgium.  The Boardman, O'Leary, and Kelly partnership, drawn from Rush and Baltimore, has built a 3.1 margin over…
Finn Lynch (National Yacht Club) placed tenth overall after his eighth place in the medal race final
After eleven days of competition, Team Ireland's events at the Paris 2024 Olympic Sailing regatta ended in Marseille today (Wednesday 7, August) with Finn Lynch (National Yacht Club) placing tenth overall after his eighth place in the medal race final.…
File image of the Cutts lock on the Lower Bann near Coleraine
Waterways Ireland advises users of the Lower Bann navigation in Northern Ireland that the Cutts lock will be closed for emergency maintenance works until this weekend (10-11 August). The cross-border body for Ireland’s inland waterways says it apologises for any…
Australia's Matthew Wearn is carried ashore by teammates in his ILCA 7 dinghy after winning the Paris 2024 Olympic gold medal in the men's dinghy class in Marseilles
Matt Wearn defended his Olympic title with a well-executed sail in the Men’s Dinghy Medal Race at the Paris 2024 Olympics.  The reigning champion went into the race carrying a 14-point advantage, knowing Cyprus’ Pavlos Kontides was the only sailor…
Nobby Reilly's Ghost Raider II prepares to hoist the kite on a second day of blustery racing at Calves Week Regatta 2024 off Schull Harbour
Thrills and spills were again the order of the day as the Calves Week Regatta fleet was met with blustery southwesterly winds and misty conditions. Race Officer Alan Crosbie started all 61 competitors from a line at the mouth of Schull…
The Women's dinghy (ILCA6) Paris 2024 Olympic medalists celebrate in Marseilles From left: Norway's Bronze medalist Line Flem Hoest, Gold medalist Marit Bouwmeester and silver medalist Anne-Marie Rindom of Denmark
Marit Bouwmeester finally got her hands on Paris 2024 Olympic gold after completing the Women’s Dinghy Medal Race. The Dutch sailor had already wrapped up the gold medal, after finishing in the top five on seven occasions during the Opening…
Light breeze and halyards eased, with Shay O'Toole's Dolphin from Skerries in the foreground as the Mermaids get racing at Howth
If the varied range of clubs in the top four places at their National Championship is an indication of a class's health, then the Mermaids are thriving. Their Nationals 2024 at Howth have seen Brian Fenlon of Wexford Harbour Boat…
The Burke/Lemass/Rigley syndicate in the First 40, Prima Forte lying third in IRC Zero after race one of 2024 Calves Week Regatta
At the end of day one at Schull Harbour's Calves Week Regatta, blustery westerly winds gusting to 20 gusts brought a mix of new and vintage designs to the podium at West Cork's biggest regatta. Schull Harbour on day one…
The National Yacht Club's Lynch is scheduled to compete in the medal race final for the men's one-person dinghy (ILCA7 class
Ireland's Finn Lynch must wait for another 24 hours at least to race in his first Olympic medal race with the racing schedule of the Paris 2024 Olympic regatta again disrupted by lack of winds for a second consecutive day…

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]