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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
Start Time Changes for ISORA Yacht Race
Possible tidal problems in Wales have forced Irish Sea Offshore Racing Association (ISORA) Commodore Peter Ryan to change the start of the fourth sailing race across the Irish Sea back to Wicklow to 07.15 next Saturday in Pwllheli. More on…
70 Minis line up for 25th Fastnet
There are just ten days to the start of the 25th edition of the annual Mini Fastnet, and 70 entries have registered for the event that begins and ends in the French port of Douarnenez, and, like the Figaro, this…
Laser Euros Start this weekend
Ireland's laser squad have decamped from the Delta Lloyd regatta in Medemblik to Estonia for the European Championships, starting tomorrow. Ronan Cull and James Espey represent Ireland in the standard rig fleet, with four ladies sailing in the Radial fleet.…
Irish Star Crews Arrive in Italy
Ireland's two Star crews line up against each other next week for the first time in what will be their final configurations. Both crews take part in the Star Europeans in Villareggio, with a record entry of 149 boats, all…
Planning to do the Round Ireland Yacht Race this month?
Planning to do this year's Round Ireland Yacht Race? You could do a lot worse than listen in to how Galway's Aodhan Fitzgerald put together a team of friends to win the 2008 race. Also on Afloat.ie are navigation tips from tactician Brian…
Calling Round Ireland Yacht Race Skippers; Don't Forget Your Almanac
If you're heading offshore this season with ISORA or navigating Round Ireland this month don't forget your 2010 Irish Almanac. It offers the racing yachtsman ready access to essential information by virtue of its clear information and user friendly format.…
No Figaro for O'Riain
Irish sailor Paul O'Riain has announce that due to a lack of sponsorship, he is withdrawing his bid to enter the Figaro single-handed offshore race this year. "It is with regret that I have had to withdraw my entry from…
Lord Nelson Pays Dun Laoghaire a Visit
The Lord Nelson struck a lovely sailing pose crossing Dublin Bay this week. The disabled sail training vessel berthed overnight in Dun Laoghaire Harbour and Gareth Craig photographed her leaving. Images on the gallery now.  Looking for further reading on…
Round Ireland Favourites Show Form
Two of the top entries in this year's Round Ireland race showed their form during the 230-mile Myth of Malham race at the weekend, with class wins for both Piet Vroon's Tonnerre de Breskens III and John Loden's HOD 35,…
Oona Sets Light Air Pace in Howth Yacht Club
Oona (P. Courtney) continued to set the pace at Howth Yacht Club racing last night with a win in the scratch division of the Howth 17 class. Winds were light but sufficient for racing. Second was Leila (R Cooper) and Rosemary…
Crosshaven Gets Set for Cork Week Party
Just over five weeks to go and Peter Deasy, Chairman of Cork Week 2010, feels that preparations are well on target for what is recognised as one of the best sailing regattas in Ireland. Every two years, the Royal Cork Yacht Club…
Saving Sight by Sailing Round Britain and Ireland
Nigel Colley, 49, from Lymington, Hampshire and David Bowdler, 53, from Stromness, Orkney will set sail around Britain and Ireland in aid of international sight-saving charity ORBIS. The competitive sailors have both been sailing since childhood and are hoping this…
Double-handers head for Kinsale this weekend
The first of two Round Britain & Ireland races, the Shetland Round Britain & Ireland, leaves Plymouth for Kinsale this Sunday. The race, open to double-handed crews in boats between 30 and 50 feet, has over 50 entries in monohull…
Round Ireland Offers Two for One Deal
There is only one week to go to enter the Round Ireland Race before a 50% late entry fee penalty applies. Wicklow Organisers are hoping for a fleet in excess of 40 boats to mark the 30th anniversary of the…
Equinox and Antix Take Scottish Honours
A young Irish crew from Howth topped IRC Class 4, the biggest class which had 20 entries at the Scottish Series this evening. Ross McDonald and the crew of the Howth based X332 Equinox strung together a first and two…
ICAP Leopard Begins Transatlantic Record Attempt
Round Ireland race record holder ICAP Leopard, the 100ft super-maxi racing yacht owned by Mike Slade, crossed the start line at Ambrose Light on Saturday to begin her attempt on the 2,925 nautical mile monohull transatlantic speed record. ICAP Leopard…

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]