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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
Bass Strait Lives up to Tough Reputation
The forecast gale-force conditions made good today for the bulk of the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race fleet with yachts experiencing 40-50 knots of gale to storm-force winds from the west-southwest -- together with massive seas. The toll today was…
Sydney-Hobart Race Underway
Race day for the 66th Rolex Sydney Hobart fleet dawned cloudy and rainy for the 87 competing yachts. The grey weather added a bit of gloom and foreboding to what may be in store for the crews racing to the…
Controversy Over New Howth Building
A new building has appeared overnight beside Howth Yacht Club during the Christmas period, and a row is simmering as to whether it has full planning permission. Sailors Declan MacManus and Robert Kerley, leaders of the construction team, anticipate receiving…
Ian Bath is the Irish Independent/Afloat.ie Sailor of the Month for December
The re-opening of the Royal Canal in October was the culmination of a remarkable joint effort by voluntary community groups and Waterways Ireland, together with government agencies. Many people were involved, at national and regional level, along this intriguing link…
Who will be Irish Sailor of the Year 2010?
At home and abroad, Irish sailors once again delivered an impressive range of results in 2010. Click on the month to the left to review our top sailors by month. And vote for them in our online poll (left) As…
Trevor Lusty is the Irish Independent/Afloat.ie Sailor of the Month for February
The new Irish Independent/ Afloat.ie Sailor of the Month is a blue-water voyager who sailed to South America, crewed for much of the way by a dog.But not any old dog. Oscar is a magnificent golden retriever who somehow coped…
John Kenny is the Irish Independent/Afloat.ie Sailor of the Month for January
John Kenny of Ringsend in Dublin, is the Irish Independent/Afloat.ie Sailor of the Month for January after the 37-year-old pushed the bounds of water-borne, wind-powered speed in Ireland during winter's big breezes.Previously our Sailor of the Month in October 2008,…
Dolan Beats McMahon in Howth Yacht Club Laser Race
HOWTH YACHT CLUB. LASER FROSTBITE WINTER (O'ALL) 19/12/2010 LASER STANDARD: 1, Evan Dolan NYC (28.00); 2, Paul McMahon HYC (31.00); 3, Conor Greagsbey NYC (36.00); LASER STANDARD APPRENTICE: 1, Conor Murphy HYC (12.00); 2, Brendan Costello MYC (21.00); 3, Conor…
Champion Jean Pierre Compares Foxall and Peyron
Jean Pierre Dick has been talking about preparations for the defence of his title later this month in an interview on the Barcelona race website. He won the global double-handed race in 2008 with Kerry's Damian Foxall. In the latest…
World Yachting Forum Calls For Change
Delegates attending the World Yacht Racing heard calls for change, modernity and new ways of thinking. These were the main themes at the heart of the conference, which concluded yesterday in Estoril, Portugal. The forum also discussed topics on new…
Turkey Shoot, Dec 12th Results
Last Sunday's (Dec 12th 2010) Turkey Shoot results are available for download below.
Cruising Association's MedNet Goes Global
The Cruising Association has just launched a new internet and email based net, which lets members cruising various regions of the world arrange meets, ask questions and receive answers about ever-changing local facilities and regulations. It all started in 2000…
That's the Spirit, Dun Laoghaire Regatta Signs up Volvo!
The Dun Laoghaire Regatta team has announced its long term sponsor Volvo will continue their long association with the regatta. Volvo Car Ireland will sponsor the 2011 event in association with Spirit Motor Group, a dealership for Volvo in South…
Selection Procedure for Team Racing Worlds Underway
The selection procedure to designate the teams to represent Ireland at the ISAF Team Racing Worlds is underway.  Teams wishing to be considered for selection should contact the Irish Team Racing Association a [email protected]. A selection committee will then invite teams to trials to…
Irish Sailors will Feature in Round the Island 80 Year Celebrations
Irish sailors are bound to feature in the Island Sailing Club's plans to most fittingly commemorate the 80th Anniversary of the famous Round the Island Race in 2011. The club is involved in tracing past entrants and Ireland has enjoyed…
Interesting Results in Dublin Bay's Turkey Shoot
Results are getting interesting with discards kicking in at Dublin Bay Sailing Club's Turkey Shoot. The large turnouts continue to defy the skeptics with up to 65 boats racing in some great conditions. The final two races are this weekend…

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]