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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
1720 with Broken Forestay Required Baltimore Lifeboat
A yacht suffering equipment damage and in danger of being dismasted prompted a call for assistance to the RNLI today. The Schull based 1720 sportsboat had been participating in the Irish 1720 National Championships being run out of Baltimore Sailing…
Craig Lifts South Coast Dragon Title
Andrew Craig is the 2010 Irish Dragon South Coast Champion following a tight conest at Kinsale Yacht Club over the weekend. Principal Race Officer John Godkin completed the final two races of the Championship. Race 1 was sailed in conditions that were…
McCaldin Defending Title in Style
J/24 National Championships – Day 1 After indifferent form in previous regional championships, Mickey McCaldin of Lough Erne YC did not arrive in Howth as the favourite to retain the Irish title he won last year but after the first five…
All Left to Play for at Dragon South Coasts (Photos here!)
Conditions were perfect on the second day of the Irish Dragon South Coast Championship in Kinsale yesterday. The sun shone as the fleet departed the marina in a building westerly breeze. By the start of the first race it had built to…
'Blind Squirrel' is Fireball Winner in DBSC
DUBLIN PORT Dublin Bay Sailing Club Results for 11 SEPTEMBER 2010 BENETEAU 31.7 - 1. Bluefin Two (M & B Bryson), 2. Magic (D.O'Sullivan/D.Espey), 3. Prospect (Chris Johnston) BENETEAU 31.7 Echo - 1. Fiddly Bits (Kevin Byrne et al), 2.…
Craig Takes the Lead in Kinsale
The Dragon South Coast Championships has a new leader in Kinsale. Andrew Craig's Chimaera now leads Martin Byrne's Jaguar, both are from the Royal St. George in Dun Laoghaire. Local Cameron Good's Little Fella is third. Results following today's two…
O'Leary Continues Lead in 1720 Nationals
Anthony O'Leary continues to lead at the Irish 1720 National Championships hoste by Baltimore Sailing Club writes Claire Bateman. After four races sailed on Friday and one discard applied the results are: 1. Anthony O'Leary, Antix 3 pts: 2. Neil…
Ideal Conditions for Dragon South Coasts (Photos Here!)
Martin Byrne's Jaguar (IRL201) has won the opening two races of the Irish Dragon South Coast Championship being held in Kinsale. Photos by Bob Bateman Below. Racing conditions were ideal with a steady 16 knot breeze from the south west, though the…
Byrne Takes the Lead in Kinsale
National Champion Martin Byrne of Dun Laoghaire continues his winning form in the first two races of the Irish Dragon South Coast Championship in Kinsale today. Results are: 1.IRL201 Jaguar Martin Byrne RStGYC 1 1;  2.IRL192 Chimaera Andrew Craig RStGYC 2…
Antix Takes Early Lead in 19-Boat 1720 Nationals
Only a fortnight after success in the Commodore's Cup Anthony O'Leary sailing his 1720 also called Antix took the first win of the series at the 1720 National Championships yesterday in Baltimore, West Cork followed by Denis Murphy's Aquatack with…
Dragons Prepare for South Coasts in Kinsale
Kinsale Yacht Club hosts the Irish Dragon South Coast Championships from 10 - 12 September 2010. A very competitive fleet of 18 Dragons will assemble in Kinsale this weekend for the final Championship of the Irish calendar with both the South Coast…
Laser Training Starts at Royal Cork
Laser training continues in earnest at Royal Cork. A total of 36 sailors participated in the Laser Open Day held at the club on Sunday 5th. September. Under coach Thomas Chaix, Nick Walsh and a group of 6 volunteers, 12…
O'Driscoll tipped for J/24 Nationals title
After the Etchells Worlds and SB3 Nationals in successive weeks, Howth Yacht Club's championship trilogy concludes this weekend with the J/24 National Championship which is expected to attract up to 18 entries from half a dozen clubs for the 8-race…
RORC Success for Hurley and Martin in Cherbourg
Nick Martin and Cobh's Barry Hurley co-skippered "Diablo-J", a J-105, to not only win the RORC trophy for the Two–Handed Division, but took home the Yacht Club de France trophy for IRC 2 and the Cherbourg trophy for IRC Overall…
Scottish Series Sponsorship Continues
Today private client investment manager, Brewin Dolphin, announces its continued commitment to sponsor the Scottish Series, Scotland's premier sailing regatta, in 2011. The Scottish Series has thrived during Brewin Dolphin's eleven year sponsorship growing awareness and numbers over the period.…
Flannigan's Ulster Trio Take SB3 Title
The Royal Ulster YC crew of Gareth Flannigan/Brian Spence/Jeremy Tomlinson were the emphatic winners of the Investwise SB3 National Championship at Howth with a remarkable 17.5 points margin over runner-up 'Yeti' (Sean Craig/Stephen Boyle/Alan Green) of the Royal St.George YC,…

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]