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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

Killaloe Sailing Club

24th September 2009 Clubs
Killaloe Sailing Club is a dinghy sailing club near Killaloe, Co Clare, on the western shore of Lough Derg, 3km along the Scarrif road from Killaloe Town, and affiliated to the Irish Sailing Association. KSCs mission is to offer dinghy…
The following information courtesy of Killaloe Sailing Club: Introduction to the RS Feva for Junior Sailing RS Feva DinghyThe RS Feva/XL is a solid and roomy two-person dinghy constructed in polyethylene. The dinghy can be rigged with a gennaker and…
Graham Smith wrote, in the March 2009 issue of Afloat: "The RS stable was further enhanced by the arrival of the RS Elite keelboat class on Belfast Lough in 2006 and in less than two years, it has grown to…
In Afloat's March 2009 issue, Graham Smith wrote the following: "Essentially an indigenous racer, the Puppeteer has records of 53 boats being built over the years, with 31 of them based in Howth where they regularly get 20 out for…
Cat Classes Sailed in Ireland Racing Classes Dart 18 – Blessington SC, Ballyholme YC, Swords S&BC Dart 16 – Blessington SC, Ballyholme YC, Galway Bay SC, Swords S&BC, Mullingar SC The Dart 16 and Dart 18 performance catamarans are raced…
The Dublin Bay Mermaid class was designed by JB Kearney in 1932 and still going strong today. From the oldest Amy (No. 1) to the youngest Azeezy (No. 189), this 17ft clinker built wooden dinghy provides challenging and exciting sailing…
J/24 – The world’s most popular One-Design Keelboat      Whether your style is weeknight beer-can racing or competing on the world stage – the J24 is undeniably the most popular racing keelboat to make waves around the world. This…
March 2009 and Afloat's Graham Smith wrote: "Static yet still thriving best describes the Howth 17 Footers but with an 18th boat currently being built and due for completion this winter, the class will, for the first time in its…
GP's have the largest and most active two person senior dinghy racing fleet in Ireland and we can prove it, by counting active boats and fleets. The GP is a one-design 14ft dinghy, raced by a crew of two. It…

Glens

23rd September 2009 Classes & Assoc
There are 26 Glens in Ireland, split evenly between Dublin Bay and Strangford Lough, although that balance will tip in favour of Dun Laoghaire in 2009 when a project to restore one boat, Glenfern, which was severely damaged in a…
About the Irish Etchells Class The Irish Etchells class was hatched by a few Dublin sailors over pints in late 2003 and a number of sailors committed to buy boats for the 2004 season. By the end of the 2004…
The Enterprise is a 4 metre, two sail sailing dinghy designed by Jack Holt. Its popularity is due to its excellent qualities both as a cruising and a two-man racing boat. The International Enterprise Class Association is based in the…

E-Boat

23rd September 2009 Classes & Assoc
Graham Smith wrote in the March 2009 Afloat: "Clontarf and Skerries are the two promoters of the E-Boat and between them have 27 boats which race competitively at both club and open level. That number includes two boats which returned…
Water Wags
The historic Water Wags are the most popular senior class of two man dinghy in Dun Laoghaire or elsewhere in Ireland. Unlike other dinghy classes in Dun Laoghaire which sail under the burgee of the Dublin Bay Sailing Club on Tuesdays…
Dublin Bay Dragon Fleet – 2009 Officers Admiral – Martin Byrne Hon. Secretary – Tim Pearson Record Keeper – Daniel Murphy Hon. Treasurer – Peter Bowring Irish Dragon Association c/o Tim Pearson, Secretary, 44 Orpen Green, Stillorgan Grove, Blackrock, Co.…
Bucking the trend of classes remaining static or with just a few additions, the 420s have seen a remarkable spurt of an extra 20 boats to bring the national fleet up to the half-century mark. Many other classes will watch…

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]