Menu

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
Round Ireland Race Fleet Ready in Wicklow Harbour
What size the Round Ireland fleet might be on the startline tomorrow is still in the air as the last entries attend to scuttineering requirements this afternoon. It is unlikely though the fleet will reach 40 because at least two…
Small Boats Favoured for Sunday's Race Round Ireland
Twenty fours hours out from the start of the Round Ireland Yacht Race and the prediction that the 2010 fixture will be a small boat race is gaining ground as a high pressure settles over the Irish Sea today. In…
Light Winds and Adverse Tides Mean a Tricky Start to Round Ireland 2010
Wicklow Commodore Charlie Kavanagh might be right, tomorrow's Round Ireland start might be like 'watching paint dry'. Lets hope not but an adverse tide flooding northwards all afternoon plus a forecasted light wind means little progress down the East coast…
All to Play for Round the Island
Britain’s favourite yacht race, the J.P. Morgan Asset Management Round the Island Race has started. It’s the 79th edition of this great event, the fourth largest participation sporting event in the UK. Thirteen classes ranging from grand prix high tech…
Kinsale Ready for Clipper Festival
Kinsale is the first port of call in Europe for the final leg of the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race and the fleet, including the Irish boat “Cork”, have now left Canada and are on their way to Kinsale.…
Round Ireland Start Time is Noon on Sunday
The start of the 2010 Round Ireland Yacht Race is this Sunday 20th June at 12 noon. Watch the biennial race unfold as up to 35 yachts set sail from Wicklow Bay, with entertainment before and after, including live music…
'Rosslare' Blessed in Dun Laoghaire and Bound for Wicklow
The “Spirit of Rosslare Europort”, was the centrepiece of a traditional Irish ceremony in Dun Laoghaire Harbour this afternoon.  In an interdenominational event, the yacht took part in the “Blessing of the Boats” ceremony prior to setting out for the…
Shannon One Design Sailing Race from Athlone to Portumna
Waterways Ireland advises the Shannon One Design annual long distance sailing race on the inland waterways will commence at 10.00 hrs on Sat 26th from Athlone Lock, overnight at Banagher and finish at Portumna Bridge on Sun 27th Jun 2010.…
Round Ireland Weather Prediction is for Stronger Winds Offshore
With 48 hours now to the start, Sunday's Round Ireland race is expected to get away in light northerly winds. Weather specialist Mike Broughton predicts winds will go right by Sunday evening off the Wexford coast. Broughton also favours stronger…
Almost 1,800 Boats to Sail Round The Island
The most popular race in the British Isles takes place tomorrow, with 1,754 boats heading around the Isle of Wight on a chaotic one-lap race. The fleet boasts a huge range of craft, from Francois Joyon's 30-metre trimaran Idec to…
First Round Ireland Competitor Podcasts Are In
Afloat has enabled competitors in this year's Round Ireland to post their own podcasts on Afloat.ie, and the first two are already in. Noel Davidson has posted a welcome post on behalf of Spirit of Rosslare Europort, and the Daft.com…
Groupama in Lifeboat Fundraiser Race
Created and organised since 2005 by French sailor Damien Grimont, this record aims to promote safety at sea and support the volunteers, who rally together their members on a daily basis to offer assistance or emergency help to sailors. Originally…
Sinn Féin & Puma Race to Bermuda
Peter S. Rebovich’s rebelliously-named Cal40 Sinn Fein, is vying to win her third straight St. David’s Lighthouse Trophy this week when she lines out in the Newport - Bermuda RAce. If Sinn Féin wins, she will tie a record set…
Mariners & Antix Challenge for RORC IRC Gong
The RORC IRC National Championship includes competitors from Belgium, France, Great Britain, Hong Kong, Ireland and the Netherlands. Competing on tight Solent courses there is no doubt that this will be a very competitive regatta with plenty of high-octane action.…
Lifeboat Man Goes Round Ireland
Wicklow RNLI crewmember Brian Sinnott is to compete in the 2010 Round Ireland Yacht Race on Sunday. The lifeboat volunteer is one of 15 young people who will crew the yacht Pride of Wicklow in the race around the Irish…
Cork Heads for Home in Clipper Race
At 1615 local time (1915 GMT) Cork, Ireland, crossed the start line at Royal Cape Breton Yacht Club to begin the 2,075 mile race to Kinsale. The team, led by Hannah Jenner, has 48 hours to build the biggest possible…

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]