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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
O'Neill and O'Hara Win IDRA 14 Nationals
28 boats made the 2010 IDRA 14 dinghy national championships something of a class record when they set sail at Lough Ree YC. The previous best was 26 in 2006). All six championship races and the crew's race were completed.…
Lynch Vying for World Title in Italy
Recently crowned British National champion Finn Lynch from Co. Carlow is looking to add the World title to his list of achievements this summer. At the British nationals he beat a staggering 323 boats to take the title. Currently at…
Groupama Sets Pace Round Britain and Ireland
Almost exactly two days into the Sevenstar Round Britain and Ireland Race, Franck Cammas' Volvo Open 70, Groupama, was the first yacht to round Muckle Flugga at 1400 BST. They are now heading southwest at a speed of over 17…
Storm Success in IRC 1 Howth
HOWTH YACHT CLUB. WEDNESDAY SERIES 3 (RACE) 25/08/2010 Class 1 IRC: 1, Storm P Kelly; 2, Tantrum 3 Klimche/O'Leary; 3, Makutu Doyle/Others; Class 1 HPH: 1, Storm P Kelly; 2, Tantrum 3 Klimche/O'Leary; 3, Makutu Doyle/Others; Class 2 IRC: 1,…
Bertrand double at Howth to lead Etchells Worlds
Two bullets give Australian crew 11 point lead after four races John Bertrand of Royal Brighton YC in Melbourne gave a masterclass on the waters off Howth to win both races in today's Etchells World Championships, sponsored by Fingal County…
Shadowfax Beats Puffin in Howth Squib Race
HOWTH YACHT CLUB. TUE + SAT SERIES 3 (RACE) 24/08/2010 17 Footer SCRATCH: 1, Aura I Malcolm; 2, Deilginis Deilginis Group; 3, Rosemary Curley/Jones; 17 Footer HCAP: 1, Rosemary Curley/Jones; 2, Pauline O'Doherty/Ryan; 3, Aura I Malcolm TUESDAY SERIES 3…
'Weather' Wins Fireball Race
DUBLIN PORT Dublin Bay Sailing Club Results for 24 AUGUST 2010 CRUISERS 2 - 1. Cor Baby (Keith Kiernan et al), 2. Borraine (Ean Pugh) CRUISERS 3 - 1. Rattler 2 (Austin Whelan), 2. Chouskikou (R.Sheehan/R.Hickey), 3. Grasshopper 2 (K…
Galway Bay Event Sets Scene for Nationals decider
With breeze on at nearly every round this year the battle for honours at the front of the SB3 fleet has been compared to a tennis match between McCready Gill Racing and Sharkbait.The opening salvo of the year took place…
High Speed Dash to Scotland
The Volvo Open 70, Telefonica Azul, is scorching along at a blistering speed. After the first 24 hours of the Sevenstar Round Britain and Ireland Race, the Spanish yacht has covered 440 miles of the1800 mile course writes Louay Habib.…
Irish Teams Third and Fifth in New York
After 3 very intense days of international competition at the Dennis Connor International Yacht Club Challenge, the Irish teams consisting of Royal Cork Yacht Club finished 3rd, Howth Yacht club finished 5th overall beating some very talented opposition including the…
Commodores' Cup Arrives in Ireland
The Rolex Commodores' Cup arrived back in Cork last night and winning team Ireland received a heroes welcome from the Royal Cork Yacht Club writes Claire Bateman. In his welcome Admiral Paddy McGlade mentioned there were ten trophies for the…
Overall ISORA Honours will be Determined by September Race
In an exciting sailing climax for a buoyant ISORA series September's race will determine the overall winner. “Raging Bull”, “Just Enough” and the reigning Champion, “Tsunami” can all take the Wolf’s Head Trophy. Peter Ryan reports on this and news…
Razmilovic heads Etchells Worlds fleet after two races
The 2010 Etchells Worlds Championships started at Howth today (Monday 23rd) with two scheduled races sailed in freshening winds, with Ante Razmilovic of the UK holding a one point lead over Australian sailing legend John Bertrand at the end of…
Bad Forecast Forces Organisers to Change Direction of Race
At last night's Skipper's Briefing for the Sevenstar Round Britain and Ireland Race, the Royal Ocean Racing Club (RORC) announced a dramatic change to the race. Part of the reason for the change is being blamed on a lack of…
43 entries for Etchells Worlds starting at Howth
    The Etchells World Championship starts at Howth Yacht Club on Monday (23rd August) with 43 boats from nine countries confirmed to contest the 9-race series.   Some of the world's top sailors, including Olympic medallists and former World…
McCann Wins Opti Nationals in Consistent Style
Royal Cork Optimist ace Peter McCann completed a clean sweep of the National Championships at Waterford Harbour SC yesterday counting nine of 11 results in the top three of the combined fleet of 249 boats. McCann's consistent performance put him…

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]