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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
Lindsay Casey's Royal St. Geroge Yacht Club J/97 Windjammer leads the DBSC Turkey Shoot Series after three races sailed on Dublin Bay
Race three of the AIB DBSC Turkey Shoot Series was won on Sunday in brisk conditions by the Jeanneau 36 Sirocco in a corrected time of one hour 20 minutes and 41 seconds (modified ECHO handicap), just 24 seconds ahead of…
The RS Neo dinghy will debut at the Dun Laoghaire Super Series. The Irish National Sailing Club has invested in the ‘baby Aero’ over the last few years and now boasts a fleet of four boats
The RS Super Series is open to all RS boats, and the Waszps is back in action this Saturday, with racing also extended to the RS Neo. The RS Aeros weren’t able to join the first weekend of the RS…
The VDLR  Ladies Lunch fundraising cheque was presented to Philip Ferguson (left) on behalf of Dun Laoghaire RNLI this week by Gina Luizzie and Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta Chairman, Don O'Dowd
Ireland's largest regatta, the Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta boasted almost 500 entries in July, that raised €1,888 for the Dun Laoghaire RNLI lifeboat charity at its sell-out Dubarry Ladies Lunch. One of the social highlights of the four day regatta, the…
The late Johnny Wedick, a leading figure in Poolbeg Y&BC, and the Old Gaffers Association
We regret to record the death of Johnny Wedick, a stalwart of the Dubin Bay Old Gaffers Association (DBOGA) since its foundation. He held the offices of President DBOGA, and Honorary Secretary, serving on the committee for many years. He…
Jack Fahy, Liam Glynn, Tom Higgins and crews Kathy Kelly, Emilly Hill & Cian Lynch are presented with their 75th Anniversary  Irish Team Racing Association trophy by outgoing Secretary Eunice Kennedy at the Royal St. George Yacht Club
The Irish Team Racing Association’s 75th National Championships concluded Saturday in the Royal St George Yacht Club at Dun Laoghaire Harbour. The round-robin event was truncated to a day’s racing as the forecast showed winds gusting to 30 knots Sunday…
The model of a period battleship found on Lough Derg over the summer of 2023
A community page for Mountshannon is looking to find a good home for an impressive model boat found on Lough Derg over the summer. As of Monday afternoon (20 November) no one had yet come forward to claim the model…
You better believe it and you better say it – Sydney-Hobart veteran Steph Lyons of Kinsale YC is on the bow, she clearly says she’s the “bowman”, and that’s it – end of
Did you know that LARPING, or more accurately LARPing, means Live Action Role Playing? Me neither. But then, having tended to the opinion that historical re-enactments are really history for the feeble-minded or those of limited imagination, we’ve tended to…
Monkstown Bay Sailing Club
Monkstown Bay Sailing Club members, at their annual general meeting on Sunday afternoon in Cork Harbour, elected Jacqui O’Brien to continue as Commodore for another year in office. Vice-Commodore is Richard Harrington and Rear Commodore Alan Fehily. The blue painted…
The 17-boat fleet prepares for a start on week three of the RS400 Winter Series at Royal North of Ireland YC on Belfast Lough
A cold and fresh westerly wind attracted a larger turnout for week three of the RS400 Winter Series at Royal North of Ireland YC on Belfast Lough. The lucky streak of glamour sailing conditions continued for another weekend. The forecasted…
The start of a blustery race three of IRC White Sails Division of the O'Leary Insurance Winter League 2023 in Cork Harbour with overall league leaders Peter O'Leary and Stephen O'Sullivan in the Star keelboat (8527) pictured right
Peter O'Leary and Stephen O'Sullivan took a third win in a row this morning to be firmly atop the leaderboard of the IRC White Sails Division of the O'Leary Insurance Winter League 2023 in Cork Harbour. Blustery conditions off Roches…
The Racing Division start of the ARC 2023 from Gran Canaria
A light southerly breeze and bright sunshine accompanied the 156 yachts in the 38th Atlantic Rally for Cruisers as they departed Gran Canaria bound for Saint Lucia, 2700 nautical miles away. Leading the ARC 2023 fleets were Pierre de Saint-Vincent’s…
The Viking Marine-sponsored DMYC dinghy Frostbite Series at the same venue has been cancelled due to westerly winds
Although Sunday morning's third race of the AIB-sponsored DBSC Turkey Shoot racing for cruiser-racers went ahead off Dun Laoghaire Harbour, this afternoon's Viking Marine-sponsored DMYC dinghy Frostbite Series at the same venue has been cancelled due to westerly winds in…
Thomas Ruyant and Morgan Lagravière (For People) cross the finish line to take first place in the Transat Jacques Vabre IMOCA division
When they broke the finish line of the 30th-anniversary edition of the Transat Jacques Vabre Normandie Le Havre off Fort-de-France, Martinique in the inky darkness of this Sunday morning at 0202hrs local time, (0602hrs UTC), Thomas Ruyant and Morgan Lagravière…
Satellite view of Lough Neagh, which was “choked” by blooms of toxic blue-green algae in the summer of 2023
Warning signage is being removed from locations around Lough Neagh following this past summer’s blooms of toxic blue-green algae. But as BBC News reports, it could be years before the ecological impact on the lough is fully understood. Ulster Angling…
File image of Carrybridge RNLI’s Atlantic 85 inshore lifeboat and rescue water craft
Following their fellow Northern Ireland lifeboat volunteers in Larne, as reported last month on Afloat.ie, the crew at Carrybridge RNLI will feature in the latest series of Saving Lives at Sea on BBC Two at 8pm next Thursday 23 November.…
Sarah and Mark McLoughlin on a demo sail in the Melges 15 dinghy off Howth
After a successful demo weekend at the end of October, a full container of twelve Melges 15s will be heading to Howth Yacht Club for Spring 2024 to supplement the existing boat there. Family is a predominant theme amongst the…

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]