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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
Owens & Morris Confirm Irish GP14 Title at Sutton Dinghy Club
#gp14 – The final day of 2013 Craftinsure GP14 Championship of Ireland and the forecast was not good for racing. 3 knots gusting 4 is not conducive to getting in 2 races. With the day looking like it would be…
Howth Yacht Club (HYC) Racing Results, Wednesday Club Series, 28th August 2013
#hyc – Class 2 IRC 1 1323 Fetching Quinn/O'Faherty 2 2507 Impetuous Noonan/Chambers 3 7495 Maximus P Kyne R2 - 28/08 - Class 2 HPH 1 956 C'est la Vie Flannelly/Others 2 2507 Impetuous Noonan/Chambers 3 7495 Maximus P Kyne…
Dublin Bay Sailing Club (DBSC) Results for 29 August 2013
#dbsc – BENETEAU 31.7 Echo- 1. Kernach (Eoin O'Driscoll), 2. Extreme Reality (P.McSwiney/E.O'Rafferty), 3. Thirty Something (Gerry Jones et al) BENETEAU 31.7 - 1. Levana (Jean Mitton), 2. Prospect (Chris Johnston), 3. Thirty Something (Gerry Jones et al) CRUISERS 0…
Dublin Bay Sailing Club (DBSC) Results for 31 August 2013
#DBSC - Here are the latest results from the Dublin Bay Sailing Club for Saturday 31 August: BENETEAU 31.7 ECHO - 1 Extreme Reality (P McSwiney/E O'Rafferty); 2 Bluefin Two (M & B Bryson); 3 Levante (M Leahy/J Power) BENETEAU…
Dublin Bay Sailing Club (DBSC) Results for 7 September 2013
#DBSC - Here are the latest results from the Dublin Bay Sailing Club for Saturday 7 September: BENETEAU 31.7 ECHO - 1 Extreme Reality (P McSwiney/E O’Rafferty); 2 Attitude (T Milner/J Sugars/M Branigan); 3 Magic (D O’Sullivan/D Espey) BENETEAU 31.7…
SB20 Worlds Hyeres Update - Strong Irish Presence Felt
#sb20 – Race 1 of the SB20 Worlds got off to a flying start Monday in Hyeres for the SB20 fleet World Championshps in the Mediterranean. After 2 general recalls in wind which started at 22 knots, the 90+ boat…
Irish SB20 Sharkbait up to Fifth at Hyeres World Champs
#sb20 – Day 2 of the SB20 Worlds 2013 brought lots more big wind action for the 15 Nation, 90 boat fleet. It was hard sailing again today in the short steep chop with the forecast breeze gradually increasing to…
Dublin Bay Sailing Club (DBSC) Results for 14 September 2013
BENETEAU 31.7 Echo- 1. Prospect (Chris Johnston), 2. Extreme Reality (P.McSwiney/E.O'Rafferty), 3. Levante (M.Leahy/J.Power) BENETEAU 31.7 - 1. Prospect (Chris Johnston), 2. Levante (M.Leahy/J.Power), 3. Magic (D.O'Sullivan/D.Espey) CRUISERS 0 Echo - 1. Wow (George Sisk), 2. Lively Lady (Derek Martin),…
Dublin Bay Sailing Club (DBSC) Results for 21 September 2013
BENETEAU 31.7 Echo- 1. Prima Nocte (Patrick Burke et al), 2. Attitude (T Milner J Sugars M Branigan), 3. Fiddly Bits (Timmins/Quigley/Murray/Breen) BENETEAU 31.7 - 1. Prospect (Chris Johnston), 2. Levante (M.Leahy/J.Power), 3. Prima Nocte (Patrick Burke et al) CRUISERS…
Dublin Bay Sailing Club (DBSC) Results for 28 September 2013
#DBSC - Here are the latest results from the Dublin Bay Sailing Club for Saturday 28 September, the last race of the Summer 2013 season. BENETEAU 317 Echo - 1 Attitude (T Milner/J Sugars/M Branigan); 2 Extreme Reality (P McSwiney/E…
Irish Fireball Prizegiving Celebrates Success at National Yacht Club (Photos Here!)
#fireball – The Irish Fireball Class gathered in the National Yacht Club in Dun Laoghaire last Friday, 22 nd November, to celebrate the season just past and recognize those people who had excelled on the water or made significant contributions…
Wayfarer Dinghy North American Champs Won By Ireland's Fisher & Watt
#wayfarer – Every winter, Lake Eustis Sailing Club in Florida hosts the North American Mid-Winter Championships, giving the small, but enthusiastic North American Wayfarer fleet a chance to sail in warm waters. In 2014, this was particularly appealing as most…
German Tall Ship & Training Vessel to Visit Cobh, Port of Cork
#tallship – The German Embassy in Dublin has announced the arrival of the GORCH FOCK, Tall Ship and Training Vessel of the German Navy. The vessel will pay a visit to Ireland from March 13th to 29th, 2014. It will…
Dublin Bay Sailing Club (DBSC) Sailing Results for Thursday, 24 April 2014
#dbsc – BENETEAU 31.7 Echo- 1. Prima Nocte (Patrick Burke et al), 2. Levante (M.Leahy/J.Power), 3. Prospect (Chris Johnston) BENETEAU 31.7 - 1. Prima Nocte (Patrick Burke et al), 2. After You Too (Michael Blaney), 3. Prospect (Chris Johnston) CRUISERS…
Dublin Bay Sailing Club (DBSC) Results for Saturday, 26 APRIL 2014
#dbsc - In a cut short programme for Dublin Bay Sailing Club's first Saturday race of the season, only a number of cruisers one boats sailed in the strong and gust southerly winds this afternoon. One boat was dismasted. Racing…

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]