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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
Alison Young, seen here competing in Tokyo 2020
Three-time Olympian and 2016 ILCA World Champion Alison Young will provide coaching for Northern Ireland sailors at RYA Northern Ireland’s ‘Female Focused Camp’ at Ballyholme Yacht Club on the weekend of 27-28 April. The camp is specifically targeted for junior…
Charlie McAllister’s newly acquired Jacques Fauroux Quarter Tonner, called SKB, will compete at Bangor Regatta 2024 in June
Royal Ulster Yacht Club has launched Bangor Regatta 2024 with the publication of the Notice of Race and Entry Form for the event, which will be run in Belfast Lough out of Bangor from 27th till 30th June. Sixty boats…
Ultim Challenge winner Charles Caudrelier on the Maxi Edmond de Rothschild arrives into Brest. His elapsed time for the 22,460 nautical miles round the world course, which left Brest on Sunday, 7th, January, is 50 days, 19hrs 7 mins 42 secs. He sailed an actual course of 28,938 miles on the water
Blessed with a perfect sunrise, flat seas and a modest 15kts breeze as he approached the long-awaited finish line off Brest on Tuesday (Feb 27th, 2024), Charles Caudrelier took time to enjoy the final ten miles of his Ultim Challenge…
The third race of the six-race AIB DBSC Spring Chicken Series on Dublin Bay saw sunny conditions accompanied by a good breeze
After four races sailed in the AIB DBSC Spring Chicken Series on Dublin Bay, the 1720 sportsboat Long Island Legend replaces the J80 Jambon at the top of the scoresheet. With two races to go in the series, only ten…
Valentina, the Dun Laoghaire Harbour-based J112E debuted at the J Cup UK 2023 and the inaugural Irish J Cup in her home waters of Dublin Bay
September's J Cup Ireland gets an early preview on Friday when J boat agents for Ireland, Key Yachting, will host a special gathering for J Boat and Grand Soleil sailors at the Royal Irish Yacht Club in Dun Laoghaire Harbour. Key…
Current Optimist National Champion Harry Dunne (Howth YC) continued his up-scaling to ILCA success at Howth on Sunday, coached by Rocco Wright and Luke Turvey
With chilly conditions and a building easterly breeze very accurately forecast, the penultimate Sunday of the post-Christmas series of the HYC Dinghy Frostbites kicked off at the weekend to fight it out for the remaining races, and build on any…
Optimist sailors in Ireland have found a new and exciting way to stave off boredom during winter training. The Irish Optimist Dinghy Association (IODAI) recently created the IODAI Sprint Series, which aims to give young sailors more opportunities to race…
Charles Caudrelier's elapsed time in the first Ultim Challenge Solo Multihull Race Around the World is 50 days 19 hours 07 minutes 47 seconds since leaving Brest in the six-boat fleet on Sunday, 7th January
French sailor Charles Caudrelier has emerged victorious in the Ultim Challenge, the first-ever solo multihull race around the world. Caudrelier, skipper of the Maxi Edmond de Rothschild, crossed the finish line off the coast of Brest on Tuesday morning at…
The forecast suggested a North Easterly breeze for the Viking Marine DMYC Dinghy Frostbites at Dun Laoghaire Harbour
Sunday’s Viking Marine DMYC Dinghy Frostbites in Dun Laoghaire Harbour were a test for organisers and competitors alike. The forecast suggested a North Easterly breeze, produced on the day, though it was from an ENE direction. Wind strength had been predicted…
Caudrelier’s most up-to-date ETA is around 0830hrs local time on Tuesday morning (0730hrs UTC) at the finish line
A tantalising three hundred miles from the finish line of the first Ultim Challenge solo round the world race, French skipper Charles Caudrelier spent his 50th birthday and his 50th day of racing since leaving Brest on Sunday, 7th January, keeping…
Charlotte Borghesi's historic win at the SB20 World Championship in Dubai and her team's triumph is a source of inspiration for women in sports everywhere
The recently concluded SB20 World Championship in Dubai witnessed a historic moment as Team Kidzink emerged as the new World Champions. The team, consisting of Charlotte Borghesi as helmswoman, Pippa Kenton-Page as strategist, Artem Basalkin as tactician, and Gonçalo Lopes…
The late and much-lamented Johnny Wedick in a thoughtful mood – behind his often jovial demeanour, his busy brain usually had several projects on the go at differing stages of development
The news of the death of Johnny Wedick at the age of 78 came as a devastating hammer blow to everyone who had the good fortune to know him. Devoted family man, businessman, sailor and proud Ringsender, Johnny was best…
Kinsale Yacht Club's Spring Series is set for an Easter Monday start on April 1
A preliminary list of cruiser racing events on the Cork coastline lists the Kinsale YC Spring Series set for an Easter Monday start, April 1. At the RCYC in Crosshaven, evening racing is set for a start on Thursday, May…
What time will Caudrelier finish? That remains the big question…
This Monday morning the Ultim Challenge leader Charles Caudrelier, the solo skipper of the Maxi Edmond de Rothschild, has about 455 miles to the finish line. But the conditions remain tough all the way to Brest and the leader is staying…
Australia crew celebrate after claiming their first SailGP Season 4 win in home waters of Sydney Harbour
Australia claimed its first SailGP Season 4 win by triumphing over ROCKWOOL Denmark and New Zealand in an action-packed, three-boat Final on Sydney Harbour at the weekend. A dominant performance on home waters throughout the weekend saw the Aussies qualify…
RS Feva sailing on Strangford Lough
Ben Greenhalgh comes from a Bangor Co Down sailing family, and he races an RS Feva at Port Dinorwic SC near the Welsh Bangor on the Menai Straits. Ben is the joint winner with Topper sailor, Jess Powell, of 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]