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
RORC De Guingand Bowl Race: Home Win for Cracklin' Rosie
#rorc – Organised by the Royal Ocean Racing Club, the De Guingand Bowl Race was the fifth race of the RORC Season's Points Championship and featured teams from five different European nations: Belgium, France, Germany, Great Britain and the Netherlands…
GP14s Train for World Championships at East Down YC on Strangford Lough
#gp14 – A great weekend event was hosted by East Down Yacht Club (EDYC) ahead of the upcoming GP14 World Championships on Strangford Lough, Northern Ireland writes Shane McCarthy. Olympic sailor Matt McGovern was on hand to share his knowledge and…
Monkstown Bay Sailing Club Hosts Exciting RS Dinghy Fleets
#rssailing – There was a buzz in the Monkstown Bay SC dinghy park last Saturday morning writes David Rose. There was a real feeling of a fresh start for dinghy sailing in this part of the world, with 20 boats…
Derry–Londonderry Leads Clipper Fleet in Race Home to Lough Foyle
#clipperrace – Derry~Londonderry~Doire leadsthe Clipper Round the world race fleet this morning with Team Garmin in second and Switzerland in third place in frustratingly light winds for the transaltantic crossing. Clipper Race meteorologist Simon Rowell said the wind is expected…
No Clubhouse But SB20s Enjoy Carrickfergus Hospitality for Northern Champs
#sb20 – The sb20 fleet assembled in Carrickfergus last weekend for their Northern Championship for what was supposed to be the opening of the new club house writes Ronan Downing. Unfortunately "Health & Safety" hadn't signed off on occupation or…
Birthday Boy David Kenefick Gets off to A Great Start in La Solitaire du Figaro
#lasolitaire2014 – Ireland's David Kenefick is well placed in the 45th edition of La Solitaire du Figaro - Eric Bompard Cachemire got underway yesterday at noon after the fleet had been moored for several hours off Deauville. Above vid has…
Lambay Race Win for 'Bite the Bullet' off Howth
#lambay – Howth Yacht Club's 2014 Lambay Races were supported by a keen fleet of almost 120 boats, from the modern day stripped-out racers to equally spartan machines of 1898 writes Emmet Dalton. The Howth 17 Footer and Old Gaffer…
World #2 Anna Kjellberg is Women's World Match Race Champion
#wmr – The Petit Final led off today and provided a brilliant introduction to the display of match racing that was enthralling for the spectators to watch today writes Claire Bateman. Caroline Sylvan (SWE) put up a tough fight against…
McCarter Counts Down to Clipper Race Derry Homecoming & Legenderry Festival
#clipperroundtheworldrace – The Derry~Londonderry~Doire yacht, one of twelve 70ft yachts competing in the Clipper 2013-14 Round the World Yacht Race, has set sail for its home port from New York this weekend following a spectacular parade of sail against the…
Kenefick Embarks on Second Solitaire du Figaro
#FULL IRISH – Irish offshore singlehander David Kenefick is underway again on his second edition of the 2014 Solitaire du Figaro. The Royal Cork Helmsman is racing on the first leg and sends this report exclusively to Afloat.ie readers:  "This…
Liverpool to Douglas Offshore Race Won Again By Humphreys 30, Bada Bing
#ISORA – The Offshore Racing Weekend, a higlhight of the 2014 ISORA calendar, started with a fast and furious 'midnight' race from Liverpool to Douglas with a fantastic spinnaker leg for the entire 75 mile voyage.  Results are available to…
IDRA 14s Muster Eight Boats for 19th Carlingford Lough Champs
#idra14 – The June bank holiday weekend again saw the IDRA 14's head north to Killowen, near Rostrevor in Co. Down writes Ian Sargent. Carlingford Lough Yacht Club's location is nestled on the shore with the majestic Mourne mountains behind…
Dublin Bay Sailing Club (DBSC) Results for Saturday, 7 June 2014
#dbsc – BENETEAU 31.7 Echo- 1. Fiddly Bits (Timmins/Quigley/Murray/Breen), 2. Prospect (Chris Johnston) BENETEAU 31.7 - 1. Fiddly Bits (Timmins/Quigley/Murray/Breen), 2. Legally Blonde (C.Drohan/P.Egan), 3. Prospect (Chris Johnston) CRUISERS 1 Echo - 1. Bon Exemple (C Byrne), 2. Jump The…
Women's Match Race Final Will Be Ulrikkeholm v Kjellberg
#wmr – World #1 Camilla Ulrikkeholm of Denmark defeat Sweden's Caroline Sylvan 3 – 0 in their semi-final of the 2014 ISAF Women's Match Racing World Championship in front of large spectator crowds in Cork harbour this afternoon. In the other…
Spanish Royal Navy Tall Ship Arrives in Dublin Port
#tallship – This morning saw the world's third-largest Tall Ship, the Juan Sebastián de Elcano, greeted by Dublin Port Company tug boats and a flotilla of yachts from local sailing clubs in a ceremonial escort to mark the ship's arrival…
isora_liverpool
#isora – ISORA sailors are in bullish form after a strong turnout last night for the 97th race from  Liverpool to Douglas in the Isle of Man. Organisers of the Offshore Racing Weekend are hoping hoping that the 25–boat fleet for the first…

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]