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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
Dublin Port 3FM Project has published an updated overview illustration of its Maritime Village proposals
Dublin Port Company (DPC) has today announced an update on its 3FM Project. The changes proposed are a direct result of an extensive consultation process and a consideration of alternative options – a key requirement of the planning process. The…
Royal Irish Yacht Club JPK 10.80 champion Rockabill VI (Paul O'Higgins) was the only finisher in Class Zero of the Dublin Bay Sailing Club's third AIB Thursday evening race of the 2024 summer season. O'Higgins races to Wales on Saturday in the first ISORA cross-channel race of the year
After last week's cancellation, Dublin Bay Sailing Club's third AIB Thursday evening race of the 2024 season was another gentle affair in light southerly winds where results were marred by plenty of retirals. On the North Bay race course, in division…
Dun Laoghaire's new Ker 46 'Tonnerre de Breskens 3' will contest the Mals Group RORC IRC European Championships under skipper Pete Smyth
The Royal Irish Yacht Club (RIYC) has announced that Dublin law firm Maples Group will be the title sponsor of the upcoming IRC European Championship sailing regatta. Taking place on the Irish capital's waters of Dublin Bay, the Maples Group…
The Isle of Man Post Office stamp collection will depict Peel Traditional Boats and will be available starting May 13, 2024
The Isle of Man Post Office has announced the upcoming release of a stunning stamp collection featuring the works of Isle of Man-based artist Nicola Dixon. The collection will depict Peel Traditional Boats and will be available starting May 13,…
Royal Cork's Séafra Guilfoyle and Johnny Durcan are proving themselves able contenders for the Irish 49er Paris 2024 Olympic nomination
As the 49er European Sailing Championship enters its halfway stage in La Grande Motte, France, two Irish sailing teams have qualified for the Gold fleet final round that begins on Friday. Robert Dickson and Sean Waddilove, veterans of the Tokyo…

The Simon Knowles skippered HYC boat is a double winner in ISORA's April coastal mini-series, winning both races in light to medium airs that look likely to be repeated in this weekend's race to Wales but the HYC campaign is not racing with ISORA this weekend. Photo: Afloat 
Several J-boat designs are among favourites for Saturday's first ISORA cross-channel race of the season from Dun Laoghaire to Pwllheli. Ten Welsh entries, including the new J122 Mojito, will swell the fleet to over 20 when they set sail from the Dun…
Irish Schools Team Racing National Champions 2024. Schull Community School (from left to right) Billy Coakley Commodore Bantry Bay Sailing Club, Killian Power, David Copithorne, Lucy Copithorne, Ryan O’Driscoll Captain, Silvia Abeila Garrido, Heidi Hogan and Kathryn Kingston Event Director
Saturday 4th of May 2024 saw 14 schools taking to the water to compete in the Irish Schools Team Racing National Championships 2024. For the first time since the inception of this event in 2004 and marking its 20th anniversary,…
Irish Optimist Development Squad in alphabetical order by first name: Aisling Morrin, Alex Hoban, Amy Russell, Arthur Fegan, Ben Smyth, Brendan Hughes, Caroline Byrne, Cian Farrell, Edward Fitzmaurice, Eabha Brennan-Hobbs, Elena Hoffman, George Creighton, Jack Ryan, Jamie Blennerhassett, Jess Tottenham, Jess Walsh, Joe Kingston, Louis Trickett, Maximilian Millane, Max O’Sullivan, Milo Slattery, Oliver Kenneally, Oscar Rowan, Oran Collins, Rebecca Murdock, Ruairi Slattery, Stephanie Rock, Tristan Bendon, Zoe O’Hare (Felix Crinion not pictured)
Last weekend, Lough Ree Yacht Club hosted young Optimist sailors from clubs all over Ireland for their annual Development Squad training session. The session was led by Head Coach Dara O’Shea from Cork and under the guidance of IODAI Training…
The ITCA Topper Ireland Traveller comes to Donaghdee in late May Topper Ireland
The ITCA Topper Ireland Traveller is a well-established series, and Donaghadee Sailing Club on the North Down coast will host an event on 26 May. Stuart Ogg is the event organiser, and he and his team say that the club…
Some of the 18-boat Kinsale Yacht Club cruising fleet berthed at the Naval Services Yacht Squadron at Haulbowline for their overnight visit
Members of the Kinsale Yacht Club Cruising Group had a wonderful start to the cruising season with a BBQ and overnight stay at the Naval Services Yacht Squadron in Haulbowline Naval Base in Cork Harbour. The event was organised by…
The former Tonnerre de Breskens 3 has spent the last number of years racing in the Meditteranean as Tonnerre de Glen but will be Dublin Bay based from June under new Royal Irish Yacht Club skipper Pete Smyth
Noted Dublin Bay inshore and offshore sailor Pete Smyth of the Royal Irish Yacht Club has purchased the famous Ker 46 Tonnerre de Breskens 3 which will arrive in Dublin Bay three weeks before its first major event, the 2024…
Alan Green and Chris Doorly of the National Yacht Club are one of six Irish Flying Fifteens racing at the 2024 European Championships in Brittany
Six Irish boats are competing at the Flying Fifteen European Championships starting on Thursday (March 9th) at Crozon Morgat in Brittany. With crews also from France, Spain, Belgium, and the usual UK contenders, it promises to be an exciting four-day event.…
Robert Dickson and Sean Waddilove from Dublin's Howth Yacht Club lead Irish hopes at the 49er European Championships in La Grande Motte in the South of France
Big breeze and massive wind shifts of day two of the 49er European Championship delivered plenty of drama in La Grande Motte, the South of France as the gap narrowed between the two Irish rivals who are using this event…
Some of the 23-boat Water Wag dinghy fleet sail home to the Royal Irish Yacht Club after Wednesday night's AIB/DBSC race at Dun Laoghaire Harbour
Race Officer Tadgh Donnelly, aboard the committee boat 'Spirit of the Irish', set a three-round windward/leeward course in a 10-knot southwesterly breeze for the third Water Wag race of the AIB/DBSC 2024 season. The 23-boat fleet’s start was postponed due…
Howth Yacht Club's Eve McMahon in Marseille ahead of the Olympic Torch Relay
Celebrations are about to get underway in Marseille, France today (8 May) as the city prepares for the arrival of the Olympic flame to French soil. Irish Sailor of the Year and Team Ireland Paris Scholar Eve McMahon has been…
American Magic's New AC75 Patriot - the new boat is bristling with design features and quirks and plenty of system upgrades, translated from their warhorse AC75 of the last America’s Cup. Now, it’s all on to try to bring the famous trophy back to West 44th Street in Manhattan, home of the New York Yacht Club
The New York Yacht Club American Magic rolled out its new AC75, named 'Patriot' for the 37th America's Cup Competition in Barcelona, Spain. The deck layout places the helms and trimmers side by side and well forward. The boat has…

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]