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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
Fingal, a former Northern Lighthouse Board lighthouse/buoy tender built in 1963, is now a double-award-winning floating 5-star luxury hotel! Tripadvisor announced it is the No. 1 luxury hotel and No. 1 small and boutique hotel in the UK. AFLOAT highlights the vessel, while assisting duties in the Irish Sea 30 years ago, made a once-off call to Dun Laoghaire Harbour, the homeport and depot of Irish Lights.
Near the Scottish capital is berthed a historic former lighthouse tender which has been named one of the best hotels in the world at the Tripadvisor Travellers' Choice Awards. Fingal, which is the name of the luxury floating hotel, is…
Three kites - Ger and Robyn Owens (pink), overall winners of the 2024 Mirror Eastern Championship at Blessington Sailing Club with Juliet Ryan and Ella Rock (yellow) and Aurele Dion and Ben Chaix (Blue)
The Mirror dinghy season kicked off with a bang as 13 boats landed in Blessington Lake Sailing Club; a little apprehensive about how the weekend would unfold but certainly excited to get back afloat. There were some new faces and…
A highlight of the event is its poster, always a testament to local artistry and available for purchase in local shops. This year’s poster, crafted by Ryan Lavin, pays homage to the esteemed artist Joe Boske, known for his past iconic Fleadh na gCuach designs
Fleadh na gCuach or the Cuckoo Fleadh will transform the south Galway Harbour of Kinvara over this coming May bank holiday weekend. The traditional music and community-based art festival is known for its vibrant ambiance and exceptional talent, attracting musicians…
The ILCA 6 Connaught Championships start line at Lough Ree Yacht Club. Fortune favours the brave
Light winds in Lough Ree did not stop the ILCA fleet from completing two days of very tight racing in 5 to 10 knots. In stereotypical lake sailing weather, the light northerly breeze kept all three fleets with their heads…
Hugh Meagher and Oisin Alexander were third overall at the 29er East Coast Championships held at the National Yacht Club
The National Yacht Club hosted the first combined 29er and 49er events, and it proved to be a great success. There was a palpable buzz on the club platform before and after sailing and great racing. As it was reported…
Norwegian Star in Lough Foyle on 19th October 2023. Her sister ship Norwegian Dawn is due to call on 19th August 2024
Derry-Londonderry's Foyle Port is gearing up for a busy cruise season, with nine cruise liners expected to visit the port between May and September, including six inaugural calls. The Port is celebrating its 170th anniversary this year and is set…
New York Vendée - Les Sables d'Olonne: One month to go until the final race before the Vendée Globe. The event will begin with a show of all the IMOCA boats on May 24
On May 29, 31 skippers from around the world will set sail from New York towards the Vendée, for the final qualifying and selection race to qualify for the Vendée Globe: the most challenging sailing race around the world. The…
Jérémie Beyou, the skipper of Charal in the Transat CIC is returning to Lorient after his J2 forestay was damaged
Jérémie Beyou, one of the top hopes for the Transat CIC solo race from Lorient to New York, is returning to Lorient after his J2 forestay was damaged. The skipper of Charal made the decision to turn around after discussions…
Wicklow Sailing Club's annual lift-in of sailing cruisers for the 2024 summer sailing season
Over the weekend, Wicklow Sailing Club successfully completed their lift-in of sailing cruisers, paving the way for the much-anticipated SSE Renewables Round Ireland Yacht Race on June 22nd. More than 40 boats have already signed up, and it is expected…
The UK's Clean Water Sports Alliance represents the interests of millions of recreational water users whose experiences are impacted by substandard water quality and pollution every day
Seven UK national governing bodies of water-based sports have announced they’re coming together to form an alliance calling for clean open water across the UK. The Clean Water Sports Alliance of Angling Trust, British Rowing, British Triathlon, GB Outrigger, Paddle…
Irish solo skipper Tom Dolan will compete out of Les Sables d’Olonne in the Solo Maître CoQ
From Tuesday until Saturday Irish solo skipper Tom Dolan will compete out of Les Sables d’Olonne in the Solo Maître CoQ, the second of five events counting for the 2024 French Elite Offshore Racing Championship. “The crewed transatlantic race was a…
 Italian Ambrogio Beccaria (Alla Grande - Pirelli) in the IMOCA class of the Transat CIC
After a sunny, spectacular start, the 48 solo sailors taking part in the Transat CIC had to deal with the first windy and bumpy night at sea, crossing a front with 30 plus knots of wind and a rough sea…
Poole leading Williams in the final of the 59th Congressional Cup at Long Beach, California. The Williams boat crew included Northern Ireland sailor Oisin McClelland
The intensity of the 59th Congressional Cup, the opening event for the 2024 World Match Racing Tour, reached its peak today as USA’s Chris Poole and his Riptide Racing team won his second consecutive Congressional Cup and Crimson Blazer. Poole…
Very strange? The rugged-looking 1910-built 48ft gaff cutter Tally Ho in full offshore racing trim in 1927. At first glance, few would guess her to be an Albert Strange design
The 1927 Fastnet Race winner Tally Ho - a 48ft gaff cutter built in 1910 - has now been fully restored in a remarkable online project by English sailor/boatbuilder Leo Sampson Goolden in Sampson Boat Company’s premises at Sequium, Washington…
In a nail-biting medal race, Germany clinched the third country ticket in the women's 49erFX skiff competition at the Hyeres based Last Chance Regatta
At least 63 nations will be represented across 10 events at the Paris 2024 Olympic Sailing Regatta this summer after qualifying concluded at last week's Last Chance Regatta in Hyères, south of France. The action will begin in Marseille on…
The all-female crew are competing in the Northern Ireland Inshore Points Series on the Sigma 33 Elandra
The Sigma 33 Elandra was out racing for the first time yesterday (27th April) with its mainly all-women crew on Belfast Lough. Victoria and Martin Dews have made Elandra available to encourage women to grab the chance to race or…

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]