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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
Olympic centenary: (Back from left) Maeve McNally, Conrad Simpson, Mark Mansfield, Curly Morris, Dan O'Grady, Sean Waddilove, Marshall King, Cathy MacAleavey, Mark Lyttle, Aisling Bowman, Garrett Connolly,  (Middle) Bill O'Hara, Denise Lyttle, Robert Dix, (front) Ciara Peelo, David Wilkins, Annalise Murphy, Phil Lawton and Tom Fitzpatrick
Irish Olympic sailing was well represented by 20 sailors when the Olympic Federation of Ireland and the Irish Olympians Association celebrated 100 years of Ireland's participation at the Olympic Games (1924 - 2024) on March 13th. The evening marked the…
IRC rating's 40th anniversary year sees the GBR IRC National Championship leave the Solent for the first time; in 2024, it will be held at 'International' Poole Regatta over the spring bank holiday, 25-27 May, with three days of racing…
The national sailing organisation is proposing to raise club affiliation fees and will be asking for approval at the annual general meeting in the Royal Cork Yacht Club at Crosshaven on Tuesday week (March 26th) The proposed increase is 15%,…
Marking Jarlath Cunnane’s 80th birthday in Castlebar Co Mayo were (from left to right) Jean Murphy, Louis Keating, Maeve Keating Séamus Breathnach, Jarlath Cunnane and Michael Brogan
Northabout crew from the Irish yacht’s historic polar circumnavigation marked the 80th birthday of their expedition skipper Jarlath Cunnane in Mayo last weekend. The adventurer, boat builder and holder of the prestigious Blue Water Medal, was joined by fellow sailors…
Competition at June's Bangor Regatta on Belfast Lough is expected to be keen
Word on the grapevine is that Jonathan Anderson's Danish-designed X 4.3 will be among the boats new to Royal Ulster’s Bangor Regatta in June. The new boat is still in the factory so brand new. He was the previous owner…
The ultra-mix of sailing and the inland waterways – the century-old Shannon One Design Class transitting the lock in Athlone during their annual downriver race from Lough Ree to Lough Derg
If you were trying to think of the most utterly rural town in all Ireland, Longford would certainly be among the top ten - maybe tops of all. And our rustic view of it is emphasised by the fact that…
National Yacht Club’s Cruising Club Boat Show
Kick off your St Patrick’s Weekend at the National Yacht Club’s Cruising Club Boat Show on Saturday 16 March from 11am. See a live demonstration on life-raft deployment and entering presented by Solas Marine Services. The RNLI’s sea safety team…
Skerries Sailing Club last hosted the GP14 championship in Ireland 2022 after a number of cancellations caused by COVID
Ireland will stage the GP14 World Championships for the second time in four years following a decision by the International Committee to relocate the 2026 World Championship from Sri Lanka. Royal North of Ireland Yacht Club, Belfast, has agreed to…
Tom Dolan overcame a torn spinnaker to finish in 11th place on the 370-mile offshore race of the Solo Guy Cotten-Concarneau, the Irish solo skipper’s first offshore race of the 2024 season. The spinnaker tear happened within the first couple…
For the 2024 season RORC has issued an IRC clarification about the setting of headsails (staysail)
The first keynote speaker at February's well-attended Irish Cruiser Racing Association (ICRA) Conference at the Royal Irish Yacht Club in Dun Laoghaire was Dr Jason Smithwick (technical director of RORC). Jason outlined the composition of the IRC Technical Committee and…
In the J70 class Primo Cup in Italy, Ireland’s Team Wildcard, with a crew consisting of William Twomey, Richie Harrington, Marshall King, and Mario Segers, placed 6th overall
The 40th edition of the Primo Cup was recently held at Yacht Club De Monaco, where fifty J70s competed. Other fleets included Cape 31, Smeralda 888 and Longtze Premier, representing over ten countries. In the J70 class, Ireland’s Team Wildcard,…
Robert Dickson and Seán Waddilove competing in 2023’s Semaine Olympique Française
The world’s best Olympic sailors have made Hyères on the French Riviera their meeting spot each April for more than 50 years. And this year the stakes are even higher, as the 55th edition of Semaine Olympique Française de Hyères…
Finishing the Ultim Challenge Race round the world course is a major triumph for Péron
Éric Péron sailing ULTIM ADAGIO crossed the finish line of the Ultim Challenge at 14 h 44 27" to finish in fifth position, the final skipper to complete the 22, 460 nautical miles course which started on Sunday 7th January. His…
A new rating is expected to promote non-spinnaker racing in Dublin Bay, offering a fair opportunity for all class members
Dublin Bay Sailing Club (DBSC) has recently announced the introduction of a new non-spinnaker rating for CR4 and CR5 to promote white sails racing in Dublin Bay. The move comes following the success of the VPRS rating system in the…
George Radley Jrs' Skipper 70 Pat Mustard crew on their way to an overall IRC win of the Moonduster Trophy in Cove Sailing Club's 2023 Cobh to Blackrock Race in Cork Harbour
There are two interesting changes planned in Cork Harbour racing this season, for cruisers and dinghies. Two separate Cobh-Blackrock Races are planned, and the Cork Harbour Cruiser Joint Clubs league will be reintroduced. The Cobh/Blackrock Race is a big traditional…
Constantin Claviez' Swan 44 Charisma, with a crew of seven, took 23 days to complete the Transatlantic Race 2023
It’s the middle of a foggy night in the North Atlantic. The breeze is fickle and there is nary a star or land sight to guide the yacht. It’s the sort of weather that drives helmspeople insane as they chase…

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]