Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

The Irish J109 fleet is gearing up for an action-packed season on Dublin Bay with an early season IRC optimisation talk this month. As Afloat reported previously, Dun Laoghaire's Royal Irish Yacht Club will host the ICRA Nationals and Key Yachting's…

The latest news on the Dun Laoghaire waterfront is that the J/109 Europeans 2024 will be part of this year’s intense series of cruiser/racer regattas at the Royal Irish YC in late August and early September. It’s an organisational breakthrough…

Howth Yacht Club J/109 skipper Simon Knowles – the inshore and offshore campaigner of Indian in Irish waters – and noted Pwllheli father-and-son offshore team of Andrew and Sam Hall, will be ensuring that the Irish Sea is well represented with…

One of the most popularly acclaimed victories in sailing in Ireland in 2023 was Johnny Murphy’s September winning of the “Champion Boat” award at the conclusion of the ICRA Nationals at his home port of Howth with his J/109 Outrajeous.…

Tim Goodbody's J109 White Mischief won the penultimate Saturday race in Dublin Bay Sailing Club's AIB Summer Series on September 23rd.  The Royal Irish crew finished Saturday's IRC Cruisers One race in a corrected time of one hour 37 minutes and…

The RC35 Championship has concluded for 2023, with Ben and Jono Shelley in their J109 'Mocking J' claiming their inaugural Championship victory. The final event, The North Clyde Regatta hosted by Royal Northern and Clyde Yacht Club, started with Charlie Frize’s…

"Schizoid" or "Schizophrenic" are not words you'll find to describe weather conditions in any meteorological textbooks. But how else are we to convey the flavour of the racing situations which ran through the gamut of experiences in the three-day Monday.com…

The first J/Cup Championship in Irish waters on Dublin Bay in August 2023 saw several classes of this leading marque represented in the 40-strong fleet, but there was little doubting that the most intensive competition was in the J/109s. This…

Day one of the inaugural Key Yachting J Cup Ireland was successfully completed on Saturday. An impressive 40 boats entered the brand-new regatta at the Royal Irish Yacht Club in Dun Laoghaire on Dublin Bay. Boats are fairly equally split…

J boat enthusiasts are gearing up for the first-ever Irish J Cup, set to take place this weekend at the Royal Irish Yacht Club at Dun Laoghaire Harbour. Organised by Key Yachting, agents for J/boats and Grand Soleil yachts, the…

The international J Boat fleet, with its many variants, fills a special role in world sailing, with an underlying sense of family permeating this attractive no-nonsense craft. For it all of course, stems from the initial creative introduction – explosion,…

J109 Jukebox, with Royal Cork Royal Cork tactician Mark Mansfield and Alan Roche of Dun Laoghaire's National Yacht Club as part of the crew, has emerged as the victorious boat in the IRC Class 3 category at Cowes Week. The…

The Cowes-based J109 Jukebox crew, led by John Smart, sailed a smart race on Tuesday to take the lead in a highly competitive IRC 3 fleet at the 2023 Cowes Week Regatta. The team, which has Royal Cork's Mark Mansfield…

The Mulloy Trophy Race on Saturday at Schull Harbour Sailing Club in West Cork was won by Tony O’Brien’s J109 Tighey Boy, with Tadgh Dwyer’s Brazen Huzie second and John McGowan’s Mackey G third. SHSC is now in the final…

There will be only nine 'non-J109s' in this week's Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta's buoyant 26-boat IRC One fleet, but two new powerful campaigns are within those nine. At least a Northern Ireland A35 and a Howth J99 campaign must be…

The RC35/IRC event at Royal Ulster on Belfast Lough last weekend came about because of a chance suggestion by a club member. Although it attracted a small fleet of eight, it did include the very welcome visitors, Ben Shelley in…