Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

The Royal Ocean Racing Club organised two races over the May Bank Holiday weekend. 58 boats entered, including a 91nm race for IRC Two Handed, the first overnight race of the year. Giovanni Belgrano’s Classic Whooper won the race for…

The J109 Irish Championship saw a competitive fleet on 10 entries come together on 5/6 October in Dublin Bay to race in the aftermath of Hurricane Lorenzo. As Afloat previously reported, the full programme of six races was completed. Saturday…

John Maybury's consistent Joker 2 has won the J109 National Championships after six races sailed at the Royal Irish Yacht Club today.  Maybury won half of the six races in the series but counted all six results in the top three.…

The host club's Joker 2 skippered by John Maybury leads the J109 National Championships after the first three races sailed from the Royal Irish Yacht Club today.  Racing in southerly winds gusting to 20-knots, poor visibility on Dublin Bay kept crews…

Royal Cork Olympian Mark Mansfield was the tactician and main sheet trimmer on John Smart's J109 Jukebox at the 2019 UK J109 Nationals held last weekend at the Royal Southern Yacht Club in Hamble. The J109 Nationals was part of…

35 boats took part in the Hendrick Ryan Royal Dee Offshore Championship 2019 that took place over two weekends and over 5 races. The championship included the ISORA Offshore from Douglas IOM to Dun Laoghaire on Sunday the 7th July…

It was with the numerous J/109s in IRC 1 that blood was on the bay today at Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta, with the narrow overnight lead of Outrajeous (Richard Colwell & John Murphy) snatched away by a final win by…

“Champagne sailing” is a choice expression which is in danger of being over-used every time a bit of sunshine happens upon a decent sailing breeze during race time in Ireland writes W M Nixon. But we’ve no doubt it was…

The clear record of Seamus Fitzpatrick’s First 50 Mermaid IV (RIYC) in the coastal racing of Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta slipped today, taking quite a knock with an 11th while the Pwllheli J/109 (Peter Dunlop) was on top form to…

There is no doubt about it that 500 entries – so far – for Thursday's Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta is a great indication of the state of yacht racing in Ireland, especially when so many other regattas struggle for numbers.…

The Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Race is now such a significant event that inevitably it attracts the involvement of professional and semi-professional talent. But so many boats sail determinedly within the Corinithian ideal that in effect they created an extra…

Despite a disqualification (DSQ) in the penultimate race of the five-race series last night, Richard Colwell and John Murphy's new J109 campaign from Howth Yacht Club held the lead in Class One of the O'Leary Life Sovereign's Cup to take overall victory…

A battle of Olympic proportions ensued at the top of Class One IRC of the O'Leary Life sponsored Sovereign's Cup off Kinsale today with two former Olympic Star helmsmen on the top two rivals overall writes Bob Bateman. There should be no surprise that…

The Royal Ocean Racing Club's race to Dieppe for the Morgan Cup started in the Solent on midsummer's day in superb conditions. The RORC fleet enjoyed a spectacular downwind start off the Royal Yacht Squadron Line, heading east for the…

The Royal Irish Yacht Club's John Maybury has made it four in a row at the ICRA National Championships this afternoon having sailed a superb seven-race series in which the J109 corinthian skipper and eight-man crew – that included 2004 Olympian Killian Collin…

After five races sailed and a discard applied at the ICRA National Championships at the Royal St. George Yacht Club, John Maybury is two races away from an impressive fourth win of the Class One title after another impressive day on…