Welcome to the Western Yacht Club of Ireland Training Centre. ​Our courses are operated in the safe haven of Kilrush Marina. Our waters are non-tidal and a perfect place to start sailing. 

July 2024 
This year the club will run an Inclusion Week from Monday 15th to Friday 19th July, 2024.  Sailing this week is exclusively for children and adults with disabilities and their families.  Disabilities may be physical, mental, intellectual or sensory, or any disability which makes participation in mainstream sport challenging.

Sessions will cost €25 for one session, €15 for a second and €10 for any additional sessions. We will operate a 1:1 instructor participant ratio for each session. 

This year we will run three sessions each day, sessions will be a maximum of 1 hour and 30 minutes long. We are aware that for some participants 30 minutes might be more than enough. The amount of time you spend on the water can be adapted to suit each individual.

Session A - 9.30am - 11.00am
Session B - 11.30am - 1.00pm
Session C - 2pm - 3.30pm

We are delighted to have Sandy on the water again this year to help the running of our inclusion week. Sandy brings her experience from the past two years and will be joined by two other qualified instructors along with some familiar volunteers from the club. 

We do ask that each participant is joined by a parent or other adult on the water. Additional family members including parents and siblings are welcome to attend. 

We are delighted to have the use of Irish Sailing's Hawk 20, Gina G, once again this year. During each session, time will be spent sailing in the Gina G and also taking a trip on one of the club's two powerboats. There is also an opportunity to try sailing on a number of other sailing dinghies including a topper topaz, GP14 and wayfarer dinghy for anyone interested. The club also has sit-on kayaks available.

Kilrush Marina also has a wheelchair hoist which is available if needed. Please let us know in advance. 

For more information email [email protected] or tel 089 989 8017 
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May 2024 - We are very excited to have just received Sports Capital Funding to purchase our own Hawk 20 sailboat. So we hope for 2025 to have regular sailing for people with disabilities and their families.

We are grateful to Irish Sailing for it's continued support of inclusion sailing in Kilrush. We would like say a huge thanks to Ciarán Murphy who persuaded us to start inclusion sailing in Kilrush a few years ago and provided us with all the tools and support he could offer to ensure it's success. It was hard to say 'no' to his positive enthusiasm and he was a wonderful ambassador for Inclusion Sailing! Ciarán has moved on to other adventures and we wish him the very best of luck from all here in Kilrush. Many thanks to Irish Sailing's new Inclusion Officer, Jane Carter, for all her assistance in facilitating this week for us and we're look forward to working with Jane in the future to keep Sailing for All in Kilrush. 

To avail of the discount for multiple bookings please book one session at a time and follow the instructions on the booking page to book 'multiple people'.
 Sailing for All Project 2022 & 2023

The Sailing for All project run for the past two years, in conjunction with Irish Sailing, has concluded. We would like to thank all the families involved for joining us on some wonderful sailing adventures at Kilrush Marina.

This is a brief outline but the program but it can be adapted to suit the needs of the children or youths involved:
  • All sessions are lead by a fully qualified sailing instructor experienced in working with children with special needs.
  • Sessions are up to a maximum of 1 hour and 45 minutes long. We are aware that for some children 30 minutes might be more than enough and that is absolutely fine. The amount of time you spend on the water can be adapted to suit your child.​
  • A family member (e.g. parent, sibling) or a friend is welcome to join the session.         
  • Families will be met by an instructor at Kilrush Marina and all participants will be fitted with a bouyancy aid before being escorted to the boat. Bouyancy aids must be worn at all times. If you feel this may be a challenge for your young sailor please don't hesitate to contact us and we can discuss how to help your young sailor prepare for their time on the water.  The Sailing for All app also has lessons on how to use a bouyancy aid. 
  • Activities will be weather dependent and will follow strict safety protocols.

​Further Information
Western Yacht Club's Inclusion Officer
Elaine O'Mahoney
Email: [email protected]

Irish Sailing's Inclusion Officer
Jane Carter
​Email: [email protected]

Sailing for All Video

Here are some of our wonderful young sailors enjoying sailing and powerboating  as part of our Sailing for All project.

Feedback from Families

"I am just writing to compliment the inclusive sailing undertaken over the summer. Our 7 year old, is autistic. We have always wanted to take him on boat trips but were unsure how it would go, knowing if it went wrong and he had a meltdown that it would be disastrous. We attended the inclusive sailing at Kilrush Marina and it was excellent. Every person that we interacted with was wonderful, communicating and interacting with him in his way and time. I could see his confidence blossoming as he was taught how to steer the speedboat and the sailboat. He was so calm and at peace, even growing comfortable enough to talk to our guides on the sailboat, which is a big deal for him as he often prefers nonverbal communication in new settings. 

It is beyond wonderful to have this new world opened up to us, and especially him. I hope similar experiences are available in the future and many thanks to all for the wonderful work this summer. "
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"Our son had his 3rd day of sailing yesterday - on both the Gina G and Johnny T.  He enjoys it very much.  Our hope is to keep sailing in the future.  It's a wonderful activity that gets us out, off the ipad, but is contained to where I am not worried about our disrupting enjoyment for other people. And besides learning about the actual act of sailing there is so much to look at and point out to him.  There is lots of new learning,   Both David and Sandy are wonderful - they are calm, kind, and fully in control - and unflappable. I fully trust them to be able to handle whatever could happen.  The marina is calm and feels very safe.  

Like all parents I was apprehensive - but he is so calm on the boat.  I thought the first time was a fluke - he went with Dad the second time and was just as calm.  Yesterday on the 3rd outing I was sure he liked it when he was pulling me down the boat.  We would love to take him to Scattery Island and the Aran Islands etc. but were fearful of how he would behave on a boat but now we feel we could do it.  And isn't it wonderful that he will slowly but surely learn about different types of boats (as will we) and get to see different places and different types of nature.  

So thank you for giving us the opportunity to explore sailing with our son.  Neither myself or my husband have ever sailed - so it is a lovely opportunity for us to do something new too! "
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"Just want to say a big thank you for facilitating us in the inclusive sailing this week. We had a wonderful day in Kilrush marina and my daughter just loved it. I would like to pay particular thanks to Sandy, David and Eoin for being so caring and welcoming to us all.  We learnt a lot about sailing too!  You are all to be commended on making this inclusive activity available to children and families like us.  We very much appreciate it."
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ADDITIONAL LINKS:
​RWYCI Inclusion Policy:New Inclusion Projects: Irish Sailing Watersports Inclusion GamesSailability Ireland
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