The Irish Cruising Club’s Sailing Directions are recognised as the premier pilotage guide to the Irish coastal waters. The Directions, in two volumes, aim to describe every feasible passage, port, harbour and anchorage on the coasts of Ireland. They are continually updated on the web, and new editions are published every four to five years. They draw on the experience and observations of generations of amateur and professional sailors. Aerial photographs by Kevin Dwyer and sea-level photographs by Geraldine Hennigan are designed to be of navigational value and illustrate the pilotage.

“…it is well-nigh perfect. There is no alternative and there is no need for one.”
– Cruising magazine

“Approach any port without these navigational directions on board at one’s peril.”
– Lorna Siggins, The Irish Times

The Sailing Directions can trace their origins back over a hundred years. About 1910, Harry Donegan, a lawyer from Cork and a keen sailor, began gathering pilotage information on the south and south-west coasts of Ireland. In 1929, the newly-formed Irish Cruising Club set about publishing it, together with parallel information for the east coast gathered by Billy Mooney.

Following their second editions, published in 1946 and offered for the first time to the public, the ICC Sailing Directions steadily carved for themselves a reputation as the standard work on small-craft pilotage of Ireland. During the 1950’s their scope was extended to cover the whole coast, and between then and the present time they have gone through ten further editions. Written primarily for cruising yachts, they are also carried by the ships of the Irish Naval Service and the Geological Survey of Ireland, and by the Irish Lights Vessel Granuaile. They are used as references by the UK Hydrographic Office and the Irish Coast Guard.

“…a respected and much-used publication here at CIL.”
– Captain Robert McCabe, Commissioners of Irish Lights

Your copy of the ICC Sailing Directions can be kept up to date (until a new edition is published), by using our regular Amendments. The accumulated Amendments are available to view or download from this website. Click on each volume to access the Amendments to date.

Norman Kean has been Editor of the Sailing Directions since 2005. A Yachtmaster Offshore, Fellow of the Royal Institute of Navigation and a lifelong sailor, he has explored every harbour and anchorage described, those on the mainland of Ireland by road as well as by sea. He has sailed in Scotland, France, the Faroes, the Mediterranean, the United States and across the Atlantic. He writes regularly for Yachting Monthly and is consulted by the UK Hydrographic Office.

ICC Publications Ltd.