Cork, Ireland  - Ireland's coast is perfect for sailing holidays whether you're a competitive seafarer seeking challenging conditions or someone who likes to set foot on dry land at the end of a day's leisurely cruise.

The dramatic and craggy coastline on Ireland's south and west is steeped in history. Over the centuries it has seen countless shipwrecks, failed invasion attempts, French and Spanish armadas, and Viking raids, as well as one notorious occasion in the 17th century when the inhabitants of a West Cork village were carried off into slavery by Barbary pirates.

Today there are plenty of sailing options ranging from dinghy courses for beginners to boat charters for experienced skippers. Another option is to sign up as a crew member on a cruising yacht. This is what I did in June, joining five sailors of various experience levels and a professional skipper for a cruise from Kinsale in the south to Lough Swilly in the north-west, a distance of about 460 nautical miles or roughly halfway around the island.

The maritime town of Kinsale, 20 kilometres south of Cork city, is one of the country's main sailing centres. In its busy marina we boarded the 38-foot yacht that would be our home for the next week and after our skipper had shown us the ropes we were soon motoring out of harbour and hoisting our sails for a trip south-west.

The winds were favourable and over the next two days we sailed almost 100 nautical miles, spending nights at the island of Cape Clear off County Cork and the sheltered harbour of Derrynane in Kerry. On the way we passed the Fastnet lighthouse, a slender white tower perched precariously on a barren rock 10 kilometres off the coast. Ireland's most southerly point, it's the turning point for the famous biennial yacht race that begins in southern England.

Sailing north-west for the tourist-friendly town of Dingle, we passed the island of Skellig Michael, a bleak 230-metre-high rock that hosted a monastic community for 600 years. The island is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the monks' beehive-shaped stone huts can be visited on a day-trip from the mainland. Along the way we were accompanied by numerous frolicking dolphins attracted by our bow-wave.

After a night in Dingle, we began serious sailing, a 24-hour-plus passage to the island of Inishbofin off the Galway coast. It's almost 160 nautical miles in all and we followed a watch system of three hours on, three hours off. It quickly became routine, with everyone taking a turn at the wheel or keeping watch and then going below for some much-needed sleep.

Consistent winds from the north-east meant we made good time, tying up at Inishbofin the following evening. The island offers a sheltered anchorage, a large modern hotel, impressive scenery and best of all, hot showers. Most of the many islands off Ireland's west coast were abandoned during the 20th century due to their isolation and the hardship of life there, but a couple of hundred people still live on Inishbofin, connected to the mainland by a daily ferry.

The following afternoon we were off again on another 24-hour passage to Tory Island off the coast of Donegal in the north-west. There was no shortage of landmarks along the way to help us navigate. From off the Mayo coast we could see a distinctive conical mountain - Croagh Patrick, named after the saint who brought Christianity to Ireland in the 5th century and a pilgrimage site even in pagan times. Further north-west is Achill Island, where the writers Heinrich Boell and Graham Greene once lived and the location of what are said to be the highest sea cliffs in Europe.

The weather can change quickly on the eastern edge of the North Atlantic and as predicted on the weather reports a low pressure zone moved in around us during the course of the day, bringing wind, rain and big waves. During the night we scudded across Donegal Bay pushed along by a Force 7 wind. We reefed our sails to reduce the sail area and make the boat more manageable.

Arriving at Tory Island the following evening we were greeted on the quayside by the island's king, Patsy Dan Rodgers. Elected by the people, he serves as a kind of ambassador for Tory Island in a tradition that goes back many centuries. The island is remote, treeless and windswept but has supported human life for thousands of years. Today's population of less than 200 get by through fishing, farming and tourism.

The next day we sailed into our final destination, the fjord-like Lough Swilly. This was once an important naval port and one can still see Martello towers, circular forts built by the British in the early 1800s to repel a possible Napoleonic invasion.

We cleaned the boat, collected our belongings and disembarked for our first night on dry land in a week. A new crew were waiting to sail the boat around Northern Ireland, down the east coast and back to Kinsale. Heading home, we were already making plans to complete the circumnavigation some day. (dpa)