Sailing on Saturday with WM Nixon
Ireland's Classic & Traditional Boats Give Us Hope in Challenging Times
19th September 2020 W M Nixon
In this time of increasing uncertainty with its frustration of sailing plans, we find reassurance in soothing thoughts of well-restored or new-built classic boats. And traditional vessels in handsome and workmanlike order have the same heartening effect. We've an instinct…
Dublin Bay Sailing Club has Navigated with Style Over COVID-19's Challenging Seas
12th September 2020 W M Nixon
Even Dublin Bay Sailing Club, with all its remarkable expertise and sheer firepower, has been unable to slow Planet Earth in its daily rotation, let alone alter the steady changing of our little solar satellite's endlessly shifting tilt as it…
Viking Marine of Dun Laoghaire See Opportunities in the Post-Pandemic Changes
5th September 2020 W M Nixon
The only way to face the future is with optimism, energy and enthusiasm. That's the philosophy of Ian O'Meara and the team at Viking Marine in Dun Laoghaire, as they implement the re-shaping of a business which is noted for…
Ireland's Quirky Lake Regattas Provide "Great Sailing Sport Behind Closed Doors"
28th August 2020 W M Nixon
"The seas is for sailing and the lakes are for fishing". Quite. It's a gross over-simplification to put any analysis of the Irish public perception of our use of waterways into such crude terms. But we didn't get where we…
Fastnet 450 Race Has Come to Mean So Much for Frustrated Irish Sailing in 2020
22nd August 2020 W M Nixon
The Fastnet 450 starts today (Saturday) at 1300hrs in Dublin Bay, and sends the fleet on a 270-mile course southward, taking them all the way to the Fastnet Rock before finishing back at the entrance to Cork Harbour, clear of…
Ron Hutchieson's Generous Multiple Roles are a Historic Sailing Era in Themselves
15th August 2020 W M Nixon
The retirement this month of noted northern sailor Ron Hutchieson as Chairman of Irish Sailing's Racing Rules & Appeals Board brings to a conclusion an exceptionally long period of devoted and very effective honorary official service to sailing and its…
Fastnet 450: Nothing New Here – Dublin Bay to Cork Harbour Race 1860 Was Pop-up Too
7th August 2020 W M Nixon
It’s called the SCORA Fastnet 450 which is a zinger of a name, whatever it means, and right now it’s taking shape as we go along in best pop-up style, having come centre stage after the Round Ireland Race was…
Round Ireland Refunds? The Doyler Would Tell Them to Keep Entry Fee for 2022’s Race
31st July 2020 W M Nixon
“What would The Doyler do?” That was the question we asked here when writing with resigned sadness on 11th April about the pandemic-induced two-month postponement - from 20th June - of the Wicklow start of the SSE Renewables Round Ireland…
With just four weeks to go to the proposed re-scheduled start of the SSE Renewables Round Ireland Yacht Race 2020 on August 22nd, the word is that a final decision as to whether it is going ahead – and indeed,…
Facemasks With Club Logos An Idea as Big Events Fall While Smaller Ones Quietly Take Place
18th July 2020 W M Nixon
A while back, the off-the-wall idea was mooted of creating a line of quality face-masks, tastefully printed or even embroidered with sailing and yacht club logos. The world of high fashion was already on to the idea of designer-labelled COVID-contesting…
Royal Cork Yacht Club’s Home Membership Keep Tricentenary Celebrations Going
11th July 2020 W M Nixon
There are three Royal Cork Yacht Clubs. One is the globally-recognised historic institution which is directly descended from the Water Club of the Harbour of Cork founded three hundred years ago, the oldest yacht club in the world. The second…
Irish Traditional Boat Naomh Cronan Goes West Amidst New Government Structures
4th July 2020 W M Nixon
If you’re having trouble processing the full implications of the fascinating new portmanteau ministry which has emerged this week from the formation of our latest government, not to worry. You’d be on your own if you weren’t a little bit…
It is a truth not universally acknowledged that the steady pint-drinking communities of Cork city and south Munster contributed substantially to the resourcing of the newly-formed Ulster Volunteer Force’s uprising against the proposed introduction of Home Rule for Ireland in…
If this year had gone anything like according to plan, today (Saturday) would be seeing the SSE Renewables Round Ireland Race from Wicklow getting going, with Afloat.ie providing a list of riders and runners in this column today, while getting…
Royal Cork Yacht Club’s Example is Inspiring in Cork Harbour’s 50 Years of Progress
13th June 2020 W M Nixon
Time was when fifty years seemed a long time in the life of any sports organisation, and indeed in life itself. Golden Jubilees were a big deal, to be celebrated with much fanfare. In fact, even 25 years of organisational…
The generally accepted view of the 1950s in Ireland is of an economically grim period when everything - including the spirit of the inhabitants - withered in the face of a seemingly permanent financial recession, with desperate emigration the only…
