WM Nixon
William M Nixon has been writing about sailing in Ireland for many years in print and online, and his work has appeared internationally in magazines and books. His own experience ranges from club sailing to international offshore events, and he has cruised extensively under sail, often in his own boats which have ranged in size from an 11ft dinghy to a 35ft cruiser-racer. He has also been involved in the administration of several sailing organisations.
Saturday night's gathering of 242 cruising enthusiasts for a black-tie celebration at the Irish Cruising Club's Annual Gala Dinner in Cork, involving an international guest list to bring in officers from kindred clubs on both sides of the Atlantic, provided…
Peter Haden of Ballyvaughan is First to be Awarded Cruising Clubs’ Friendship Cup
25th March 2024 Cruising
The Annual Dinner of the Irish Cruising Club in Cork on Saturday night was outstanding for many reasons, with the most important being the first awarding of the Friendship Cup. This was presented to the ICC last year at the…
Friday evening’s announcement of the Irish Sailor of the Year 2023 title for 19-year-old Eve McMahon at her sailing home of Howth Yacht Club well captures the zeitgeist of mid-2020s Ireland, not least in the fact that the title holder…
Ireland’s Inland Waterways Assert Their Individuality As IWAI’s 70th Anniversary Arrives
16th March 2024 W M Nixon
If you were trying to think of the most utterly rural town in all Ireland, Longford would certainly be among the top ten - maybe tops of all. And our rustic view of it is emphasised by the fact that…
The widely-mourned death of Clayton Love Jnr of Cork at the age of 94 may leave a void in the lives of his very large circle of family, friends and colleagues in many parts of the world and numerous areas…
Classic Yacht Dublin Bay 24 Zephyra To Be Launched In June, Re-Born in Maine
6th March 2024 Historic Boats
The concept of the Dublin Bay 24, envisaged as a 24ft waterline 37ft LOA Bermuda-rigged racer-cruiser, was first suggested in 1934 at a Committee Meeting of the innovative yet “homeless” Royal Alfred YC in Dun Laoghaire by the owner-skipper of…
MG Motor “Sailing Club of the Year 2024 ” Award Jointly To National YC & Ruffian 23 Association In Celebration Of Family & Friendship In Sailing
2nd March 2024 W M Nixon
Friendship, family and sailing enjoyment expressed enthusiastically through quietly efficient organisations - that was the warm theme which dominated Thursday evening’s convivial gathering in the National Yacht Club on Dun Laoghaire waterfront. The successful hosting club and the Golden Jubilee-celebrating…
Update 12:45 Thursday, Feb 22: In previewing the RORC Caribbean 600 2024, we made the point that in its 15 years of annual staging, no boat under 50ft LOA had ever emerged as the overall winner, and the smallest top…
Lawrie Smith Of Glandore Harbour Yacht Club is Britain's Sailor of the Year
19th February 2024 News Update
Afloat.ie may have got there first by naming Lawrie Smith, the Master of Tralong and enthusiastic member of Glandore Harbour YC, as one of our "Sailors of the Month" for September 2023 after he'd won the Dragon Gold Cup as…
Another “First” For Conor O'Brien: His Alternative Image of An Unknown Ibiza
14th February 2024 Conor O'Brien
Conor O'Brien’s outstanding pioneering achievement was in demonstrating that a sailing vessel as small as his own-designed 42ft Baltimore-built ketch Saoirse could complete a global circumnavigation through the vast expanse of the Southern Ocean, south of the Great Capes. The…
Howth’s “Secret” Puppeteer 22 Class Launch Into Celebration Of Forty Years With HYC
7th February 2024 Puppeteers
In recent years, the large and varied membership of Howth Yacht Club have seen so many major anniversaries come and go – after proper programmes of lively celebration afloat and ashore – that casual observers might expect an element of…
Dun Laoghaire Harbour: The Most Natural Artificial Creation In Ireland
4th February 2024 Dublin Bay Old Gaffers
At sea level, the majestic granite construction of Dun Laoghaire Harbour blends so well with the many of the older buildings on the town's waterfront and its coastal surroundings that, after 200 years and more of its existence, many folk…
SSE Renewables Round Ireland Race From Wicklow In June Attracts Broad Range of Early Entries
3rd February 2024 W M Nixon
It’s one thing to declare an interest in contesting an up-coming iteration of the biennial 704-mile SSE Renewables Round Ireland Race from Wicklow. But it is quite something else to divvy up an entry fee, and sign on the dotted…
A crew from Galway Bay Sailing Club (GBSC) is gearing up to compete in the challenging Rolex Middle Sea Race from Malta, the renowned 600-mile annual sailing event set against the backdrop of some of the most spectacular coastlines and…
2024 Newport Bermuda Race Extends To 636 Miles To Offer Free Public Viewing from Fort Adams State Park
27th January 2024 Offshore
The ocean-isolated island group of Bermuda, know to the cognoscenti as The Onion Patch, has the same special attraction for the American cruiser-racer sailors of New England as the distant island of Hy Brasil had in ancient times for voyaging…
Royal Cork’s New Admiral Demonstrates Sailing In Ireland’s Leading Role In Gender Equality Process
27th January 2024 W M Nixon
This week’s election of Annamarie Fegan as Admiral of the Royal Cork Yacht Club, the first woman sailor to fill the top posting in this extraordinary organisation’s 304-year history, is remarkable in that it doesn’t seem to have been seen…
Carrigaholt on the south-facing shore of the Outer Shannon Estuary is one of the sweetest places in all Clare, a refreshingly leisurely contrast to the over-busy northwest of the county, where the once tiny port of Doolin finds itself swamped…
Dun Laoghaire Will Welcome J/109 Euros To Royal Irish YC’s Late Season Array Of Cruiser/Racer Championships
20th January 2024 W M Nixon
The latest news on the Dun Laoghaire waterfront is that the J/109 Europeans 2024 will be part of this year’s intense series of cruiser/racer regattas at the Royal Irish YC in late August and early September. It’s an organisational breakthrough…
The Slow Food Movement started in Italy many years ago, with its admirable ideal in the notion that the gentle preparation and leisurely cooking - preferably of locally sourced ingredients - was best complemented by then eating the simple feast…
Once upon a time, as Sutton Creek developed in the northerly corner of Dublin Bay, some bright spark councillor suggested the new and very tidal waterway should be called the Blue Lagoon. The idea of such a name was aired…
