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.
All-Ireland Dimension To West Cork’s International Success With Lady Min Boat Restoration
6th April 2023 Historic Boats
There’ll be celebrating in West Cork this Easter, and rightly so, as the 1902-vintage cutter Lady Min – designed, built and sailed in Schull by the O’Keeffe family during 120 years – has been garlanded with honours at this week’s…
Yet again, Ireland's classic boat restorers have found themselves on the peak of the podium, this time at last night's International Classic Boat Awards 2023 in London. The O'Keeffe family's gaff cutter Lady Min, designed and built in Schull by…
Spreading The News Ever Wider On Sailing In Ireland Strengthens Afloat.ie’s Key Role
25th March 2023 W M Nixon
If success has many fathers, while failure is an orphan, then Afloat.ie must be one of the most successful media outlets in Ireland. For in recent years, several people have proudly claimed to have been the founder of what is…
That headline may suggest the latest Viking television melodrama. And at times Sailing To Antarctica, this new multi-aspect book of memoirs - written moreover in an Irish sea village with strong links to the Scandinavian sea rovers - brings the…
Classic Clinker Classes Have Enduring Backbone But Occasionally Need New Ribs
15th March 2023 Historic Boats
Classic clinker-built wooden dinghies can mean a lot of maintenance work as they mature. Betty Armstrong's recent stories on Afloat.ie of restoration projects on some of the almost-forgotten 14ft Ballyholme Insects in the North, will have been an evocative reminder…
A year ago, the world of classic boats in Ireland was on a high with the news that maritime polymath Hal Sisk of Dun Laoghaire had been acclaimed as International Classic Boater of the Year, while Steve Morris of Kilush Boatyard…
You could over-analyse the many attractions of a round Ireland cruise. Apart from being a romantic yet manageable act of homage to our island home, it appeals equally to the adventurous - in that you are always outward bound –…
Royal St. George's Gail Varian Becomes First Woman President of 146-Year-Old Dublin Bay Water Wag Class
8th March 2023 Water Wag
Although women sailors have played an active role in the Dublin Bay Water Wags OD Dinghy Class since their foundation in 1887 as revealed in Afloat.ie recently until Gail Varian (RStGYC) was elected President at last night's AGM in the…
Howth's Successful Team Snapshot Bring It All Back Home After ICRA Conference In Dun Laoghaire
6th March 2023 ICRA
Co-skippers Mike & Richie Evans of ICRA Boat of the Year, the J/99 Snapshot, had a relaxed and celebratory winding-down with crew, friends, family, and fellow Howth YC members when they returned to base from the ICRA AGM & Annual…
Irish Cruiser-Racers Get Snapshot Of Success As Highlight Of Today’s ICRA Conference in Dun Laoghaire
4th March 2023 W M Nixon
Ever since Fintan Cairns of Dun Laoghaire and the late Jim Donegan of Cork brought the Irish Cruiser-Racer Association into being twenty years ago, ICRA’s Annual Conference & AGM has provided a fascinating overview of the state of play in…
Kilrush Skiff Sailors Discover Dublin Bay Water Wags Have Become Icons Of France's Morbihan Classics
27th February 2023 Water Wag
The St Ayles skiff Ealu, new-built by Seol Sionna in Kilrush, has been entered for this year's edition of the vast and deservedly legendary Semaine du Golfe for traditional and classic boats at the Morbihan in Southern Brittany from May…
Ireland’s Leading Creator Of One-Design Racers Was The Very Scottish Alfred Mylne
25th February 2023 W M Nixon
We’re accustomed to thinking of successful and long-lived local One-Design keelboat classes as being a distinctive feature of Irish sailing. Thus we tend to overlook the fact that one particular Scottish designer created more of these Irish boats than anyone…
Conor O’Brien’s Pioneering Saoirse Circumnavigation Centenary Will Be Honoured by Irish Cruising
18th February 2023 W M Nixon
The magnificent pioneering voyage round the world south of the Great Capes in 1923-1925 by Conor O’Brien (1880-1952) of Foynes, sailing his new-built engine-less 42ft Baltimore ketch Saoirse, was of such heroic proportions that any attempts at a re-enactment to…
Atlantic Coast’s Clew Bay Has New Speciality Coffee Range Funding Marine Restoration
13th February 2023 Aquaculture
Clew Bay on the Mayo coast is in a league of its own. Outstandingly beautiful, with the serene peak of Croagh Patrick rising above Ireland’s most intricate and dynamic inter-mingling of sea and islands through many inlets large and small,…
Daria Blackwell Of Clew Bay Brings Top International Voyaging Honour To Western Ireland
8th February 2023 Cruising
Daria and Alex Blackwell of County Mayo have been a significant power couple in global voyaging for many years now, operating from their base at Port Aleria among the many islands of the inner reaches of Clew Bay, and voyaging…
The America's Cup and Quietly Accepting Ireland’s Sensible Place in the Sailing World
4th February 2023 W M Nixon
Be careful what you wish for - it might just come to happen. This was the feeling that emerged in much of the rest of Ireland’s sailing community a year or so back, when “America’s Cup Venue Mania” was taking…
Has Ireland’s “Clash Of The Sailing Fixtures” Become Part Of The Programme?
28th January 2023 W M Nixon
There are cruiser-racing enthusiasts in Ireland who dream of living in a world of non-stop activity in 2023, making the most of a dedicated traditional schedule in which they swing into action with the Scottish Series - back on Loch…
When the brief notice of the death of Brian Murphy at the age of 77 was posted on the Howth YC Facebook page recently, the response from members said everything about a remarkable - indeed a unique - sailing enthusiast…
Cruising Club of America Blue Water Medallist Paddy Barry and Dublin Bay Old Gaffers Association President Adrian Spence have taken on the Arctic cruising challenge in a variety of craft over the years. But in 2022, they combined forces to…
The long saga of the future of the former Galway to Aran Islands ferry ship Naomh Eanna entered a new chapter during the recent cold snap, when she began to take on a list through the ingress of water into…
