Sailing on Saturday with WM Nixon

Tom Kneen's JPK 11.80 Sunrise winning the 2021 Fastnet Race at Cherbourg. As a loyal Royal Western YC member, he had voted in favour of retaining the traditional Fastnet finish at Plymouth, but it's possible that it was the extra distance to the Cherbourg finish which played a key role in Sunrise's clear win

Sailing's Public Spats – Do They Clear The Air Or Muddy The Waters?

6th November 2021 W M Nixon

Would Tom Kneen's JPK 11.80 Sunrise have still won the Rolex Fastnet Race 2021 if it had been sailed on the old course, with Plymouth rather than Cherbourg as the finish? Imponderable it may be, but it's a question of…

The hidden gem of County Clare – mixed classes racing at Cullaun SC. Despite the lateness of the season, Cullaun and the GP 14 Association hope to get together in a week's time for a championship postponed from April

Are Irish Sailors Pitching Their "November Notions" Too High?

30th October 2021 W M Nixon

October 2021 has been kind to Irish sailing in brightening our spirits, letting our crews be active with more sunshine than you'd expect, and helping to banish any thoughts of the dodgy pandemic situation ashore. Even though the Bank Holiday…

America's Cup contenders at Auckland – it's an abiding and evocative image, but at what cost?

Maybe Cork Itself Would Pay For Staging America’s Cup?

23rd October 2021 W M Nixon

According to one usually reliable line of information, yesterday was to be the day in Auckland when Team New Zealand and the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron, as Trustees and Holders of the America's Cup, were due to confirm the…

With their Centenary next year, the Shannon One Designs celebrate a unique boat and successful class which came into being at a time when Ireland was in a state of turmoil

Ireland's Centenaries Ashore Are Matched By Sailing Centenaries Afloat

16th October 2021 W M Nixon

In Ireland, we're living through the Decade of Centenaries in terms of marking conflict-laden historical events and major national happenings ashore. So it says everything about the blissful sense of having a world of our own in sailing that in…

The The 1938-founded Ballyholme Bay Class when still going strong in 1970, with Bobby Swanston's Eileen leading from Frank Humphreys' Penelope. While the class in Bangor is now largely defunct, an active sister-ship has emerged in Isle of Wight ownership

Ireland & Ballyholme's Sailing History – Memories, Myths, & Matters of Fact

9th October 2021 W M Nixon

Coming as it does from David Tasker - an Afloat.ie reader from the Isle of Wight - a typically Autumnal query received a day or two ago from this new owner of an interesting and much-loved vintage boat is one…

The Helmsman's Championship of October 1970 at Crosshaven rounded out the Quarter Millennial Celebrations of the Royal Cork Yacht Club, and the six finalists were (left to right) Michael O'Rahilly (Dun Laoghaire), the late Somers Payne (Crosshaven), Harold Cudmore Jnr (Crosshaven), Owen Delany (Dun Laoghaire), Maurice Butler (Ballyholme) and the winner, Robert Dix of Malahide – at 17 in 1970, still the youngest-ever winner

The Weight of Sailing History in Ireland Hangs on the Golden Thread of the Helmsman's Championship

2nd October 2021 W M Nixon

We've been waiting a year to use this header photo which – owing to a certain confusion in the filing of thousands of photographic negs and images – has had to be scanned from the November 1970 issue of Irish…

Sailing in Ireland Only Needed Sunshine to Come to Life

25th September 2021 W M Nixon

What was it with last weekend's weather? As the pandemic restrictions against activity afloat are ever-so-gradually eased, not only was there some sort of sailing going on almost everywhere, but the mood was that of late August. Yet it was…

The cause of much joy – and grief. The schooner America wins the race around the Isle of Wight 170 years ago

Have We Irish Become The Mugs Of 'The Auld Mug's' Game?

18th September 2021 W M Nixon

Let's face it, Ireland bidding to host the 37th America's Cup in 2024 – or more accurately, Cork's campaigning to stage it – has all the makings of a handy TV drama. As it has to be a national investment,…

Frank Whelan's J/122 from Greystones SC had had a fine season, winning Calves Week in August, and then following it in September with a clean sweep and the overall win in the ICRA Nats. The J/122 – first produced in 2008 – is no longer built, yet Kaya is frontline competitive with the owner-skipper supported by crew-leader Patrick Barnwell, and with Mark Mansfield as tactician for the ICRA Nats

Sailing's Developing Trends in Ireland Are Difficult to Clarify in Rapidly Accelerating Late-Season Programme

11th September 2021 W M Nixon

You might say it's unnatural. Normally at this time of year, we'll be talking of the evenings and the season closing in together to facilitate a gently easing pace. But last weekend in Cork, they seemed to have so many…

If you want some colour in Dublin Bay, bring your own……Conor Phelan's Ker 37 Jump Juice from Cork, fresh out of A&E @ The Noonan Clinic, provided a bright spot yesterday on a grey day in a grey bay.

Ireland's Sailing is Healthy. It's the Shore Time That Causes Problems…

4th September 2021 W M Nixon

Let's hear it for coloured sails. On a grey day on a grey bay, every last spinnaker or asymmetric or gennaker or whatever with a splash of colour was more than welcome yesterday morning (Friday) to help bring the grimly…

The J/109 Jelly Baby (Brian Jones) personifies the spirit of Cork sailing, which this weekend is being celebrated with the two-day AIB RCYC Tricentenary+1 Regatta

Irish Yacht & Sailing Club Officers' Determined Enthusiasm Has Brought Us Through Pandemic To This Busiest Weekend

28th August 2021 W M Nixon

There's something about the last weekend of August which makes it a specially pivotal time in Irish sailing. And in this weird pandemic-emergence period, there's an extra sense of individually-tailored controlled events being added to the programme to meet immediate…

Two Commodores – Jonathan Nicholson (DBSC Commodore 2018-2020) and Ann Kirwan (DBSC Commodore 2020-2022) at this week's presentation of the Mitsubishi Motors

Dublin Bay Sailing Club Re-Affirms Commitment As Mitsubishi Motors "Sailing Club of the Year"

21st August 2021 W M Nixon

Dublin Bay Sailing Club is the current Mitsubishi Motors Sailing Club of the Year, and yesterday (Friday), their Commodore Ann Kirwan took over custodianship of the well-travelled ship's wheel trophy. It dates back to 1979 in a unique and informal…

The Lads with the Ladies Cup. The Bicentenary of Sligo YC's Ladies Cup – the world's oldest perpetual sailing trophy - was celebrated with it being the award for the J/24 Nationals 2021 last weekend, and the winning boat Headcase – the defending champion – is an all-Ireland project, with (left to right) Cillian Dickson (Lough Ree YC & Howth YC), Sam O'Byrne (Howth YC) Louis Mulloy (Mayo SC) with the famous Cup, Marcus Ryan, and Ryan Glynn

Ireland's Northwest With Its Uniquely Ancient Trophy Has Played a Pivotal Role in Sailing's Story

14th August 2021 W M Nixon

The Irish weather is no respecter of history, and sailing history in particular. Apart from the fact that it regularly appears to break meteorological records with an insouciant disregard for their significance and the patient effort that our ancestors put…