Sailing on Saturday with WM Nixon
Ted Crosbie combined so many of the strongest threads of Cork life that he embodied an entire Munster universe of personal positivity. Family was everything to him, but so too was the unique and bustling maritime city of Cork and…
The Olympic authorities see the Laser as the floating equivalent of the pole-vaulter’s vaulting pole, thereby making Laser sailors into proper individual athletes, and very worthy of Olympic inclusion.But meanwhile, some in the upper echelons of Olympic decision-making see two-person…
Afloat.ie’s September “Sailors of the Month” Listings Mark The Turn Of The Seasons
1st October 2022 W M Nixon
September is a month of harvests afloat as it is ashore, and as we reach October with its inescapable sense of the change in the seasons, our bountiful new monthly list of no less than six different and distinctive September…
The Kenmare River where Kerry verges into Cork is one of Ireland’s cruising gems – it’s pure gold and then some. But we weren’t exactly cruising when the Nixon Tribe descended on the area precisely a year ago for a…
Champions’ Cup at Sutton Will Continue 75-Year Golden Thread Of Helmsman’s Championship
17th September 2022 W M Nixon
The Helmsman’s Championship? Crazy name. Surely it should at least have been The Helmsmen’s Championship? Yet in its quirkiness, it achieved brand recognition to die for. Everyone knew what it meant, so much so it could even be shortened to…
Where other Irish harbours face the sea, Kinsale embraces it. And this generous geographical reality helps to provide a genuine sense of community interaction when any initiative at the hospitable south Cork port is put together to help get young…
SB20s Will Come Of Age At World Championship With Royal Irish YC in Dun Laoghaire
3rd September 2022 W M Nixon
In 2002, the ingenious Laser SB3 was unleashed on an unsuspecting world by Performance Sailcraft as one of several innovative craft that enabled the leading Laser builders to offer loyal Laser sailors – already in their several thousands with the…
J/24 Europeans At Howth Is Latest Stage In A Long Story Of Continuous Renewal
27th August 2022 W M Nixon
The International J/24 European Championship getting under way this weekend in Howth leads inevitably to thoughts of a special drama afloat two months ago. The crunch finish period of the SSE Renewables Round Ireland Race 2022 at Wicklow on Friday,…
Ireland’s Volatile Late Season Weather Increases Challenge For Race Officers
20th August 2022 W M Nixon
So where are they? The hurricanes, we mean. Or more accurately, the “decaying tropical storms” which occasionally make their ominous and often unpredictable way towards Ireland as the Summer progresses and morphs into Autumn. For as it happens, back in…
Tall Ship Grace O’Malley’s Stately Inaugural Progress Along Irish Coast Promises Worthwhile Maritime Future
13th August 2022 W M Nixon
In recent days, we’ve seen celebrations honouring the super-star young sailors who have brought major international sailing medals of gold, silver and bronze home to Ireland and their rightfully-delighted families and cheering local clubs. These are sailors whose special talent…
Eve and Rocco’s Youthful Gold Medal Success Invigorates Howth Yacht Club’s Vision of Itself
6th August 2022 W M Nixon
In some ways, Howth Yacht Club has it easy. It isn’t hampered by being the senior sailing centre in Ireland. That particular burden has been carried since 1720 by Cork. Nor is it sailing’s premier centre. Since the active first…
Shannon One Designs Emerge Refreshed From Their Action-Packed Twin Centenary Regattas
30th July 2022 W M Nixon
The unique 18ft Shannon One-Designs have lived through some decidedly mixed times in Ireland during their hundred years of setting the sailing pace on the great lakes of our lordly river. And the two special Centenary Regattas at their main…
The pace of this first full post-pandemic sailing season in Ireland has been such that when we reached what might be thought of as the mid-point around July 15th, there was a real need for a rapid re-charging of the…
Time was when the Hill of Howth was the only part of Ireland above water. Admittedly that was about 600 millions years ago, and our rare old Howth rocks were down around where Australia is now located before they took…
Volvo Cork Week 2022 Is The Exuberant Expression Of The Spirit Of Cork Sailing
9th July 2022 W M Nixon
It may seem a bit odd to talk about Volvo Cork Week 2022, which gets going this weekend, as being “the exuberant expression of the spirit of Cork sailing”, when any detailed study of the hugely-varied entry list eloquently affirms…
June’s Mixed Weather Created Intense Competition For “Sailor of the Month” Awards To Provide Four Winners
2nd July 2022 W M Nixon
With the almost melancholy passing of Mid-Summer’s Day, the sailing season is taking on a different look, a distinctly-changed mood and flavour. For in normal times – if anyone can remember when you could talk of such things – there…
