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.
Ultra-slow Progress in Round Britain & Ireland Race is Leading To Retirements “Owing To Time Constraints”
11th August 2022 Rd Britain & Ireland
The clockwise 1800 miles Sevenstar Round Britain & Ireland Race has been dogged by light winds and calms ever since it started from Cowes at the weekend, and the bulk of the 30-strong fleet is still struggling along Ireland’s southwest…
The Carlingford Oysterman Provided A New Round Ireland Record With A Difference
11th August 2022 Round Ireland Speed Record
Most of us thought that all Round Ireland Sailing Records at the lower end of the size scale had been long since put to bed. After all, it was way back in 1961 that Kevin & Colm MacLaverty with Mick…
Kinvara is Back! Cruinniu na mBad Leaps To Life This Weekend With The Festival Of The Traditional Boats
10th August 2022 Galway Hookers
When the highly-respected Organising Chairman Dr Mick Brogan declared - in May 2020 - that the annual Cruinniu na mBad - the Gathering of the Boats - could not be held in August at Kinvara in face of the spread…
Howth 17 Nationals: Davy Jones’s Locker Is Now The Champion’s Trophy Cabinet
7th August 2022 Howth 17
Even by the long-view standards of the 124-year-old Howth 17 Class, the 48-year owning partnership in the 1907-vintage Rosemary between David Jones and George Curley - with David Potter more recently joining the strength as George turned 90 last year…
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…
Lady's Day at Cowes Week may sound like a charmingly old-fashioned Victorian concept, but there was nothing old-fashioned about the way that top women sailors of the calibre of Laura Dillon of Howth contested the time-honoured event yesterday in the…
When it came to painting the new St Ayles skiff Ealu built by Seol Sionnas (the owners of the much-admired traditional cutter Sally O’Keeffe) under the direction of Steve Morris in Kilrush Boatyard, it was “No Contest” as regards décor…
It can sometimes take quite a bit of tough windward slugging to get to the islands out in the Atlantic off the Connacht coast. But those boats that do are usually well rewarded, as rain-bearing clouds from the west will…
Eve McMahon (18) returned to top form for Ireland with two more bullets in today (Saturday's) final three races in the ILCA6/Laser Radial Youth Worlds 2022 at Houston in Texas. After six straight wins in the first four days, there…
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 ultra-oceanic Galway Bay - with the Aran Islands in its midst, the complex coast of Connemara to the north, and the mighty Cliffs of Moher to the south – is so fixed in most people’s minds as an awe-inspiring…
Houston, We Have No Problem - Eve McMahon Makes Rocket-Boosted Start to ILCA6 Youth Worlds in Texas
27th July 2022 Laser
Fresh from winning two major international championships in Europe already during July, Howth's Eve McMahon (17) has launched her campaign in the Laser Radial/ILCA6 Youth Worlds at Houston in Texas in appropriately rocket-assisted style with four bullets in a stellar…
During its 1,200 and more years of active trading, the Port of Dublin has successfully emerged from many adversities to maintain its role as Ireland's premier trading hub. Despite all the international frustrations to smooth trade and the pandemic problems…
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…
Royal Canal Brings Floating Visitors To New Siege of Mullingar At Fleadh Cheoil
21st July 2022 Inland Waterways
Back in pre-pandemic times, when the annual eight-day-long Fleadh Cheoil immersed Tullamore in music and festivities for three years in a row, the Offaly branch of the Inland Waterways Association organised the successful Float to the Fleadh cruise from each…
Ireland’s Texas-Bound Laser Youth Gold Medallists: Will Extreme Weather Make It Out of the Frying Pan Into The Fire?
21st July 2022 Youth Sailing
Despite the gathering record-breaking heatwave over Europe as July progressed, Ireland’s Eve McMahon (17) won Gold at both the ILCA 6 (Laser Radial) European Youth Championship in Greece, and then Gold again at the 2022 World Sailing Youth World Championship…
West Cork’s Bull Rock Provides Sport-plus With Threading The Eye Of The Needle
20th July 2022 Cruising
The Bull Rock in the open Atlantic three miles northwest of Dursey Head in West Cork is one of many massive milestones on the Round Ireland Race. And it has the added distinction of having a tunnel clear through it,…
Shannon One Designs Continue Hectic Celebratory Pace With Lough Ree Centenary Regatta
19th July 2022 Shannon One Design
When we remember that in the class’s early days, the hundred-year-old Shannon One Designs were accustomed to cramming much of their racing into the first half of August with the two traditional Regatta Weeks at Lough Ree and Lough Derg,…
The Clipper Fleet In Port Until July 24th To Signal Start Of Foyle Marine Festival
19th July 2022 Clipper Race
While the Robin Knox-Johnston-led Clipper Fleet Round the World Race organisation is a remarkably effective body, even its most experienced executives can only give a ball-park figure as to when the leading boats are going to complete a transoceanic leg.…
It’s not unreasonable to suggest that there will have been no other skipper in Cork Week sailing to final race victory in a boat designed and built by an ancestor back in 1902 at his family’s own home port, but…
