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.
Sydney Hobart Race: Maguire Wins Class, Condell Leads Two-Handers
29th December 2022 Sydney to Hobart
While the TP 52s in general and Sam Haynes’ Celestial (NSW) in particular have fulfilled expectations by dominating the overall top positions for the supreme Corrected Time champions’ Tattersall Cup in the Sydney-Hobart Race, for three hours in Hobart last…
The utterly stellar Sydney-Hobart course record set by Irish-Australian Jim Cooney (his people are from Ballivor in County Meath) and Samantha Grant, racing the super-maxi LDV Comanche in 2017, is staying firmly in place for another year. Five years ago,…
Ireland's Adrienne Cahalane Takes Berth on America's Warrior Won in Sydney-Hobart Race
25th December 2022 Sydney to Hobart
There have been last-minute changes in personnel reported on the leading American challenger for the 628-mile race to Hobart tomorrow (Monday). Offaly-born Australian-based sailing superstar and ace navigator Adrienne Cahalane, a veteran of 30 Hobart races with overall and class…
If you’re looking for somebody Irish on the biggest fastest boat racing to Hobart from Monday’s traditional start in Sydney Harbour, then you got it – the hugely experienced big boat racer Justin Slattery of Wexford and Cork is on…
Classic Yacht Fans Get Christmas Present With News Of Eleanora Re-build
20th December 2022 Historic Boats
The 160ft schooner Eleanora, a modern classic based on a 1910 design, is in the long process of rising from what seemed to be a permanent watery grave after she was T-boned in Tarragona Harbour in June by a hefty…
Irish Flavour For Sydney-Hobart Race 2022 Will Be Just The Tonic For Winter Blues
17th December 2022 W M Nixon
With a chest-clogging cold snap of soul-sapping frozen fogs likely to be replaced here this weekend by roof-lifting wet and windy gales, the very thought of sun-dappled Sydney Harbour and its sublime sailing will be a spirit-raiser for yotties throughout…
A well-attended Annual General Meeting at Howth Yacht Club last night (Tuesday) saw Commodore Paddy Judge standing down after a period of service which was much longer than his time as Commodore would suggest, as he also stood in as…
When you sail west past Mizen Head in the deep south, or Malin Head in the far north, you know you’re getting into the real Atlantic territory, where they do things differently afloat and ashore. For although the hundreds of…
Irish Race Officers Hosting Four World Sailing Championships In 2022 Deserve Special Praise
3rd December 2022 W M Nixon
With November just ended, today’s assessment at the beginning of December for the latest “Sailors of the Month” listings would normally include at least one of our young sailors who starred to such good effect in the European Sailing Championship…
Global Circumnavigator Pat Murphy Posts Himself An Erskine Childers Centenary Stamp
2nd December 2022 Historic Boats
Time was when the launch of commemorative stamps by An Post was done with considerable fanfare. But these days it seems that they believe good work is best done by stealth, as the launching last week of stamps to mark…
Yet again we’ve had a journalist in Ireland’s “Paper of Record” ventilating at the weekend about the widely-held belief that not only are world sea levels rising – which we all accept – but that these absolute sea level rises…
Orca attacks on sailboats off Spain or Portugal - usually aiming for their rudders - are a matter of serious and increasing concern. Now the topic has been moved even further up the offshore passage-making agendawith an assault on the…
Sailing In Ireland Had “Bounce-Back Year” in 2022, What Will 2023 Bring?
26th November 2022 W M Nixon
Did we really manage it? Did we really cram all those major special and routine regular sailing events into the one season of 2022? And all that despite its three main months afloat experiencing decidedly mixed weather? And also despite…
Centenary of Erskine Childers’ Execution In Dublin On Thursday, November 24th Will Evoke A Complexity Of Responses
23rd November 2022 Historic Boats
The gaunt but serene Erskine Childers (52) died an hour after dawn on November 24th 1922 in Beggars Bush Barracks in Dublin. He had been captured as an armed opponent of the new Irish Free State Government’s policy of implementing…
Dublin Bay Old Gaffers Association Holds 2022 AGM at Poolbeg In Dublin Port
21st November 2022 Dublin Bay Old Gaffers
The Dublin Bay Old Gaffers Association is now the central organisation for the OGA in Ireland, following the absorption of the Northern Ireland branch, which supplied the re-elected President, Adrian "Stu" Spence. His home port is in Ringhaddy Sound in…
Is most “ocean racing” today really oceanic? Does “offshore racing” really involve going truly offshore? Are boats touted as being “cruiser-racers” ever really used for genuine cruising? And are sailing enthusiasts who like to think of themselves as being devoted…
Dun Laoghaire’s Classic Water Wags Continue To Increase With Two New-Builds In West Cork
15th November 2022 Water Wag
It could be argued that the progress of the Dublin Bay Water Wag Class has been unstoppable since its foundation in 1887 by Ben Middleton and his friends as the world’s first One-Design fleet. There may have been times in…
Sailing sport has previously been halted within personal memory, both by world wars and more locally-based hostilities. And we don’t have to go very far beyond living individual recollection to gauge how the lingering effects of Spanish Flu in 1919…
Major Kinsale Design Input For New 54 Metre Sloop With Supra-National Links
9th November 2022 Kinsale
Today’s largest sailing superyachts are so much a world unto themselves that they lead a sort of independent and supra-national existence. The name of Argentine-born designer Juan Kouyoumdjian (an ancestor was Armenian) may be best known in Ireland for his…
Anyone with a basic knowledge of the development of sailing in Ireland – particularly from 1890 onwards – will be aware that women sailors played an active role afloat in this country’s sailing boat sport for a long time. For…
