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.
Tall Ships and Sail Training? Everyone will immediately think of stately clipper-bowed cathedrals of sail making their elegant and timeless way across the high seas, driven along under acres of square-sailed cloth, spreading the gospel of international fellowship and the…
Ireland’s Location Adds Costs to Challenges of International Sailing Competition
10th January 2020 W M Nixon
It is still possible to sail in Irish waters in your own cruiser-racer without involving enormous expense. You just have to be prepared to do it in a boat of economical size which is far from being the newest available.…
The SSE Renewables Round Ireland Yacht Race from Wicklow on June 20th 2020 will attract some of the hottest new offshore racers to be seen in Irish and European waters. But there will be some more senior and even classic…
It all came down to the eleventh and final race of the Australian Optimist National Opens 2020 in Melbourne, with a total fleet of 255 boats from eight nations racing. Howth Yacht Club's Rocco Wright was overnight leader by just…
Howth Yacht Club's Rocco Wright Holds Narrow Lead Going into Final Day of Australian Optimist Championship
8th January 2020 Optimist
Rocco Wright of Howth Yacht Club holds a one-point lead facing into the final day (January 9th) of the 255-boat Australian International Optimist Championship 2020 at the Royal Yacht Club of Victoria in Melbourne on Port Philip Bay, with the…
Royal Cork Yacht Club is Mitsubishi Motors 'Sailing Club of the Year 2020'
2nd January 2020 W M Nixon
The Royal Cork Yacht Club is the new Mitsubishi Motors Sailing Club of the Year, both in honour of its Tricentenary in 2020, and in celebration of a busy and successful season in 2019. The hospitable club faces this unprecedented…
Putting the Records Straight on the Irish Involvement in the Sydney-Hobart Race
1st January 2020 Sydney to Hobart
Now that the Rolex Sydney Hobart Race 2019 results are finalised and being channelled into the continuing statistics of this 75-year-old classic, we have got a couple of points to clarify. One of our headlines yesterday said Gordon Maguire on…
Howth Yacht Club Breakthrough Makes Hobart Finish Before Midnight to Hold Sixth in Class & 11th Overall in Corinthian Division
29th December 2019 Sydney to Hobart
Hobart Harbour’s localised calm in the hours of darkness is almost a freak of nature, for it can settle in even when there’s quite a decent breeze in the nearest piece of half open water. Last year, it put paid…
Howth Yacht Club Breakthrough Well Placed to Deal with Inshore Zephyrs in Sydney-Hobart Classic
29th December 2019 Sydney to Hobart
Darren Wright’s First 40 HYC Breakthrough has had a good day of it in the closing sections of the Rolex Sydney-Hobart with the forecast nor’easter fulfilling its promise. With 20 miles to go, the Howth crew in the only all-Irish…
Howth Yacht Club's Breakthrough Battles on in Sydney-Hobart Race as Ireland Basks in Reflected Big Boat Success
28th December 2019 Sydney to Hobart
As the daylight of Sunday morning strengthens along the east coast of Tasmania, Irish interest in the Rolex Sydney-Hobart race 2019 turns towards Darren Wright’s First 40 HYC Daybreak in Division 6. We can re-focus confident in the knowledge that…
'Ichi Ban' Currently Overall Leader after Finishing Sydney Hobart Race in 2 days and 6 hours
28th December 2019 Sydney to Hobart
Matt Allen’s Botin 52 Ichi Ban is now safely across the finish line in Hobart to correct into the Sydney Hobart overall leader position after completing the 628-mile course in just 2 days 6 hours and 18 minutes, despite stages…
The SuperMaxi Comanche, all one hundred feet of her with a huge beam to provide impressive sail-carrying power, has overcome the tricky winds and calms of the Derwent River to take line honours in the Tasmanian morning in the Rolex…
If Your Port’s Name is Attached to a Sailing Event, Make Sure to Keep That Link Alive…
27th December 2019 W M Nixon
Some sailing events capture the popular imagination, while others – for some reason – simply pass by relatively unheeded. Either way, there’s no doubting that the 628-mile Rolex Sydney-Hobart Race is in the former category, with its crazy Christmas-time start…
Ichi Ban Emerges Ahead from the Sydney Hobart Race’s “Snakes & Ladders” Stage
27th December 2019 Sydney to Hobart
Matt Allen’s Botin 52 Ichi Ban, with Howth Yacht Club's Gordon Maguire very much on the strength of a crew of all the talents, is currently leading IRC overall in the 75th Rolex Sydney Hobart Race as the fleet emerges…
Howth Yacht Club Breakthrough Lives Up to Her Name in Sydney-Hobart Race
26th December 2019 Sydney to Hobart
After rapid initial progress southward from Sydney in the 75th Rolex Sydney-Hobart Race, the big boat leaders on the water are being slowed by a large area of light airs off Australia’s southeast corner, and the smaller craft are making…
Complex Sydney-Hobart Handicap Challenge Makes Simple Battle for Line Honours Attractively Straightforward
23rd December 2019 Sydney to Hobart
There’s nothing like the spectacle of a flotilla of fighting Supermaxis streaking away southwards from the start of the annual Rolex Sydney-Hobart Race to snap us out of the Christmas torpor. In fact, with the time difference between Ireland and…
Dublin Bay Sailor David FitzPatrick Joins Clipper Round the World Race for Demanding Stage South of Australia
23rd December 2019 Clipper Race
Round the World Clipper Race contender Visit Sanya China will be in catch-up mode when she starts the Australian coastal stage (leg 4) on Christmas Day from Fremantle on the west coast to the Whitsundays on the northeast Great Barrier…
In ancient Greece, the Halcyon days of calm in time-honoured mythology occurred at the mid-winter solstice. Yet after Galway Port received such a battering from Storm Elsa as recently as last Wednesday night, most folk would have been more than…
Irish Sailing Looks to the Southern Hemisphere in Winter Solstice Weekend
20th December 2019 W M Nixon
In Australia, the unprecedented heatwave is so totally engulfing the continent that respected observers of maritime weather patterns such as Matt Allen, owner/skipper of the very special Botin-designed TP52 development Ichi Ban 2, reckon that we’ll have to be a…
There were severe gales around much of Ireland on Wednesday night, but at Galway Docks, in particular, the localised effects of a storm surge on extreme high water – with southwest winds of more than 70 knots - caused the…
