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Hello and welcome to my weekly Podcast …. Tom MacSweeney here …. That the Royal Cork at Crosshaven is the oldest yacht club in the world is well-known, even if there are some elements who have challenged, though unsuccessfully, that…
Is Irish sailing heading south? Are significant sectors of the national fleet heading for new home berths in the Lotus Lands asks W M Nixon. Every Autumn, we hear of boats which have headed down to southern Brittany or southwest…
Hello and welcome to my weekly Podcast …. The Squib Class are heading for Lough Derg this weekend where the Yacht Club is holding its annual Freshwater Keelboat Championships at Dromineer. It’s an end-of-season event and, for Squib sailors, follows…
The great Danish sailor Paul Elvstrom famously commented that it was much easier to create a completely new racing boat with top class potential than it was to create a successful Class Association with global reach to give proper support…
Hello and welcome to my weekly Podcast … Sailing the 27-foot yacht he has owned for 20 years, Jim Doyle helmed Green Sleeves to win the ‘Alta to Starboard Trophy’ in Monkstown Bay. It’s an unusual trophy, made by the…
Gregor McGuckin’s Path to Fame Underlines Ireland’s Challenges in Finding a Place in Offshore Sailing
29th September 2018 W M Nixon
Gregor McGuckin is currently and very deservedly the best-known Irish sailor in the world writes W M Nixon. The sheer gallantry and utter rightness of his efforts to bring aid last weekend to injured fellow Golden Globe competitor Abilash Tomy…
Hello and welcome to my weekly Podcast …. Tom MacSweeney here ….. Sailing is at a “tipping point” across the water in the UK – with the future coterie of potential sailors, the “Millennials” as they are described, taking a…
The Smallest Boats To Sail Round Ireland – A Story of Courage & Character
22nd September 2018 W M Nixon
The contrast could not have been greater writes W M Nixon. On Friday, September 14th on Ireland’s relatively sheltered East Coast, 302 Laser dinghies came in from Dublin Bay to Dun Laoghaire’s elegant and busy harbour to conclude the penultimate day’s…
Hello and welcome to my weekly Podcast …. Tom MacSweeney reporting on current sailing and maritime topics and this week, reflecting on how I have been fortunate during my years of sailing and reporting the sport to meet many disabled…
It was announced this week that the 2019 RORC Rolex Fastnet Race from Cowes will have a change of its original date, with its start moved back from Sunday, August 18th all the way to Saturday, August 3rd. W M…
Fishing Gear Entanglement: Lobster Pot Controls For Scottish Waters
12th September 2018 Tom MacSweeney
Hello and welcome to the weekly MacSweeney Podcast … There is no national listing that I can find of the number of incidents in which leisure craft have become entangled in fishing gear in Irish waters. When it happens, this…
Lasers Masters do not grow old as those who stay ashore or go into keelboats grow old. On the contrary, they’re Tir na nOg afloat. It’s the Land of the Ever-Young out on the sea. And the prospect of the…
Hello and welcome to the weekly MacSweeney Podcast …. It’s been a week with interesting topics, from dirty boats to dirty ports, the pleasant sight of island-racing dinghies but the nastier tale of what submarines might be doing off the…
A properly managed race-winning cruiser-racer talks to us. And we, in turn, think in terms of “a well-presented boat” writes W M Nixon. But there’s much more to it than stylish presentation. It’s not enough just to look good. Everything…
The annual Cobh to Blackrock Sailing race was once, traditionally, the closing race of the sailing season in Cork Harbour. That no longer prevails as the sailing season has extended over the years into December for cruiser classes and practically…
Ireland’s solo Figaro sailors Joan Mulloy and Tom Dolan will be the focus of tonight's episode of RTE Radio 1’s Seascapes. Presenter Fergal Keane travelled to France to catch up with the skippers, teams, and sponsors ahead of leg 1…
