Sailing on Saturday with WM Nixon
The Irish Cruiser-Racing Association’s (ICRA) Annual Conference has now been moved to a different time-frame, scheduled for Saturday 5th March 2016 in Limerick. But with sailing folk all agog to hear the announcement of the ICRA Boat of the Year…
Anyone with whatever you like in the way of a boat and a selection of sundry sails to power her along can have a season of pleasant memories - provided there’s a summer of reliably good weather. It takes an…
Located on the fringes of Europe and set in challenging seas, Ireland does not offer an ideal setup for large-output series-production of recreational boats. We lack the economies of scale which are conferred on giant production companies in the crowded…
With a disappointing showing by the Irish squad in the pre-Olympic Regatta in Rio in August, hopes are not high for our performance in the 2016 Sailing Olympics at this light wind city venue, which has already been the subject…
The Afloat.ie website, which is ranked by Google as Ireland’s leading source for the provision of a broad range of recreational and commercial maritime information, news and comment, has been completely updated in recent weeks. Yet though it has acquired…
W M Nixon takes a look back at last weekend’s All Ireland Championship with some thoughts on the unique atmosphere around Dun Laoghaire Harbour on a busy sailing weekend, while giving us an insight into the hugely successful sailing partnership…
This weekend’s two-day All-Ireland Sailing Championship at the National Yacht Club in Dun Laoghaire, racing boats of the ISA J/80 SailFleet flotilla, is an easy target for facile criticism. Perhaps because it tries to do so much in the space…
We may be an island nation, but are we a maritime people in our outlook and way of life? It could be reasonably argued that we most definitely aren’t. On last night’s Seascapes, the maritime programme on RTE Radio 1,…
As we near the end of the traditional sailing season, inevitably there’ll be heart-searching among boat owners as to the success and value obtained from their summer afloat – can they really justify the expense of continuing to keep a…
How would you like to undertake an intense course of guaranteed Irish offshore racing training? Start as an absolute beginner on a strange boat in April next year. Dedicate yourself to it. Then by the end of June, the boat…
Ireland is a country of seaways, and waterways which are dominated by the majestic River Shannon. On our island, you can never be more than sixty miles from the nearest navigable bit of sea. Add in the myriad of inland…
#rorcrfr – Not only did the Rolex Fastnet Race 2015 provide two completely different sailing experiences all in the one event package, but this 90th Anniversary of the Grand National of Offshore Racing was so suffused with historical references and…
#fastnetrace – The northern jetstream seems to have taken a holiday from Ireland for a few days. This mysterious climatic force - which interacts with the restless brew which develops when large areas of cold and warm air go head…
#olympicsailing – We have heard much of how the 2016 Olympiad Sailing Venue in Rio de Janeiro is setting its courses in polluted waters which will constitute a serious health risk to the participants and those who are afloat staging the…
#irishsailors – With the coldest, wettest and windiest July finally put astern, Irish sailors of all ages competing at every level at venues near and far – sometimes very far - keep their fingers crossed that summer will manage to…
#wildatlanticway – There's an elemental quality to Ireland's Atlantic seaboard which can be more than matched by the weather the ocean throws at it. In the recent Transatlantic Race, the participants commented – often forcefully - on the extreme sailing…