Sailing on Saturday with WM Nixon
Spreading The News Ever Wider On Sailing In Ireland Strengthens Afloat.ie’s Key Role
25th March 2023 W M Nixon
If success has many fathers, while failure is an orphan, then Afloat.ie must be one of the most successful media outlets in Ireland. For in recent years, several people have proudly claimed to have been the founder of what is…
That headline may suggest the latest Viking television melodrama. And at times Sailing To Antarctica, this new multi-aspect book of memoirs - written moreover in an Irish sea village with strong links to the Scandinavian sea rovers - brings the…
You could over-analyse the many attractions of a round Ireland cruise. Apart from being a romantic yet manageable act of homage to our island home, it appeals equally to the adventurous - in that you are always outward bound –…
Irish Cruiser-Racers Get Snapshot Of Success As Highlight Of Today’s ICRA Conference in Dun Laoghaire
4th March 2023 W M Nixon
Ever since Fintan Cairns of Dun Laoghaire and the late Jim Donegan of Cork brought the Irish Cruiser-Racer Association into being twenty years ago, ICRA’s Annual Conference & AGM has provided a fascinating overview of the state of play in…
Ireland’s Leading Creator Of One-Design Racers Was The Very Scottish Alfred Mylne
25th February 2023 W M Nixon
We’re accustomed to thinking of successful and long-lived local One-Design keelboat classes as being a distinctive feature of Irish sailing. Thus we tend to overlook the fact that one particular Scottish designer created more of these Irish boats than anyone…
Conor O’Brien’s Pioneering Saoirse Circumnavigation Centenary Will Be Honoured by Irish Cruising
18th February 2023 W M Nixon
The magnificent pioneering voyage round the world south of the Great Capes in 1923-1925 by Conor O’Brien (1880-1952) of Foynes, sailing his new-built engine-less 42ft Baltimore ketch Saoirse, was of such heroic proportions that any attempts at a re-enactment to…
Eve McMahon is “Irish Sailor of the Year 2022”, making it into the top national position for the second successive year after the ILCA 6 sailor’s international performance was of such a standard that she even managed to better her…
The America's Cup and Quietly Accepting Ireland’s Sensible Place in the Sailing World
4th February 2023 W M Nixon
Be careful what you wish for - it might just come to happen. This was the feeling that emerged in much of the rest of Ireland’s sailing community a year or so back, when “America’s Cup Venue Mania” was taking…
Has Ireland’s “Clash Of The Sailing Fixtures” Become Part Of The Programme?
28th January 2023 W M Nixon
There are cruiser-racing enthusiasts in Ireland who dream of living in a world of non-stop activity in 2023, making the most of a dedicated traditional schedule in which they swing into action with the Scottish Series - back on Loch…
You can tell a lot about someone’s personality through the way in which they react generously – or not – to the fact that for 2022, the Post-Pandemic Year in which Life Afloat With All Its Apres Sailing Ashore Was…
Time was in sailing when the Golden Jubilee of any One Design Class was a matter of extra-special celebration. But it’s now more than fifty years since glassfibre construction became mainstream. Thus instead of fleets dominated by timber boats which…
Howth Yacht Club Gets “Sailing Club Of The Year 2023” from MG Motor, “Car of the Year 2023”
7th January 2023 W M Nixon
The selection of Howth Yacht Club as Ireland’s latest MG Motor “Sailing Club of the Year Award” represents a remarkable harmony of achievement between the competition winners and the sponsors, with Howth Yacht Club becoming “Sailing Club of the Year…
Sailing In Ireland’s Diversity, Dedication & Continuity Is Shown In Afloat.ie’s Latest “Sailors Of The Month”
31st December 2022 W M Nixon
We reach the end of 2022 with sailing in Ireland in good heart. Weatherwise, it was by no means a perfect season. For sure, there were periods of heatwave, but heatwaves can be bad news for good steady sailing breezes.…
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…
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…
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…
