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.
While most of us may think the actual winner of the current Vendee Globe will emerge in the next day or two from among the ranks of Charlie Dalin, Boris Herrmann, Louis Burton, Thomas Ruyant, and Yannick Bestaven as they…
The death in England of the great sailor and sailing writer Bob Fisher at the age of 85 has taken from among us one of the most vibrantly life-enhancing practitioners, innovators, expounders and promoters of our sport. He had achieved…
Royal St George & National Yacht Clubs' Laser 4.7 Youth Worlds 2021 Battle on Despite Post-Pandemic Uncertainties
23rd January 2021 W M Nixon
At one stage last Autumn, it looked for a week or two as though Irish venues might be hosting no less than five World Championships for dinghy classes during the three week period between the July 24th and August 14th…
If anyone in the Royal Ocean Racing Club's suite of race offices was bothered by the thought that the 2021 change of course in the club's core event, the biennial Fastnet Race, was going to have a detrimental effect on…
"How To Go eRacing" Will Be Revealed on Wednesday Evening by Ireland's Champion of the eSailors
19th January 2021 Esailing
It's arguably the case that the best way through lock-down is to assume it's all going to last a bit longer – maybe a lot longer - than most people think. Thus the most effective way to negotiate your way…
In Japan, public opinion may be divided as to whether this summer’s already postponed Tokyo Olympics should be postponed even further, or indeed completely cancelled. But completely focused athletes such as Laser sailor Ewan McMahon of Howth have no choice…
New Sailing Instruction Module - Santa Cruz Sailing School Does it With Surf….(VIDEO)
13th January 2021 Youth Sailing
They say that a good junior sail training programme will gradually introduce the young people to an increasingly demanding range of experiences afloat. But we doubt if the instructors in Santa Cruz in California at the weekend had had something…
Dublin Bay 21 Class Restoration in Kilrush Honoured in Annual Wood Awards Ireland
13th January 2021 Historic Boats
The continuing restoration of the Dublin Bay 21 class of 1902, in the longterm project guided by Hal Sisk and Fionan de Barra of Dun Laoghaire, has seen the work of Master Shipwright Stephen Morris of Kilrush and his team…
Volvo Dun Laoghaire to Dingle 2021: Rockabill Going for the “Threepeat”
11th January 2021 Dun Laoghaire Dingle
It’s only a week since the listings opened for the National YC’s 2021 Volvo Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Race scheduled for June 9th, and already 15 definite entries have arrived in with such speed that the organising committee - under…
For sure, the pandemic-plagued year of 2020 - with its stop-start framework of activity afloat and ashore - was something beyond most sailors' experience. Yet ours is nothing if not a can-do sport. And while some sailing enthusiasts – particularly…
If you think that life is tough under the current pandemic, then the Dublin Bay Old Gaffers Association has just the thing to put current national and personal problems into perspective, with a comprehensively illustrated Zoom talk by noted maritime…
Belfast Lough's Sailing History Given Added Insight by Regatta Portrayal of 1829
4th January 2021 Belfast Lough
The history of sailing in Belfast Lough became so hectic in the 1890s, with the pioneering development of One-design keelboat classes and the first of Thomas Lipton's five America's Cup challenges going forth from Royal Ulster Yacht Club in 1899,…
Dublin Bay Sailing Club's recognition today as the Mitsubishi Motors "Sailing Club of the Year" 2021 on the strength of achieving a remarkably full programme in 2020 when Pandemic Regulations permitted is well merited. Yet it's only the second time…
Paddy Judge, a long-serving committee member and flag officer with Howth Yacht Club, succeeded Ian Byrne as Commodore as the members were asserting the club spirit with an impressive entry in the competition for the best Christmas Festive Lights display,…
When the Courtmacsherry Harbour Boat Club was founded ten years ago, the late Tim Severin - the neighbourhood's own legendary sea adventurer and explorer of international renown - found himself in several roles at the inaugural gathering. Naturally, he was…
Happy Irish Sailing Days May Not Be Here Again For a While, But We Can Hope…
26th December 2020 W M Nixon
Our header photo is one whose use had not been anticipated for at least another month, and hopefully not at all. For it was optimistically expected that by late January, we'd have evidence the vaccines were beginning to work, with…
In Greek mythology, at the Winter Solstice, there is a brief calm for the Halcyon Day, and this was the experience of the crew on the Limerick ketch Ilen as they headed away on Monday evening, after a busy two…
There are only a few harbours in Ireland where you get the feeling that the land is effortlessly embracing the sea rather than endlessly battling it, but Kinsale is undoubtedly one of them. The picturesque port town provides a gentle…
The great Captain Cook may have voyaged to the Pacific in 1769 for the astronomical purpose of observing the Transit of Venus from Tahiti. But tonight (Monday) the crew of the Limerick ketch Ilen have a more modest hope -…
The Irish Laser class would remind you of a murmuration of starlings. They major in highly flexible shape-changing formations in which the actual moving around of the fleet is a matter of independent individual units somehow sweeping together with apparently…
