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.
Yet again we’ve had a journalist in Ireland’s “Paper of Record” ventilating at the weekend about the widely-held belief that not only are world sea levels rising – which we all accept – but that these absolute sea level rises…
Orca attacks on sailboats off Spain or Portugal - usually aiming for their rudders - are a matter of serious and increasing concern. Now the topic has been moved even further up the offshore passage-making agendawith an assault on the…
Sailing In Ireland Had “Bounce-Back Year” in 2022, What Will 2023 Bring?
26th November 2022 W M Nixon
Did we really manage it? Did we really cram all those major special and routine regular sailing events into the one season of 2022? And all that despite its three main months afloat experiencing decidedly mixed weather? And also despite…
Centenary of Erskine Childers’ Execution In Dublin On Thursday, November 24th Will Evoke A Complexity Of Responses
23rd November 2022 Historic Boats
The gaunt but serene Erskine Childers (52) died an hour after dawn on November 24th 1922 in Beggars Bush Barracks in Dublin. He had been captured as an armed opponent of the new Irish Free State Government’s policy of implementing…
Dublin Bay Old Gaffers Association Holds 2022 AGM at Poolbeg In Dublin Port
21st November 2022 Dublin Bay Old Gaffers
The Dublin Bay Old Gaffers Association is now the central organisation for the OGA in Ireland, following the absorption of the Northern Ireland branch, which supplied the re-elected President, Adrian "Stu" Spence. His home port is in Ringhaddy Sound in…
Is most “ocean racing” today really oceanic? Does “offshore racing” really involve going truly offshore? Are boats touted as being “cruiser-racers” ever really used for genuine cruising? And are sailing enthusiasts who like to think of themselves as being devoted…
Dun Laoghaire’s Classic Water Wags Continue To Increase With Two New-Builds In West Cork
15th November 2022 Water Wag
It could be argued that the progress of the Dublin Bay Water Wag Class has been unstoppable since its foundation in 1887 by Ben Middleton and his friends as the world’s first One-Design fleet. There may have been times in…
Sailing sport has previously been halted within personal memory, both by world wars and more locally-based hostilities. And we don’t have to go very far beyond living individual recollection to gauge how the lingering effects of Spanish Flu in 1919…
Major Kinsale Design Input For New 54 Metre Sloop With Supra-National Links
9th November 2022 Kinsale
Today’s largest sailing superyachts are so much a world unto themselves that they lead a sort of independent and supra-national existence. The name of Argentine-born designer Juan Kouyoumdjian (an ancestor was Armenian) may be best known in Ireland for his…
Anyone with a basic knowledge of the development of sailing in Ireland – particularly from 1890 onwards – will be aware that women sailors played an active role afloat in this country’s sailing boat sport for a long time. For…
Irish Solo Sailor Pat Lawless Holds To Fourth Place In Golden Globe 2022
3rd November 2022 Golden Globe Race
Pat Lawless of Limerick, in his hefty Saltrams Saga 36 Green Rebel, has strengthened his placing at fourth in the Golden Globe Race 2022, having seen off the challenge of India's Abilash Tomy in his much-fancied Rustler 36. Simon Curwen,…
Dublin Port Encourages Ringsend’s Sense Of Itself As A Historic Maritime Community
29th October 2022 W M Nixon
When the multi-talented John B Kearney (1879-1967) retired from a distinguished career in Dublin Port in 1944, he re-focused most of his attention on his parallel interest as a yacht designer and builder. It was an enduring passion that went…
Nobody knows how maritime researcher and historian Cormac Lowth does it all. But while most of us are still absorbing his recently-launched encyclopaedic book about the once hugely active Ringsend sailing trawler fleet, he has been re-focusing on another of…
With six solid race results already on the leaderboard, the weekend’s seventh and final race of the Beshoff Motors Autumn League at Howth Yacht Club came through as a bonus with an often sunny though brisk and freshening southerly. But…
MGM Boats: After 25 Years, Dun Laoghaire’s Top Marine Business Has Busy International Footprint
22nd October 2022 W M Nixon
For most sailors in what is Ireland’s largest and busiest pier-enclosed recreational harbour, MGM Boats of Dun Laoghaire are, first and foremost, the people who provide the essential service of one of Ireland’s largest and most versatile travel hoists. For…
Help Needed: Where Are All The O'Brien Kennedy-Designed Lymington Slipway 5 Tonners?
17th October 2022 Historic Boats
We've a plea for help from Darren Fowler in the Channel Islands: "I am currently restoring the Lymington Slipway 5 tonner "Sardrette", 182817, first registered 27/7/51 in Guernsey. There is very little information available on these boats; I have read…
Any young reader of the Arthur Ransome children's novel Peter Duck will know that waterspouts are - more or less - tornadoes over the sea which quite frequently occur in tropical waters, and they can build a mighty column of…
Ted Crosbie combined so many of the strongest threads of Cork life that he embodied an entire Munster universe of personal positivity. Family was everything to him, but so too was the unique and bustling maritime city of Cork and…
Glandore in West Cork is a picturesque international melting pot of folk of all types from many backgrounds, and like all melting pots, it can occasionally boil ever, particularly if you have someone like Don Street stirring the heated mix.…
Howth Yacht Club Blessed By Good Weather With Two Races For Fourth Day Of Beshoff Motors Autumn League
12th October 2022 Howth YC
The Howth Peninsula was buzzing with sailing sport at the weekend, with the top level of competition on its southwest side at the national Champions’ Cup raced in GP 14s at Sutton Dinghy Club, while there was competition at every…
