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.
Wednesday 19:30 hrs – With the on-water leader, the Botin 56 Khumbu, long since across the finish line in Wicklow, a fixed target is now set for the prowling Round Ireland fleet to aim for, and perhaps dream a little.…
Wednesday 13:30hrs - Guy Gillon’s Botin 56 Khumbu took line honours at Wicklow in the 2026 Round Ireland Race with extraordinary precision at 09:26 hrs, extraordinary” as our 07:30 update had reported that she was right on target with 23…
Wednesday 07:30hrs – The new Botin 56 Khumbu (Guy Gillon) is on track to finish the Round Ireland Race at Wicklow this morning, coming in from the northeast, and currently making 12 knots on track to the line with 23…
Tuesday 19:30 hrs – Although Guy Gillon’s Botin 56 Khumbu is now past Rathlin and seemingly on a different planet to the rest of the fleet - where the front-runners are closing in on passing Tory Island at the other…
Tuesday 15:15hrs - There’s been sparkling sailing off Ireland’s northwest coast tiday to brighten life up for a fleet shaking off the ill-effects of prolonged calm. But unfortunately the current stream of extremely humid air may mean that fog will…
Tuesday 08:00: France’s offshore racing veteran legend Gery Trentesaux and Ireland’s Figaro winner Tom Dolan are proving to be a potent mix aboard the scow-bowed Courrier Pogo, as they picked up best as an overnight sou’west airstream spread slowly east…
Monday 20:30hrs - Back in the days of sail, the guidance for shipmasters trying to get unwieldy old square riggers safely out of the stormy west end of the English Channel bluntly stated: “Ushant Should Not Be Sighted”. In other…
Monday 14:30hrs – The strategic essence of the Round Ireland Race for a speedy high-rated boat like Guy Gillon’s Botin 56 Khumbu is to get yourself far enough ahead to be nibbling at a different weather system from the rest…
Monday 07:30hrs - When the Round Ireland leader on the water, the Botin 56 Khumbu, came past the Fastnet Rock at 2100 hrs last (Sunday) night, her crew were encouraged by the broadly easterly breeze holding up sufficiently to give…
Sunday: 1930 hrs - In a reasonably lively Round Ireland Race from Wicklow, we’d be thinking in terms of the leaders on the water getting to the neighbourhood of the Fastnet Rock maybe 24 hours after the start. But not…
1400 hrs Sunday: The Botin 56 Khumbu continues to lead the Round Ireland fleet in east to north-east winds and is past Cork Harbour, with debates about the benefits (or not) of a sea breeze effect providing a bit of…
Royal Irish Yacht Club Drumshanbo Gunpowder Gin Classics Regatta Seizes The Sunshine Day
21st June 2026 Royal Irish Yacht Club
The Summer Solstice’s warm wave of good weather arrived neatly on cue for the eclectic fleet of classics which has gathered in Dun Laoghaire to begin the sailing celebrations for the Royal Irish YC’s 195th Anniverary yesterday (Saturday 20th), with…
Stop-Start Overnight For Round Ireland Fleet As Outrajeous Continues To Lead
21st June 2026 Round Ireland
0700 hrs Sunday: With the northeast going flood making in the Tuskar Rock area from 2100hrs Saturday and the wind fading, it was a difficult night for the Round Ireland Race fleet off the Wicklow coast. None suffered so grieviously…
Day One, 7.30 pm - The Round Ireland Race should come with a health warning. Following it might lead to mild addiction. And for the Round Ireland 2026, those warnings should be raised to Red Alert: This product only to…
Day one, start 2pm - The family of Sam Beckett (1906-1989), the Nobel Laureate for Literature in 1969, did their sailing from the Royal Irish Yacht Club in Dun Laoghaire. So it was doubtless a shrewdly-considered decision by the Powers-That-Be…
If you wanted to design a meteorological setup to provide Ireland with five or six days of sunny weather with gentle winds with some calms, then this morning’s Saturday MetSit IRL (In Real Life) could be used with very little…
When Imperial Russia went to war with Imperial Japan in 1904, most of the Russian Navy was based in the Baltic and had to be sent off on the Grand Imperial Voyage right round Africa, and just about everwhere else,…
Tom Kneen of Plymouth, winner of the Rolex Fastnet Race 2021 with the Mark 1 JPK 11.80 Sunrise and, currently campaigning the successful Mark 2 JPK 11.80 Sunrise III, has entered the 2026 Round Ireland Race from Wicklow on June…
In the secret world of sailing, we readily use terms like “One Ton Cup” and its offshoots in a way that assumes total awareness by the listener of its multiple meanings, thereby further excluding those who find the language of…
Well, why not? In an era when multi-squillionaires are rivalling each other in a “mine’s bigger than yours” competition to send the largest and most powerful privately-funded rockets into increasingly cluttered space, the entrepreneurial notion of a super-cruise-liner a mile…
