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.
The Limerick ketch Ilen returned safely from Greenland to berth at an Irish quayside for the first time in more than two months when, at 0400hrs this morning, skipper Paddy Barry and his crew brought the 56ft 1926-built “little ship”…
Limerick Ketch Ilen Passing Skelligs – She's Due in Kinsale at 0400 Hrs Tomorrow (Wednesday)
3rd September 2019 Ilen
When Conor O’Brien returned from his round the world voyage in Saoirse to Dun Laoghaire in 1925, it was all carefully choreographed so that he arrived in the middle of a Saturday afternoon, and the DBSC fleet, having abandoned their…
Irish Sailors Shane Diviney & Brian Carlin Aboard for Transatlantic Record Challenge by IMOCA 60 Malizia II
2nd September 2019 Offshore
The IMOCA 60 Malizia II is one busy boat these days writes W M Nixon. She hit the global headlines by conveying climate activist Greta Thunberg across the Atlantic to New York in a carbon-neutral way courtesy of skipper Pierre…
Ilen Voyage Promotes Transatlantic Learning Links for School Kids in Ireland & Greenland
1st September 2019 Ilen
There’ll be opportunities in Limerick and Greenland for young people to learn more of what the two Transatlantic voyages – outward and return - of the 56ft traditional ketch Ilen have discovered and explained, with schools now resumed after the…
Make Sailing Simple Again – Some Committee Boat Starts Can Work Against Racing Enjoyment
30th August 2019 W M Nixon
Our header photo this week may not be the greatest in terms of clarity and technical brilliance, let alone jaw-dropping drama writes W M Nixon. But it tells us much about our peculiar sport of racing under sail, that two…
Limerick Ketch Ilen is Now Halfway Home to Ireland from Greenland & Headed for Kinsale
30th August 2019 Ilen
The 56ft traditional ketch Ilen under the command of Paddy Barry has been making excellent progress since departing Greenland on Sunday evening, and is already halfway home to Ireland along the 1200 mile passage from Prince Christian Sund writes W…
The world of sailing in Ireland and internationally is much diminished by the sad passing of Douglas “Dougie” Deane of Crosshaven at the age of 82, after a very fully-lived life in which he contributed much to the sports with…
Belgian solo sailor Caroline Adriens has departed southwards from Galway after spending nearly a year in the popular west coast port with her 30ft Albin Ballad. She had arrived in Galway in September 2018 from Tromsø in Norway via Shetland,…
With all eyes on the pre-Olympics and the Rugby World Cup in Japan, Quest Howth has recently proven a big hit in the Land of the Rising Sun. While the focus in recent days may have been on the Olympic…
After so much promise with sun-filled races towards Greystones on Saturday, as a local observer has wrily remarked, Sunday was more Factor 6 than Force 6…….Perhaps in other places, local coastal anomalies and neighbourhood weakness in tidal streams made events…
Historic Ketch Ilen Takes her Departure from Greenland, Bound for Ireland & Limerick
26th August 2019 Ilen
Limerick’s restored 56ft Conor O’Brien-designed 1926-built traditionally-rigged trading ketch Ilen emerged yesteray evening (Sunday) from the eastern end of Prince Christian Sound to start her passage back to Ireland writes W M Nixon. The magnificent Sound - noted for its dramatic…
BJ Marine 'Taste of Greystones' Regatta This Weekend Celebrates a Unique Town & Harbour
23rd August 2019 W M Nixon
The problem with Greystones is that it faces the sea writes W M Nixon. Or at the very least, there isn’t a part of the north Wicklow town in which you aren’t very aware that the sea is nearby. The…
It’s exactly a hundred years to the day from the establishment of the thriving Treardur Bay Sailing Club at its rocky cove in west Anglesey in North Wales on August 23rd 1919 writes W M Nixon. Back then, the world…
Limerick Ketch Ilen Continues Homeward Along Desirable Greenland ‘Real Estate’
22nd August 2019 Ilen
The traditional restored 56ft trading ketch Ilen of Limerick, under the command of Paddy Barry, is serenely continuing her progress homewards along Greenland’s southwest coast despite that rugged and sparsely-populated coastline suddenly becoming global news, thanks to the revelation that…
Historic Yawl Iolaire May be Gone, But Former Owner Don Street Sails on
20th August 2019 Historic Boats
They say bad news travels fast. But the news that the 48ft 1905-built yawl Iolaire has been lost, after an inadvertent gybe in heavy weather drove her onto rocks – fortunately without loss of life or injury - off Ibiza…
The 1926-built restored 56ft Limerick trading ketch Ilen has completed the varied shoreside and coastal aspects of her research voyage to Greenland writes W M Nixon. This took her as far north as Ilulissat beyond the Arctic Circle to give…
Naval Services' Role in Fastnet Rescues of 1979 Recalled at Final 2019 Commemoration Service on Cape Clear
19th August 2019 Fastnet
The significant role played by the Irish Naval Service in the 1979 Fastnet Race Disaster has sometimes been overlooked in the dramatic images of helicopters and lifeboats in direct action writes W Nixon. But in fact the LE Deirdre under…
It is with great sadness that we announce the death of Douglas Deane of Crosshaven, for many years one of Cork Harbour’s best-known sailing figures afloat and ashore. His funeral will take place tomorrow (Tuesday) at 11.30am in St Brigid’s…
RS Classes Move From Galway Bay To RS400 Ireland & UK Nats on Belfast Lough & Dinghyfest
18th August 2019 RS Sailing
Ireland’s expanding RS Classes are in acceleration mode as they build towards the Irish & UK RS 400 Nats at Royal North of Ireland YC at Cultra on Belfast Lough from 25th to 29th August, and the all-classes RS Southerns…
It is ironic that the internationally-recognised abbreviated sail number identification on Irish racing boats should be IRL writes W M Nixon. For in global tech-speak, IRL is the acronym of “In Real Life”. If the rather intriguing way of existence…
