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.
Final Dingle Race Beat Along the West Cork & Kerry Coasts Sees Rockabill VI, Aurelia & Hot Cookie Take the Honours
14th June 2019 Dun Laoghaire Dingle Day #3 - 8am We concluded last night’s closing roundup of the continuing drama which is the 270-mile Volvo Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Race 2019 by noting that for some crews, the race only seemed to become serious once they’d put…
Interesting Dun Laoghaire Dingle Race is Now Utterly Fascinating
13th June 2019 Dun Laoghaire Dingle Day #2 10 pm – The Line Honours winner, the 94ft Windfall (Mick Cotter) may be finished with a new course record established, but for many boats you get the impression that the Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Race is only…
Day #2 - 7 pm While the current boat is bigger, everyone on the 94ft Windfall knew that the conditions were exceptionally favourable when Mick Cotter’s 78ft Whisper established the 1 day and 48 minutes course record for the Dun…
Day #2 - 6 pm Mick Cotter’s gallant tilt at getting the 270-mile Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Race time through the 24-hour barrier by finishing before 6.0pm has been frustrated by a very few miles writes W M Nixon Earlier…
Windfall’s Race Against The Clock Winds Up the Tension in Dun Laoghaire-Dingle Fixture
13th June 2019 Dun Laoghaire Dingle Day #2 - 2 pm Mick Cotter’s 94ft Windfall has to average “only” 11.25 knots over the shortest course from Dun Laoghaire to Dingle if she is to break the 24-hour barrier for this classic 270-mile race writes W M…
Improved Weather Welcomes Dun Laoghaire Dingle Race Fleet to the South Coast
13th June 2019 Dun Laoghaire Dingle Day #2 - 9am The Volvo Dun Laoghaire Dingle racers have left the murkier weather of the east coast astern, and this morning finds them reaching along the south coast in what could best be described as serviceable northerlies writes W…
Day #1 midnight - When we remember the increasingly rugged conditions the fleet found themselves contending with as they slugged into rising headwinds past the Saltee Islands in 2017’s Volvo Dun Laoghaire Dingle Race, the current fair wind romp may…
Dun Laoghaire Dingle Fleet Get Fair Wind & Ebb Tide To Speed their Way
12th June 2019 Dun Laoghaire Dingle Day #1 8 pm: With Mick Cotter’s 94ft Windfall the on-the-water leader as she puts Cahore Point astern at 2200hrs, it’s intriguing to note that the unstable but brisk northerly airflow is generous if unpredictable in spreading its favours to…
Dun Laoghaire Dingle Minis Put in Maxi Performance in First Hour of D2D Yacht Race
12th June 2019 Dun Laoghaire Dingle Day #1 (Start Time) 6 pm: The sky stayed grey, but the wind went away writes W M Nixon. There was almost a sense of anti-climax about the monochrome start to the 270-mile Volvo Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Race at…
J/125 'Jackknife' is Late Favourite for Dun Laoghaire Dingle Race Honours
12th June 2019 Dun Laoghaire Dingle A last-minute entry for this evening’s 280-mile Volvo Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Race is a clear case of horses for courses writes W M Nixon. Andrew Hall’s relatively new J/125 Jackknife from Pwllheli is renowned for her speed on a…
The Dun Laoghaire Dingle Race – 'Get the Mostest There the Fastest'
12th June 2019 Dun Laoghaire Dingle There was an American Army General who pithily summed up the secret of success in old-fashioned wars as being a matter of victory going to “whoever gets the mostest there the fastest” writes W M Nixon This takes on a…
When photos circulated of the mangled remains of the 1907-built Howth 17 Rosemary in the wreckage of her storage shed on Howth’s East Pier after Storm Emma in March 2018, many unacquainted with the spirit of this 1897-founded class thought…
Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Race 2019 – Unpredictable Weather, Unpredictable Outcome
8th June 2019 W M Nixon Will the Volvo Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Race next Wednesday find itself sailing with mostly fair winds asks W M Nixon. Will the presence of lows to the west of them, and other lows to the southeast, provide a line…
The Clyde Cruising Club’s Scottish Series has long been a happy hunting ground for Irish boats and crews writes W M Nixon. We remember with particular fondness the great days of the Royal Cork YC’s Corby 36 Antix, with which…
It’s party time afloat and ashore this weekend at Howth Yacht Club, with the two-day Lambay Regatta – sponsored by Provident – featuring the historic Lambay Race itself on Saturday, while Sunday continues with a Family Day and Fun Race.…
Baltimore’s the Place for the Best in Traditional Wooden Boats & the Great Folk Who Sail Them
30th May 2019 Historic Boats West Cork is as much a state of mind as it is a place writes W M Nixon. And when you’re in its bright and cheerfully breezy sailor’s capital of Baltimore, the annual Maytime Festival of Wooden Boats is something…
Baltimore Wooden Boat Festival Welcomes Restored Ilen Home to Her Birthplace After Historic Dublin Visit
25th May 2019 W M Nixon Three million euro - every bit of €3 million writes W M Nixon. That’s what the late Theo Rye, internationally-recognised expert on the restoring and re-building of classic and traditional craft, reckoned that breathing new life into Ireland’s historic 56ft…
There are as many people down-sizing boats these days as there are those who are trading up, with it becoming more difficult to get regular crew as modern family life makes time demands on people who, in a previous age,…
In 1926, the newly-built 56ft trading ketch Ilen was for six months part of the fleet of the Royal Irish Yacht Club. Built in Baltimore in West Cork under the inspiration of pioneering global circumnavigator Conor O’Brien of Limerick to…
Volvo Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Yacht Race 2019: The “Little Big One” With Everything
18th May 2019 W M Nixon You’ll seldom if ever hear anyone who has actually done the biennial Volvo Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Race dismissing it in an offhand way as some sort of Round Ireland Lite writes W M Nixon. It may only be 280…
