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.
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…
Shannon Estuary's Cutter Sally O'Keeffe Successfully Spans The Ages
11th October 2022 Shannon Estuary
The 25ft gaff cutter Sally O'Keeffe, built by a community group at Querrin on the Loop Head Peninsula under the guidance of master shipwright Steve Morris of Kilrush, to a design by Myles Stapleton of Malahide as a miniature synthesis…
When bad weather hampered the final stages of preparation for the J/80 Worlds at Newport, Rhode Island last week, the pessimists wondered if it was stretching things too far, in an Autumn of unsettled weather, to have racing scheduled right…
As reported in Afloat.ie, the showing by Pat O'Neill and his Howth crew in the J/80 Worlds at Newport, Rhode Island during the past five days seemed to be improving in tandem with the improvement with the weather, and having…
Afloat.ie regrets to record the death last night of Ted Crosbie of Cork at the age of 91. A legendary helmsman in many forms of sailing, he was the most senior holder of the all-Ireland Helmsman's Championship - now the…
Pat O'Neill of Howth is a seasoned international campaigner with his championship crew in the J/80 fleet. But until now, most of his successes overseas have been achieved on the European circuit. This week, however, Team O'Neill have made the…
Can The Champions' Cup This Weekend Be Compressed Into A Single Day Of Racing?
6th October 2022 All Irelands
The Race Officer In The Armchair is as big a pain as the Hurler On The Ditch, particularly when either is operating in hindsight. And they're only slightly less of a pest when they're throwing in their tuppence-worth of advice…
Multi-talented offshore sailor Pamela Lee of Greystones has been at the heart of it in the annual late season Classics racing on the French Riviera, crewing on Richard Matthews’ 1898-vintage 48ft William Fife-designed-and-built cutter Kismet in a notably successful programme…
Cormac Lowth of Dublin is a one-man Irish maritime history institute, the first and last port of call for anyone seeking the facts about some aspect of our seagoing history, whether it's obscure or supposedly well-known. Quite how he carries…
Howth Yacht Club's Autumn League Gets Great Third Day (If Squally Changes Are Your Thing)
3rd October 2022 Howth YC
The purple arrows were out in force on Day 3 of the Beshoff Motors Autumn League at Howth, though the heaviest of them passed to the north of the race area. The purple arrows are the ones that indicate squalls,…
Pat Lawless (66) of Limerick may still have 24,455 miles to sail before he becomes the first Irishman to sail non-stop solo round the world. But in the Golden Globe Race 2022, he has been getting remarkably competitive performances out…
Afloat.ie’s September “Sailors of the Month” Listings Mark The Turn Of The Seasons
1st October 2022 W M Nixon
September is a month of harvests afloat as it is ashore, and as we reach October with its inescapable sense of the change in the seasons, our bountiful new monthly list of no less than six different and distinctive September…
East Antrim Boat Club is a haven of almost rural peace and quiet on the point of land with the remains of historic Olderfleet Castle at the south side of this commercial town. For Larne is a bustling manufacturing centre…
The 40th Annual Autumn League at Howth Yacht Club – sponsored these days by specialist car company Beshoff Motors – enjoyed a bright and brisk northerly breeze with a touch of nor’east for its second weekend. “Brisk” with a mixed…
