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.
Round Ireland Race 2022 Tests Crews’ Patience and Persistence As They Struggle Towards The Finish
22nd June 2022 Round Ireland
Round Ireland Race Day Five (Wednesday) 1500 hrs - Time was when most crews thought they’d had a crisp and efficient Round Ireland Race if they were finished by the Thursday evening. But George David’s sensational circuit with Rambler 88 in…
SSL Renewables Round Ireland Race Should See Kuka3 Take Line Honours At Wicklow In Late Morning
22nd June 2022 Round Ireland
Round Ireland Race Day Five (Wednesday) 0800 hrs - Despite the continuing prospect of light north to northeast winds, this morning’s south-going ebb tide off the Wicklow coast should speed up the progress of the SSE Renewables Round Ireland Race from…
Tides and Times of North Channel are Dictating the Current State of the Round Ireland Race
21st June 2022 Round Ireland
Round Ireland Race Day four (Tuesday) 2100 With the tides of the North Channel running favourably southwards for the Round Ireland fleet from around 16:30hrs today, the state of play for the leaders in the SSE Renewables Round Ireland Race…
Tidal Gates of Northern Coasts are Now Dominant as Kuka3 and Rockabill VI Hold Round Ireland on-Water and Handicap Leads
21st June 2022 Round Ireland
Round Ireland Race Day Four (Tuesday) 0830 hours: When the on-water leader, the Swiss Cookson 50 Kuka3 (Franco Niggeler), came past Rathlin Island at 03:00 hrs this morning, her crew knew that they had barely two hours of tide still…
Approach of Welcome Westerly Tested Positioning Skills of Round Ireland Racers, With Overall Lead Now Battled Between Five Boats
20th June 2022 Round Ireland
Round Ireland Race Day Three (Monday) 2000 hrs - As the overnight northerly morphed unevenly into the new breeze from the west today with the fleet strung out between the latitudes of Kerry and the Aran Island, the tacticians in…
Nieulargo, Rockabill VI and Snapshot Move into Overall CT Lead in Round Ireland Race as Winds Start to Change off West Coast
20th June 2022 Round Ireland
Round Ireland Race day three (Monday) 0830 - The northerly winds have been easing through the night as the bulk of the fleet in the SSE Renewables Round Ireland Race make varying rates of progress northwards off the coast of North…
Will Kuka3 Maintain her Round Ireland Pace and Place as the Winds Turn Light?
19th June 2022 Round Ireland
Round Ireland Day Two 2030 hrs - At 06:30 this morning, came sweeping past the Fastnet Rock, and hardened sheets for the long and rugged slug to windward up the coasts of West Cork and Kerry, fired up to maintain her…
Kinsale's Cinnamon Girl Takes Round Ireland Handicap Lead as Kuka 3 Retains Lead on Water as Fleet Face The Kerry Windward Test
19th June 2022 Round Ireland
Round Ireland Race Day Two (Sunday) 1300hrs - The majestic coast of West Kerry is a tumbling undulation of unexpected peaks and sudden steep cliffs, a seaboard for heroes. And when the wind is fresh to strong or worse from the…
Tough Windward work in Prospect on West Coast for Round Ireland Fleet After Leaders Have Swift Progress to Fastnet Rock
19th June 2022 Round Ireland
Round Ireland Race Day 2 (Sunday) 0900 - Conditions have been ideal for swift and steady progress by the fleet in the SSE Renewables Round Ireland Race since they cleared Wicklow Head and passed Arklow. An area of light breezes off…
Breeze — Or Lack of It — Will Prove a Challenge as 2022 Round Ireland Race Gets Under Way (Photo Gallery)
18th June 2022 Round Ireland
Round Ireland Race Race Start: The Swiss Cookson 50 Kuka 3, the Howth-based Grand Soleil 44 Samatom and the Italian Class 40 Influence had the best of today’s spinnaker start in the 21st SSE Renewables Round Ireland Race off Wicklow in…
All Skill Sets Will Be Tested In SSE Renewables Round Ireland Race From Wicklow Today
18th June 2022 Round Ireland
With the four year pandemic-imposed gap since the previous edition in 2018, today’s restoration of the biennial SSE Renewables Round Ireland Race from Wicklow has been attracting an unprecedented amount of countdown attention and discussion. There has been an across-the-board…
Being involved in Shannon One Design racing in a normal year is a State of Mind as much as it’s a matter of active sport afloat in a highly individualistic 18ft una-rigged open boat, a hard-sailed work of art that…
Round Ireland Race Prices - Mystic Meg Now Backs Cavatina and Rockabill VI
17th June 2022 Round Ireland
The white smoke has gone up from the chimney on a lonely cottage high in the Wicklow hills, and the word has come down from Maritime Mystic Meg on potential betting movements in the SSE Renewables Round Ireland Race: "Based…
“Mystic Meg” Is Your Best Bet In Predicting Round Ireland Race Winners In This Weird Weather Phase
16th June 2022 Round Ireland
In these hyper-communicated days, we can all follow developing weather situations on a 24/7 basis using input from many sources. Nevertheless, from time to time it puts things in some sort of snapshot focus to watch the scheduled broadcast TV…
The Bandon Co-Op-sponsored week-long British & Irish Squib Nationals getting underway this weekend in Kinsale - with the first racing on Sunday, June 19th - is an eloquent example of the imaginative thinking that is needed to get sailing back…
Kinsale’s Cinnamon Boys On A Boat In A Hurry In Countdown To Round Ireland Challenge
14th June 2022 Round Ireland
Kinsale’s top two-handers Cian McCarthy and Sam Hunt with the Sunfast 3300 Cinnamon Girl seem to have already put in enough successful sailing in the season of 2022 to fulfil the ambitions of many crews for a whole year. And…
James Joyce & Ulysses Links To Dublin Bay & Ringsend To Be Highlighted in Bloomsday Lecture In Ringsend Library
13th June 2022 Dublin Bay
With Bloomsday on Thursday, June 16th, the ongoing Centenary of the publication of James Joyce's Ulysses will see even more local links to the great work and its author being highlighted and celebrated in many ways in several places. Noted…
162 ft Schooner Sinks – Tarragona's Red Peril Puts Paid To The Elegant Eleanora
10th June 2022 Historic Boats
Until this morning, the 162ft (49.5m) classic schooner was one of the most beautiful boats afloat. But in Tarragona Marina in Spain today, some manoeuvring by a large red work-ship didn't quite go according to plan, and Eleanora floats no…
When the weather patterns conspire to provide wet or rugged sailing on Ireland’s sea coasts, the shrewd mariner heads for the inland sea that is Lough Ree, which has been geographically measured with some elegant 19th Century science as being…
Galway Stopover in Round Britain & Ireland Race To Last For A Week
6th June 2022 Royal Western Rd Britain & Ireland
Andy Fennell's 39ft trimaran Morpheus, the leader at the 48-hour Galway stopover in the 2000-mile Round Britain & Ireland Race 2022 from Plymouth, is now well on her way to the next stop at Lerwick in the Shetlands. But the…
