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.
Cork’s Legendary Golden Apple of 1974 is a Crisp & Tasty Treat For Sale in Denmark
20th January 2022 Boat Sales
We’ve become sadly inured to reports of Denis Doyle’s exquisitely-varnished Crosshaven-built Frers 51 Moonduster of 1981-vintage mouldering mossily in the harsh climate of northern Norway. So when a certain nautically-minded antiquarian bookseller of the Roughty Valley in southwest Kerry mentioned…
When a Centenary arrives, most of those closely involved tend to focus on the history they’re celebrating, whether it’s a club or a boat class or whatever. Sometimes they become immersed in potentially challenging and even contentious projects like re-enactments,…
Dubliner Paul Keogh Receives Top Trophy For His Dedication to Promoting Traditional Gaff Rig
17th January 2022 Dublin Bay Old Gaffers
For many years until her transfer to Galway in 2021, the Clondalkin community-built Galway Hooker Naomh Cronan was a feature of sailing life in Dublin’s River Liffey at Poolbeg Y&BC in Ringsend, and she was a regular attendee at traditional…
To say that Rob Mason of Milford Haven has an eye for a boat is a bit like saying that the late Vincent O’Brien was quite a good judge of horseflesh. The retired Milford Haven tugboat skipper turned up from…
Squib Majors At Kinsale In June Provide Ideal Launching Pad For Ireland’s Reviving International Sailing Scene In 2022
15th January 2022 W M Nixon
When the Irish Squib Class signed off their 2021 season with boats from all parts of the country taking part in the successful though socially-distanced Freshwater Regatta for four national keelboat classes at Dromineer on Lough Derg in October, the…
Galway Will Be First Port To Welcome Fully-Crewed Round Britain & Ireland Racers
14th January 2022 Galway Harbour
Galway Bay Sailing Club are looking forward to organising the first stopover for the enlarged four-stage Round Britain and Ireland Race, which starts from Plymouth on May 29th 2022. In time past, the race has been based on two-handed crews.…
It’s said that when the experimentally-minded William Petty, the compiler of the Down Survey in Ireland in the 1660s, decided to build his very innovative Simon & Jude catamaran in 1663 for testing in Dublin Bay, the decidedly odd vessel…
What goes around comes around. When Enda O’Coineen’s Atlantic Youth Trust revealed their interest in acquiring a classic three-masted topsail schooner from Sweden last Autumn for multiple maritime functions, of which sailing training would only be one, it set bells…
Leading Sailing Historian Hal Sisk Among Those Lauding Classic International Dragon in New Video
7th January 2022 Dragon
The International Dragon One Design has been an important of Irish sailing since the 1930s, writes W M Nixon. This classic boat’s good looks and excellent performance continues to provide rewarding racing for sailors of all ages worldwide. Indeed, a…
The recent announcement that Nordic Clinker or Clench Timber Construction - as practised by several classic boat-builders in Ireland - is now receiving UNESCO Heritage Recognition has caused understandable pride among those who own one of those beauties, craft such…
Ireland’s Solo Ocean Voyager From Blessington Uses The Moitessier Method
5th January 2022 Solo Sailing
The French ocean sailing pioneer Bernard Moitessier became famous for trying not to be famous. In the Golden Globe challenge of 1968 with his Colin Archer-style steel ketch Joshua, he was very much in contention in the non-stop circumnavigating contest…
Who gets your vote for Afloat Irish Sailor of the Year 2021? Afloat Sailors of the Month in 2021 kept our sport going through adversity is the view of Winkie Nixon in his review of 24 individual sailors, pairings and crews (below)…
Lough Ree Yacht Club & Shannon ODs Share MG Motors “Sailing Club of the Year” Award for 2022
1st January 2022 W M Nixon
Lough Ree Yacht Club and the Shannon One Design Association are sharing this year’s MG Motors Sailing Club of the Year Award. It’s the well-deserved honouring of a dynamic combination that provides a core contribution to the Athlone area’s reputation…
Gordon Maguire’s Fifth Hobart Race Win Sees Ichi Ban Take Tattersall Cup For Third year In A Row
31st December 2021 Sydney to Hobart
When Gordon Maguire of Howth won his first Sydney-Hobart Race in 1991 helming Atara with Cork’s Harold Cudmore as skipper, he can scarcely have dreamed that thirty years later, he would proudly be holding the coveted Tattersall Cup for the…
Hot News From Tasmania - Ichi Ban Wins Hobart Race For Matt Allen & Gordon Maguire
31st December 2021 Sydney to Hobart
Matt Allen’s Botin/TP 52 Ichi Ban, with Gordon Maguire of Howth as Sailing Master and a crew including Sean O’Rourke and Dublin-born Noel Drennan, has received the benefit of a remarkable reversal of fortune in the current Rolex Sydney Hobart…
Ichi Ban Misses Chance of Third Successive Hobart Overall Win by Just Three Minutes, But Protests Pending Against Leader
29th December 2021 Sydney to Hobart
Matt Allen’s TP 52 Ichi Ban, with Gordon Maguire as Sailing Master, was first of all the TP 52s into the finish of the Rolex Sydney Hobart Race 2021 at 4:45:29 pm local time December 29th. But as she had…
Black Jack Takes Sydney-Hobart Line Honours While Three TP 52s are “Glued Together” in Battle for IRC Overall Win
29th December 2021 Sydney to Hobart
The Rolex Sydney-Hobart Race must be one of the most intensely-analysed offshore racing events in the world, providing four or five days of close-fought competition to be looked at every which way while the Northern Hemisphere is largely in a…
Sydney-Hobart Race’s Wind-Over-Current Sailing Too Lively For Some as Ireland’s Maguire Settles to His Work Aboard Ichi Ban
27th December 2021 Sydney to Hobart
The south-going East Australia Current off the coast of New South Wales can vary in its strength. But if there’s power in it at its strongest streams about ten miles and more offshore, even a moderate to fresh southerly wind…
Irish Sailor Pamela Lee Meets Extreme Challenge of Midwinter Atlantic Crossing
26th December 2021 Pamela Lee
With the three named Atlantic storms of Arwen, Barra and Corrie already logged and leaving behind trails of varying degrees of disruption in Northwest Europe, we in Ireland don’t need to be told that the winter of 2021-2022 has been…
Will Sydney-Hobart’s Sunshine Return to Brighten Ireland’s Mid-Winter Mood?
25th December 2021 W M Nixon
For many years now, the annual 628-mile Rolex Sydney-Hobart Race on 26th December has played a special role in reviving the mid-winter spirits of the dark and gloomy Northern Hemisphere, with the glitzy sunlit start out of one of the…
