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.
A month ago, Afloat.ie ran a story around the now-defunct but much-mourned Kilbarrack Sailing Club, and how an entire generation of young sailors in Dublin Bay learned their sailing in the Jack Holt-designed 11ft Heron Class dinghies. But then, so…
Carmel Winkelmann of Dun Laoghaire, who has died in her 93rd year, was a universe, a force of nature, and an indefatigable and resilient optimist who carved her own unique course through Irish sailing at every level for sixty years…
Limerick City Reclaims Ancient Maritime Rights in Shannon Estuary From Deck of the Ketch Ilen
15th June 2021 Ilen
It has emerged there was much more to the diplomatic voyage of Limerick’s 56ft trading ketch Ilen to Galway at the weekend with the Mayor of Limerick. Councillor Michael Collins, on board. Officially, it was to launch the Ilen Marine…
Howth Yacht Club's Historic Lambay Race Attracts 78 Keelboats Despite Club-Only Format
15th June 2021 Howth YC
With official club racing only permissible since last Monday, June 7th, and many fit-out schedules delayed through May's atrocious weather, the realists had been hoping for a turnout of maybe around 40 boats for Howth YC's opening major event of…
Crosshaven & Kinsale Take the Top of the Milk in National YC’s Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Race
11th June 2021 Dun Laoghaire Dingle
Day #3 0930 - The Murphy family’s consistently successful Grand Soleil 40 Nieulargo (Royal Cork YC) reached Dingle this morning at 09:27 hrs and immediately corrected into an overall lead in the D2D which she is unlikely to lose. Having passed…
Kinsale’s Freya is Past the Fastnet & Accelerating Towards Dingle
10th June 2021 Dun Laoghaire Dingle
Day #2 2230 - Conor Doyle's Xp50 Freya was leading the Dun Laoghaire to Dingle fleet at the Fastnet Rock at 2147hrs tonight (Thursday), and then with slightly eased sheets eased was starting to make more serious knots – 9 knots…
Dun Laoghaire-Dingle Race: Nieulargo Gives Master Class on Getting Past Old Head of Kinsale
10th June 2021 Dun Laoghaire Dingle
Day #2 1845: If you’d a gloomy outlook on life in general and sailing in particular, you’d readily agree that the Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Race is just one damned thing after another. No sooner is one challenge sorted than something…
Tally-ho! Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Yacht Race Fleet Gallop on Westward Through Cork Fog
10th June 2021 West Cork
Day #2 1330: “Neither fog nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds….”. Okay, so we’ve substituted fog for snow in a misappropriation of the US Mail’s gallant motto in…
Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Race Fleet Make Good Progress on Track on South coast
10th June 2021 Dun Laoghaire Dingle
Day #2 0930: The “Dash to Dingle” began to live up to its name with renewed enthusiasm through the brief summer night, as the tide turned in the fleet’s favour approaching the Tuskar, and the breeze sharpened with enough south in…
Kinsale & Crosshaven Yachts Leading on Water & Handicap in Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Race
9th June 2021 Dun Laoghaire Dingle
Day #1 8 pm: The weather has settled down to a warm and sunny summer's evening as the fleet in the 2021 Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Race turn to windward close inshore between Wicklow Head and Arklow, theoretically with ample time…
Although the 123-year-old Howth 17s are scheduled to start their fully-sanctioned club programme of weekly racing tomorrow (Tuesday) evening, five of the class’s most dedicated aficionados reckoned that the lifting of limitations - which had permitted only Training Races until…
National Yacht Club's Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Race is Clarion Call for Ireland's 2021 Sailing Season
5th June 2021 W M Nixon
Way back whenever, as each wave of COVID seemed to sweep over its predecessor with a power worthy of Aileens herself, the incurable optimists among Ireland's sailors continued to hope that by some miracle we'd have reached a stage on…
If you were to bring together even half of the boats built with the involvement of the late great George Bushe of Crosshaven, you'd have the makings of a fascinating maritime museum. The master boatbuilder – whose skills live on…
These days the description cruiser-racer has come to have so many interpretations that it can be meaningless, and even the best of them can disappear into the "boats with a lid" category. But when David Thomas created the design for…
Dublin Bay Training Race Limits - Flying Fifteens May Need to Clip Their Own Wings
1st June 2021 Flying Fifteen
With Dublin Bay Sailing Club's final week of Pandemic-restricted Training Races currently underway (restrictions are lifted on Monday, June 7th), the always-numerous Flying Fifteen class have been threatening to fly too high, and may need to have their wings clipped…
Clontarf Yacht Restoration to Feature on this Week's Big DIY Challenge on RTE 1
31st May 2021 Maritime TV
When you see the projects which have been featuring on the Big DIY Challenge sponsored by Ronseal and hosted by comedian and Dun Laoghaire lifeboat crewman P J Gallagher on RTE 1 every Thursday at 8.30 pm, you'll have marvelled at…
While there may have been nothing exactly like the current schedule-wrecking Pandemic before, in times past - nationally and internationally - we've come through comparable catastrophes. And enough of previous generations have survived to tell the tale and provide guidance…
Dublin Port, Bindon Blood Stoney, & the Diving Bell – All Will Be Revealed
27th May 2021 Dublin Port
This year marks the 150th Anniversary of the inaugural use of Dublin Port's pioneering diving bell, and Thursday 27th May will see the first of three 40-minute online lectures (the other two are on 3rd June and 10th June) organised…
The many months of Lockdown in its various forms have prevented the Dublin Bay Old Gaffers Association from physically holding their regular monthly winter meetings at Poolbeg Yacht & Boat Club in Dublin Port. Each of these friendly gatherings –…
Amazing Grace: This Oyster 37 Genuine Cruiser-Racer is a Very Versatile Sailing Proposition
23rd May 2021 Boat Sales
It's always heartening to know that there are boats like the Oyster 37 Amazing Grace in the Irish fleet. They date from that era in the mid-to-late 1970s when leading yacht designers (in this case Don Pye of Holman &…
