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.
Kish for Breakfast, Tuskar for Lunch – Old Head of Kinsale for Dinner? Ireland's Flying Female Circumnavigators Closing in on the First Major Turn
13th October 2020 Round Ireland Speed Record
Female Two-handed Round Ireland Record Day One 1400: Kish Lighthouse for breakfast. Tuskar Rock for lunch. That's the way it is for Pam Lee and Cat Hunt as they've scorched down Ireland's East Coast in a fine fair wind with…
Round Ireland Female Two-Handed Record is in Clear Sight & Fascinating in Context
12th October 2020 Round Ireland Speed Record
Early tomorrow (Tuesday) morning, the foiling Figaro 3 Magenta Project - double-handed by Greystone's Pamela Lee and Cat Hunt - will blast south from the official Round Ireland Records line, which is eight miles long between the Kish Lighthouse and…
Ireland's Coronavirus Cancellations? Healthy Club Sailors Have Had To Accept It With Good Grace
10th October 2020 W M Nixon
"I just want to go sailing and racing. Until we had to slam down the shutters this week, I didn't really realise just how much the ordinary club sailing programme and a special local annual series like the Autumn League…
Cork Harbour rockstar helm Nin O'Leary will be racing the Reichel Pugh 72 Aragon in October's Middle Sea Offshore Race if the Royal Malta Yacht Club can successfully maintain its careful progress through the challenges posed by the coronavirus pandemic, something…
Middle Sea Race Has Defending Champion Woman Skipper In Unique Double Role
9th October 2020 Offshore
Dr Maya Podesta belongs to one of Malta's most noted offshore sailing families. Her late father Arthur (who died in 2015) was a pioneer of the Middle Sea Race – he raced in the first one in 1968, and raced…
If you were asked to name the real centre point of modern Dublin, you'd probably dodge the question by saying that it's somewhere along a line through O'Connell Bridge and Trinity College, and on up Grafton Street or Dawson Street.…
Strong Irish Interest in Proposal that Sailing Has Done Enough to Return to Paralympic Games at Los Angeles 2028
7th October 2020 News Update
World Sailing President Kim Andersen has claimed that the sport is in a strong position to lobby for a return to the programme at the Paralympic Games in time for Los Angeles 2028. This rings many bells in Ireland, as…
"Getting the builders in" is a challenging prospect on land at the best of times. Add in the sea, and it's then a challenge-plus. Thus when you're working on and in the waterfront to implement a project within a busy…
Crosshaven Boatyard's New Owner Outlines Fresh Horizons for this Renowned Landmark
5th October 2020 Crosshaven Boatyard
Crosshaven Boatyard's new owner Pearse Flynn (see Afloat's report 28-09-20 here) has revealed further details of how the extensive facility in Cork Harbour will fit into his plans to provide comprehensive shoreside and on-water services for offshore wind farms off…
Every summer since 1997, the historic and picturesque English Jurassic Coast town of Lyme Regis (think Jeremy Irons & Meryl Streep in the 1981 multiple Oscar-nominated movie The French Lieutenant's Woman) has enjoyed the quaint ceremony of the Launching of…
Thank you, September. You did your best to provide us with good sailing as ingenious moves were implemented to run modified pandemic-compliant events which gave proper meaning to the season, and to our sailing traditions. It was neither your fault…
Multiple Possibilities for Unique Kinsale Property which is a Waterfront Icon
2nd October 2020 Waterfront Property
"Unique" and "iconic" are words so overused they've almost become meaningless. So it says something about a very special harbourside house on the market in Kinsale, that it should so confidently restore the vitality and meaning of those terms -…
Bray's Droleen Dinghy Will Sail Again from Jurassic Coast Boat-Building School
30th September 2020 Historic Boats
When small boat sailing enthusiast W Ogilvy of Bray in County Wicklow persuaded seven of his friends to join him in 1896 in creating a new 12ft sailing dinghy class to his own design for local beach use, even the…
Killaloe Sailing Club on the beautiful southern shores of Lough Derg is a community-orientated, not-for-profit, Irish Sailing-accredited amateur, small boat sailing club. This little club – totally volunteer-run – now has the fully-developed vision of building a stylish new clubhouse,…
Mystery of Orca Whale Attacks on Boats Continues off Spanish Coast
26th September 2020 Marine Wildlife
Stories of whales attacking boats at sea and sometimes sinking them go back a long way in maritime history, and as often as not it has happened in such a sudden and frightening way that identifying the precise species has…
West Cork Mini-Workboat Was a Key Link in Ilen's South Atlantic Shepherd Role
25th September 2020 Ilen
When we contemplate the 56ft 1926-vintage Limerick ketch Ilen today in her superbly-restored form, making her stylish way along rugged coastlines and across oceans on voyages of cultural and trading significance between places as evocative as Nuuk in West Greenland…
At midnight on Friday, the lockdown shutters came down on the million-plus inhabitants of a place that no longer exists. And no, we don't mean that Dublin has obviously become a ghost town. But what we do mean is that…
Double Vision? Cork Harbour's Late Summer Brings Twin Versions of Classic Yachts
21st September 2020 Cork Harbour
Those who have been rewarded for their careful adherence to social distancing and crew-pod rules by getting some sailing in the Indian summer which has been at its very best on Cork Harbour can be forgiven for wondering if, despite…
Ireland's Classic & Traditional Boats Give Us Hope in Challenging Times
19th September 2020 W M Nixon
In this time of increasing uncertainty with its frustration of sailing plans, we find reassurance in soothing thoughts of well-restored or new-built classic boats. And traditional vessels in handsome and workmanlike order have the same heartening effect. We've an instinct…
Noted ocean voyager Vera Quinlan has joined the Irish Sailing Board of Directors, where she will head up the Cruising Policy Group. Vera (of Galway Bay Sailing Club) began sailing at the age of 10 on Lough Derg. She started…
