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.
Fastnet 450: Nieulargo Wins, Aurelia Takes Line Honours, & Cinnamon Girl is Right There Despite it not Being Her Weather
25th August 2020 Fastnet 450 Race
Day 3, Monday, 1600 hrs: The demanding Fastnet 450 course kept crews working very hard indeed until the last couple of miles running in towards the finish in the entrance to Cork Harbour under the iconic Roche's Point Lighthouse this…
When - on August 4th - we previewed the planned eco-friendly "cargo cruise" by the restored Limerick trading ketch Ilen on Afloat.ie, it was emphasised that speed would not be of the essence as the 1926 Conor O'Brien-designed and Oldcourt…
Nieulargo & Aurelia Fight Fastnet 450 All The Way Towards this Morning's Finish
24th August 2020 Fastnet 450 Race
Day 3, Monday, 0900hrs Chris Power Smith's J/122 Aurelia may have had nearly two miles in hand on Denis and Annamarie Murphy's Grand Soleil 40 when she led the Fastnet 450 fleet round the Fastnet Rock at 0040 hrs in…
Nieulargo & Aurelia Struggle with "Wind Full of Holes" to be First at the Fastnet
23rd August 2020 Fastnet 450 Race
Day Two, Sunday, 2030hrs: After a stimulating day's sailing along the length of the south coast, turning to windward in very sailable breezes and enjoying more sunshine than much of the rest of Ireland, the leaders in the Fastnet 450 are…
Aurelia First to Make Tacking Move in Fastnet 450’s Ocean Chess Game
23rd August 2020 Fastnet 450 Race
Day two, Sunday 1400 hrs: Chris Power Smith’s J/122 Aurelia was the first of the three on-the-water leaders in the Fastnet 450 to tack far offshore for the longboard that will take her from the area of stronger west wind…
Fastnet 450 Today Shaping Up as Windward Work Along Entire South Coast
23rd August 2020 Fastnet 450 Race
Sunday, day two, 0930hrs: After yesterday (Saturday) afternoon's swift ebb-assisted close reach down the East Coast from Dun Laoghaire to the first major turn at the Tuskar Rock, the fleet in the Fastnet 450 have found a determinedly west wind of…
Tide Turns for Fastnet 450 Fleet as Nieulargo Leads & Humdinger Lives Up to Her Name
22nd August 2020 Fastnet 450 Race
Day One 1830 - As the onset of the adverse flood tide approaches with the leaders sluicing south past Cahore Point with the last of the ebb and more than 50 miles of the Fastnet 450 course already sailed, an…
Cinnamon Girl Leads Fastnet 450 Fleet After Fast Start From Dublin Bay
22nd August 2020 Fastnet 450 Race
A brisk sou'wester provided a fast reaching start for the 266-mile Fastnet 450 Race at 1300 hrs today in Dublin Bay, with Chris Power Smith's J/122 Aurelia (RStGYC), John O'Gorman's Sunfast 3600 Hot Cookie (NYC) and Robert Rendell's X45 Samatom…
Fastnet 450 Race Has Come to Mean So Much for Frustrated Irish Sailing in 2020
22nd August 2020 W M Nixon
The Fastnet 450 starts today (Saturday) at 1300hrs in Dublin Bay, and sends the fleet on a 270-mile course southward, taking them all the way to the Fastnet Rock before finishing back at the entrance to Cork Harbour, clear of…
While Ireland is battered by the multiple surges of Storm Ellen, the irrepressible Pat Lawless of Ballyferriter on the Dingle Peninsula is riding it out on the southern fringes of the huge weather system, halfway home from the Azores in…
When Marvin Creamer sailed his robust Ted Brewer-designed Goderich 36 steel cutter Globe Star round the world in 1982-1985, the now-cliched habit of describing any extra-special form of activity as "extreme" was still only in its infancy. Yet by any…
Lough Ree's Caolan "The Hat" Croasdell & Fiona Drayne win Irish Mirror Nats at Sligo
17th August 2020 Mirror
With the Mirror Worlds 2021 scheduled for Sligo YC at Rosses Point, there was an extra edge to the weekend's two-day Mirror Nationals 2020 on the race area under the unmistakable profile of Ben Bulben. And though the fleet size…
Patrick & Morgan Oliver of Galway's Claddagh Get Afloat.ie National Seamanship Award
16th August 2020 News Update
It says everything about the announcement that Patrick Oliver of The Claddagh in Galway and his son Morgan are to receive the Afloat.ie National Seamanship Trophy with immediate effect, when we realise that everyone in the country will know exactly…
Ron Hutchieson's Generous Multiple Roles are a Historic Sailing Era in Themselves
15th August 2020 W M Nixon
The retirement this month of noted northern sailor Ron Hutchieson as Chairman of Irish Sailing's Racing Rules & Appeals Board brings to a conclusion an exceptionally long period of devoted and very effective honorary official service to sailing and its…
Cork Harbour's Pinkeen Gives Us all the Gift of the Classic Summer Sailing Spirit
14th August 2020 Historic Boats
Not everyone gets the opportunity to restore a boat built by their grandfather, a gem of a boat whose construction started 70 years ago. But then, not everyone has had a professional seafaring and recreational sailing career to match that…
Go Algeo! Lough Ree’s Water-Skiing Former Commodore Keeps up Appearances on Lough Derg
13th August 2020 Inland Waterways
Once a Commodore, always a Commodore. And though it’s quite some time since Alan Algeo was Commodore of Lough Ree Yacht Club, in this its Quarter Millennium Year he feels that the frustrations of the COVID-denial of the full celebrations…
The two young women paddleboarders who went missing off Furbo on the northern shore of Galway Bay at 8 pm yesterday evening have been found alive and well clinging to a lobster pot marker off Inisheer, the most easterly of…
Annalise Murphy Brings Olympic Stardust to Sutton Dinghy Club's "Golden Ticket" Junior Courses
13th August 2020 Annalise Murphy
Olympic Silver Medallist Annalise Murphy took a break from her training routine towards the 2021 Olympics this (Wednesday) morning when she hopped into her sponsored Mercedes SUV to see the successful COVID-compliant Junior set up put together by Hugh Gill…
The Howth 17 Nationals 2020 saw five good races sailed – a pier starter on Friday evening, and four committee boat open water races on Saturday – with the sunny nor’east wind holding up enough for the four open water…
Fastnet 450: Nothing New Here – Dublin Bay to Cork Harbour Race 1860 Was Pop-up Too
7th August 2020 W M Nixon
It’s called the SCORA Fastnet 450 which is a zinger of a name, whatever it means, and right now it’s taking shape as we go along in best pop-up style, having come centre stage after the Round Ireland Race was…
