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 Race 2023 Into More Normal Progress After Mayhem Of First Day's Gales
24th July 2023 Fastnet
Fastnet Race Day 3 0800 - Northerly winds are now set in on the Fastnet race area between Cornwall and southwest Ireland, while the underlying breeze still has a westerly emphasis in the English Channel between Lands End and the…
100 Retire After Destructive First Night Of Fastnet 2023: Nieulargo from Cork and Darkwood (RIYC) Best Of Irish
23rd July 2023 Fastnet
Fastnet Race Day 2 0900: The strong to gale force south-westerlies headwinds, occasionally hitting 40 knots with dense air and poor visibility, have made the destructive first cold, wet night of the 450-boat Fastnet Race 2023 into an endurance test,…
Fastnet Race 2023 start - The Murphy family of Cork's Grand Soleil Nieulargo, racing in IRC 2, had one of the best starts of the entire Fastnet Race 2023 fleet in a rain-sodden Solent this afternoon, conditions which - when…
Ireland’s Fastnet Rock Could Become Only Remaining Feature Of Original Fastnet Race Course
22nd July 2023 W M Nixon
Sometimes we need to remind ourselves that prediction can be a dodgy business as it involves the future. And when that future is reckoned to include – as it does for today (Saturday’s) Fastnet Race start in the Solent –…
The expected wind and weather conditions for Saturday's Fastnet Race, while still unsettled, look to be averaging out. The dominant factor is a low-pressure area of 1008 currently (Thursday afternoon) off southeast Greenland. It will only deepen slowly as it…
Former RORC Commodore Michael Boyd of the Royal Irish Yacht Club is one of the commentary team on the RORC's live Youtube broadcast on Saturday (July 22nd)'s Rolex Fastnet Race 2023 start, with transmission beginningat 12:30 hrs. A very experienced…
A relatively brief but extremely strong period of southwest winds forecast as increasingly likely for Saturday afternoon and evening along the south coast of England will have the RORC's Fastnet Race Team contemplating a day's postponement as one of their…
Boat Of New Zealand's National Hopes Becomes Embarrassing Environmental Hazard
18th July 2023 America's Cup
Thirty-one years ago, she carried the hopes of a nation, and no care and expense were too much for New Zealand's 1992 America's Cup Challenger. But the highly-specialised boats which were developed at that time to fit in with the…
When the first Fastnet Race was sailed in 1925 amidst controversy over the foolhardiness of bringing “reckless competition” into ocean voyaging, the last thing on the organisers’ mind was the crazy thought that by 2023, with the 50th Fastnet getting…
Gus Henry: He Will Be Memorialised By Up-Coming Mirror Worlds At His Beloved Sligo Yacht Club
17th July 2023 GP14
The death of Gus Henry of Sligo has taken from among us a pillar of sailing in the northwest whose energies and enthusiasm were such that they had beneficial effects nationally and internationally. A member of Sligo Yacht Club for…
50th Fastnet Race on Saturday July 22nd 2023 Will Remind Us Of Vintage Racer Brynoth’s Unique Success In Golden Jubilee Race
15th July 2023 W M Nixon
It is arguably the greatest on-water fleet organisation in world sailing. In a week’s time, the 450 or so boats in the 50th staging of the 695-mile Rolex Fastnet Race will be sent on their way from Cowes in a…
Conor O’Brien Two Year Saoirse Circumnavigation Centenary Celebration Now Well Under Way
11th July 2023 Conor O'Brien
A hundred years ago on this day, Conor O’Brien of Limerick’s 42ft own-designed ketch - newly-built by Tom Moynihan of Baltimore with some of the West Cork shipwright’s small but very effective hull shape improvements - was well into a…
The Elan marque maintained a primary placing to the end, with Johnny Philips Elan 33 Playtime (NYC) making a thing of it in Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta Non-Spinnaker 1 with nothing but firsts after taking his discard on his single…
Southworth Has It Hung, Drawn, And Quarter-Tonned in Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta Cruisers 3
9th July 2023 DL Regatta: Cr 3
Quarter Tonning is up in lights these days, and Dublin Bay had an illuminating intro to it in its hottest form with the Hamble River’s Ian Southworth in Protis happily discarding a 9th from the harsh first race of Volvo Dun…
Royal Irish's Rockabill VI Has Closure On Class 0 Title at Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta 2023
9th July 2023 DL Regatta: Cr 0
The final two-race day of Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta 2023 went through with increasing speed as slowly brightening skies were matched by a steadily rising southerly - a sou’easter to seaward of the harbour, but distinct overtones of a sou’wester…
Royal Cork's Swuzzlebubble Has It Almost Entirely Her Own Way In Cruisers 2 of Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta
9th July 2023 DL Regatta: Cr 2
The ultra-veteran Farr Classic Half-Tonner Swuzzlebubble from Crosshaven (James Dwyer, Royal Cork YC) had the turbo boost of Olympian and World Dragon Champion Andy Beadsworth in the cockpit to help continue a string of firsts into the final day of…
With thirty offshore miles to race and the finishers ranging in size from 30ft to 50ft, it was no surprise that the finish times between the Dun Laoghaire pierheads for the Offshore Class were spread over an hour in Saturday's Volvo…
Cruisers 1 Cools Down After Red-Hot Racing at Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta 2023
9th July 2023 Volvo Regatta
With its formidable lineup of J/109s inter-mingled with the RC35 group, this IRC 1 Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta class was Hotstown-plus. Yet the John Minnis team with the super-souped A35 Final Call II (RUYC) emerged out of sight ahead, on…
Vintage boats of the Elan marque have been making themselves so comfortable at the front of Non-Spinnaker IRC1 of Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta that they had seemed to be taking an "After you" approach to the leading places, but this…
The Dwyers Of Crosshaven Just Keep Bubbling Along In IRC2 of Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta
8th July 2023 DL Regatta: Cr 2
The quirky Classic Half Tonner Swuzzlebubble (James Dwyer, RCYC) may have found the ferocity of the winds in Friday's early races not quite to her taste, but with Olympian Andy Beadsworth on the mainsheet, she was flying today, winning everything…
