Aleria's Adventures

Past Commodore Bill McLaren getting the dinner going.  Ninety members of the Ocean Cruising Club were booked in for the dinner at Plas Menai in North Wales, arriving from all directions, including as far away as Australia and British Columbia. The remarkable aspect of the OCC is that our membership spans the world. It makes it interesting to pull everyone together.

We are conducting our Happy Hooking webinar online this coming Saturday, May 4 through Seven Seas University of the SSCA. It will begin at 1100h EDT and we'll be broadcasting from the west of Ireland. You don't have to be a member of SSCA to join in. Anyone can listen in and ask questions in this interactive online session. If you've never taken part in a webinar, it would be a good idea to test your system in advance as it requires a small download to activate. We'll be including new material from the latest edition of our book, which has been trending at No. 1 in anchoring and Top 100 in sailing books on Amazon. You can sign up online here . SEA102: Happy Hooking - the art of anchoring Speakers: Alex and Daria Blackwell Saturday, May 4, 2019 11:00am EDT Registration fee: $20 members, $25 non-members The Happy Hooking - The Art of Anchoring webinar is loaded with valuable information on anchoring tackle, anchoring technique, tying up and rafting, and anchori...

The Board of the Ocean Cruising Club - Simon Currin, Jenny Crickmore-Thompson, Daria Blackwell, Tim Bridgen, Anne Hammick with Secretary Rachelle Turk.  As members were credentialed and cast their votes, a looped presentation about the award winners to be honoured that evening was shown on overhead screens. In a brief but informative AGM session, attendees learned from outgoing Commodore Anne Hammick that membership is increasing at a healthy rate, the finances of the club are sound, and the membership is very active around the world. The new OCC Flag Officers elected include:

OCC RRC Fiona Jones introducing speakers Each year now, on the morning before the Ocean Cruising Club AGM, speakers are recruited from among  members to talk about topics of interest to attendees. By lunch on Saturday, our numbers had grown to 80 and we had good attendance at the morning lectures.

The Royal Welsh Yacht Club Just before Easter this year, we packed the car and made our way to North Wales by ferry to attend the annual AGM and Awards Dinner of the Ocean Cruising Club. I was serving as Rear Commodore, web editor, PR officer,  digital communications manager  and  Port Officer for the west of Ireland. Alex is Regional Rear Commodore and Port Officer as well, so we had good reason to attend. Besides I was running for the vacant seat of Vice Commodore. Our ferry was delayed so we arrived half way through the cocktail reception hosted by the Royal Welsh Yacht Club in a stunning location, in a centuries old building overlooking the Menai Straits. 

Offshore veteran Damian Foxall discusses sustainability in sailing  In the past few weeks, we've had the pleasure of attending the Irish Sailing Cruising Conference in Athlone and the Irish Cruising Club's Annual Dinner in Killarney. At the Conference, we won a night in a glamping pod at Kilrush Marina, so we made a side trip from Killarney to Kilrush to try it out. Turned out to be great fun.