Aleria's Adventures

OCC Annual Awards Dinner The OCC 2023 AGM and Awards Dinner weekend was held on the 14th and 15th of April at the RNLI College in Poole, UK. It was highly significant for me for two reasons: 1) I was asked to step in for Bob Shepton as a speaker at the last minute and 2) I was stepping down as Vice Commodore after 12 years of service on the General Committee and Board. I was tired. Time for some new blood. The topic of my talk was Volunteerism and the OCC Pandemic Response. I already had the pandemic response slides in the can as I presented that at the Irish Sailing Conference about a month ago. A piece of cake. As this talk was twice as long as the first, I asked Alex to add some slides about the learnings from the experience. He had slides prepared for the Irish Cruising Club which I did not remember. It was a remarkable story. Alex and I got a standing ovation, which from the OCC members in attendance was very special. I wish Bob Shepton a speedy recovery, but I am grateful to ...

  Vito Dumas At the ICC Annual Dinner, we launched a new edition of Conor O Brien's book,  Across Three Oceans . That was one of the first voyages around the world by private vessel. The first after Slocum, I believe. Right after that, I learned about the first woman who crossed the Atlantic Ocean solo nonstop,  Nicolette Milnes-Walker, and wrote a book about it under duress. I bought the book,  When I put out to sea,  but have not read it yet. It's a first edition (and only edition I believe).  Today, I encountered an  article  about the Argentinian, Vito Dumas, about whom I had read long ago. He was the first to circumnavigate nonstop via the Roaring 40s.  His book,  The Impossible Road,  is in  Spanish  and  French  from what I could find. I found an English version for sale in Canada, under a different title   Alone Through the Roaring Forties: The Voyage of Lehg II,  and bought it. I beli...