Aleria's Adventures

PredictWind Fleet tracker - some of the cruisers we helped Last month, Alex and I, along with several other OCC members, were recognised by two awards for the work we did in supporting sailors who were being threatened by border closures around the world as the pandemic spread. The first was the Royal Cruising Club which awarded the OCC their Medal for Services to Cruising. That was a very special bit of recognition coming from the RCC.   The second award was the OCC Award given to Alex, me, Moira, Tim, Fi and Guy. We all worked to help cruisers stuck in various places, being stopped from reprovisioning and taking on fuel and water, and facing hurricane and cyclone seasons in the wrong places. We basically helped people make their own decisions about what to do and supported them with safety back up when they did.  We were really honoured to be recognised for this work. It was really rewarding to be able to help so many people and it really did keep us so busy that we d...

Pat Adair handing me the Wild Goose Cup As a member of the Irish Cruising Club, I am now expected to contribute to the Annual and ICC Newsletter from time to time, which I have done. My first contribution to the Annual technically did not qualify for any awards because it was about sailing over to Ireland which was too long ago to qualify. This year, I wrote about our return to Ireland from Galicia. I was totally taken aback to open the hefty tome of the Annual when it arrived and to see my article as the first in the book and labelled as having won the Wild Goose Cup. The award is not for a cruise per se but for the literary merit of the story that was written. The adjudicator thought mine was the best-written log in the book! Happy Daria! Coming from the Irish, who hold literary ability most sacred, I have never felt more honoured. The Awards were presented on Friday evening after the AGM. To hear the adjudicator's reasons for selecting my work almost brought tea...

As PR Officer, Web Editor and Rear Commodore of the Ocean Cruising Club, I have the honour of being the one to announce the winners of the annual awards which recognize the extraordinary achievements of people cruising the world's oceans. I've been a member of the Awards Committee and co-Chair for several years so I know how arduous a task it can be to coordinate the awards decision-making process. We have members all over the world taking part, some submitting nominations others taking part in the selections of winners. In any case, it's an extraordinary thing to be part of as we journey into people's lives to see what they've done that merits the attention of the world, and to be blown away by the stories we uncover.

Or not.  I am a proud member of the Ocean Cruising Club, and have been drafted onto the Committee. As part of my responsibilities, I have taken on the very first PR Officer role, have become the head of the Communications Subcommittee, joined the Website subcommittee as a contributing member and co-chair the Awards Committee. Phew.  That last aspect, the Awards, has gotten me to thinking. Lots of people sail. Far more cross oceans than ever before. It's not enough today to circumnavigate the world the way Joshua Slocum or even Moitessier did. Today, to stand out as worthy of an award, one must really do something extraordinary. Last year's most extraordinary award recipients included Matt Rutherford. He crossed the Atlantic first because he felt driven to get to the other side.  He rode his bicycle across Southeast Asia before that.  Then he learned about sailing, so he bought a boat and crossed the Atlantic. He learned that CRAB needed funding so he...