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 ...

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.