Aleria's Adventures

In one week, I was contacted by Derrick Thorrington and Barry Kennedy, both Ocean Cruising Club members. Barry was in Galway and wanted to take a bus to Westport to meet up with us, but in the end that fell through. Derrick and Ali had been trying to get to Scotland but strong headwinds - yep NE-lies - caused them to tuck into Clew Bay. The weather was otherwise settled, sunny, and hot which made their visit quite pleasant.  They took a mooring at the sailing club. Then they rode their bikes over to Port Aleria and we showed them around, including a visit to the vineyard and a meeting of the donkeys. We picked some elderflowers so Ali could make her cordial. They kayaked around the islands one day, and then I took them into town to reprovision and take on fuel. It was very nice seeing them again after meeting first in Poole at the OCC AGM.  They finally got a break and headed north, getting a chance to anchor in Keem Bay, lucky them. We've never managed that. They are now in S...

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 ...

Dublin the morning of our flight.   Several years ago, when I joined the Board of the Ocean Cruising Club as Rear Commodore, I immediately wrote a proposal to circulate the OCC AGM and Awards dinner amongst the countries hosting the most members. Three years ago, we made the decision to hold the 2020 meeting in Annapolis MD. This was a major move as the AGM had always been held in the UK, and, until a few years ago, always in London. It then moved to Henley, Bristol and Wales, moving ever closer to the US. Of course, just as we were about to fly over, Covid erupted and all plans were cancelled. It was a wild time when no one knew what to expect and millions were dying from a disease unknown just months before.  Fast forward two years, and mRNA and vector vaccines made it possible to consider a reboot of the event. And so we re-booked our trip to Annapolis with trepidation but also with anticipation. It had been two years of isolation and masked madness, and it was time to...