Aleria's Adventures

OCC Hikers on Y Garn Thirty-nine members of the Ocean Cruising Club stayed on to take part in post-AGM weekend activities. On Sunday, the 7th of April, groups got together in local ventures such as mountain walks, visit a deep mine, or just driving around Snowdonia. It was altogether an enjoyable, informative, interesting weekend and much of the credit must go to OCC Regional Rear Commodores Chris and Fi Jones of ' Three Ships ' who did a superb job of organising.

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.

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:

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. 

It's December 1st and the day I usually sit down to create a list of gifts I might consider for my sailing buddies. No one really wants just practical gifts, so I've concentrated on going beyond pure utility and have selected a few items that have some bling or tech gizmo appeal. Fortunately, sailing is often associated with gadgets that do evolve over time into things that make things easier and more fun. So here goes. 1) Luci Light from US$19.95, €18

Yesterday, Alex and I put on our Ocean Cruising Club Port Officer hats to welcome two OCC members visiting our home town Westport by land. Duncan and Ria Briggs, circumnavigators, have sold their boat which they lived on for 12 years and bought a cottage in England. While waiting for their planning permission to come through for modifications to the tiny cottage by the sea they snapped up, they decided to tour Ireland. We don't get many OCC visitors to our neck of the seas, only 6 to date counting the Briggs - 4 by sea.

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.

View from Knockranny over Croagh Patrick, Clew Bay and Clare Island For the past two weekends, we have taken part in the annual meetings of first the Irish Cruising Club and then the Ocean Cruising Club. I am a new member of the ICC this year, which has about 650 members in Ireland. I am a flag officer of OCC, which has about 3000 members around the world.

We've been invited to present our talk on Cruising the Wild Atlantic Way of Ireland in Manchester on Thursday of this week.  More information is on the Manchester Cruising Association web page. We look forward to seeing you there.

John Franklin presiding over the AGM with the BOD seated Side trip to the winery The next morning, we awoke to no hot water in the hotel wing at Greenlands. No worries. Intrepid sailors know what that's like and the chatter at breakfast continued until people scattered to various activities. Dick and Suzie Guckel, Daria and Alex Blackwell and chauffeur (and still Commodore at the time) John Franklin headed over to the Chiltern Valley Brewery and Winery. We spent two hours learning about viticulture, viniculture and beer making as well as tasting wines, beers, and liqueurs. What fun! We learned a lot and we found ourselves giggling and wondering how the AGM would fare later in the afternoon.

The Ocean Cruising Club held its AGM and Annual Awards Dinner in Henley-on-Thames this year. In previous years it had been held in London, the last two aboard the HQS Wellington -- a very nice venue. But this year, instead of just a one-day affair, it was stretched into a weekend event. People started arriving throughout the day on Friday in time for an informal Sea Shanty supper.

What a lovely time we had meeting up with now old friends from the Irish Cruising Club (ICC) in Oranmore near Galway just before Christmas.  Not only was it a nice venue for lunch, we are beginning to actually know some of the people. And one of our favourite members, Jarlath Cunnane, of Northabout fame, sat next to me at lunch and traveled home with us on the return trip.  Kay and Fergus Quinlan were at our table too so we felt right at home catching up with everyone. It's an interesting thing when you join a social club. The first year, you are feeling things out: the people, the politics, the etiquette, and the expectations. The second year, you begin to recognize people's faces and sometimes even their names. By the third year, you're a regular, contributing to the newsletter and annual, joining in on events, getting together with members informally, and so on.  At least that's how it has gone for us.

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 then circu

GPS anomalies and tricky unmarked routes Aleria and Vagrant sailing toward Loch Tarbert. Photo by Vicki aboard Nokomis All night and for days after, we imagined there were creepy little things crawling up our necks, down our legs and burrowing into our skin.  And in fact, Alex did have two ticks that burrowed.  A great remedy is to smeer them with Vaseline and wait about 15 minutes. They suffocate and release their jaws. Then you can pick them out with tweezers and they just let go without leaving any parts behind that can cause infection. Of course ticks can cause all kinds of infections anyway, including Lyme Disease.  Fortunately, Alex and I were both vaccinated when the Lyme disease vaccine was available for a short time in the States. So good to be sailing again! Paps of Jura in the distance We had a lovely breakfast, the rain stopped, and we followed the fleet out of Pig Bay.  There was a nice breeze building. We hoisted sails alongside Vagrant and Nokom

The Race, whirlpools, swell and ticks…dangers all around. Gulf of Corryvreckan between Scarba and Jura Water boiling and whirlpools at slack water Aleria was among the first group of five boats to pass through the Corryvreckan and, even at slack water, the water was still boiling all around us as we passed through under power at almost 10 knots. Our speed through the water was only 5.8 knots as we raced over a 224 foot deep chasm that would soon shallow out abruptly. We were being set quite substantially. We anchored in hard sand and weed in gorgeous Pig Bay (Bagh Gleann nam Much) just on the inside of the top of Jura with the Race's waters rushing past the opening to the Bay while inside it was calm and secure.  The Race extends out quite a distance, which is called an overfall here in Scotland. Luckily, there wasn't much wind, only about 10 knots, because when wind opposes tide, it can get very nasty, with standing waves and square chop intertwined.  9.

Lay day in Craobh with OCC friends The Ocean Cruising Club 2013 Scotland Rally crew The OCC burgee flying proudly at the Currin's home Being at a marina was such a luxury to us.  We had not had a chance to really scrub Aleria since she was on the hard in Westport.  She had weeks of grime and salt built up on her topsides, and lots of tidying to do below.  So Alex scrubbed the top while I set to work below. Since Alex had the whole boat torn apart fixing things and installing things, many things were still out of their designated storage spaces and others were grimy from the sooty smoke or greasy from being touched with greasy fingers which cannot be helped. It took some time to straighten up. I was hoping that people wouldn’t feel that I was being antisocial. I just couldn’t face continuing on without cleaning up. Bikes proved a good mode of transport from marina to party

Sailing at the speed of knots Flying Fish burgee of the Ocean Cruising Club (OCC) As we had finished our chores in Ardfern, there was no need to stay on, so we decided to catch the afternoon tide and make our way north to Craobh (pronounced Croove).  That was where we were meeting up with the OCC Scotland Rally  and the opening dinner was the following night.  It would be nice to get there a day in advance. The wind was just picking up as we lifted our anchor off the muddy buttom.  Alex was grateful for the salt water wash down system he had installed several years back. Craobh Haven Marina We had a nice 15 knot breeze coming down the loch close hauled, no need to tack until we got to the Point. We thought one tack would take us right around.  Brilliant.  Tacking Aleria is a lot of work so we try to tack as little as possible. Just as we approached Dorus Mor at Criagnish Point, the wind suddenly picked up to 25 knots and clocked so it was right on the nose when we alte