A double transit of the North West Passage, by Rev Bob Shepton
Bob, an ex-Royal Marine and retired school chaplain, is an extraordinary sailor who has circumnavigated several times, sailing over 130,000 miles in every latitude from the Arctic to the Antarctic, and a climber who has scaled previously unclimbed arctic mountains to boot.
A leisurely sail to the Western Med, by Jo Fraser and Liz Wall
During 2012 Liz and Jo took six months off work to sail their Westerly Oceanlord, Nimrod, from Portsmouth to the Mediterranean via North and South Brittany, the Atlantic coast and the Straits of Gibraltar and then on to Sardinia and Corsica via the Balearics. For much of the time, they sailed short-handed – two women sailing seemed to flummox a lot of marina staff along the way!
Cruising the east coast is, to say the least, interesting. For the first timer it can appear daunting with its shallow waters, numerous sand banks, strong tides and highly changeable weather. Garth Cooper is one of the three east coast sailors who compile and write the East Coast Pilot, the bible for those seeking peace and quiet among the many swatchways, estuaries, rivers and creeks that make this, in his opinion, a second-to-none sailing ground.
Jim Lawrence started his career during the war years when, aged 15, he joined the barge Gladys as the third hand. His first job was to climb the hundred foot mast to put up a new flag. By 19 he had become a skipper in his own right. Jim is a well known raconteur, and in this talk he will relate many of his observations and adventures from the days of trading around the Thames Estuary under sail.
A fee is payable for lectures: Individual lecture tickets: Members £4.00; Non-members £7.00 Season tickets available - contact Secretariat for details. Lectures and talks start promptly at 19:00hrs
