Join the CA Community - afloat & ashore

Check out the Sections below to find a Cruising Association group near you, check out the events they’re running and find their contact details.

'Cruising Sections’ cover sea areas whilst ‘Local Sections’ are UK-based. There’s also an Antipodean Section for members ‘down under’.

When you join consider signing up to at least two Sections, one near home and another where you want to cruise. You can join as many Sections as you like – it’s FREE - and there are opportunities to get involved in events and discussions most relevant to you and your cruising.

Cruising Sections use dedicated online forums to exchange information. As a CA member you can access any forum at any time, whether you’re a Section member or not. You can even set up automatic forwarding of posts from any forum and the ‘cruising mode’ helps you control receipt of emails when airtime might be expensive or bandwidths restricted.

Cruising Sections

Baltic

Covers the Baltic Sea, Norway, Iceland, Greenland and Faroes. Holds a popular introductory seminar every spring.

Biscay

Covers Western France, Spain and Portugal as well as crossing Biscay. Holds a popular introductory seminar every spring.

Blue Water

For those sailing outside of European waters. Holds a popular Blue Water seminar in the summer.

Celtic

Covers waters from Land’s End to Cape Wrath. Meets at various west coast venues to share knowledge on all aspects of cruising the region.

Channel

For those cruising the south coast of the UK, Channel Islands, and France from the Belgian border to NW Brittany. Holds an annual seminar and summer rally/cruise-in-company.

European Inland Waterways

Covers over 30,000 km of navigable rivers and canals passing through over 20 countries. Annual seminar and lunch each autumn at CA House.

Mediterranean

Covers the Mediterranean from Spain and Morocco in the west to the Levant in the east, and includes the Black Sea. Meets at CA House in the winter, and afloat in the summer.

North Sea

Covers the UK, Belgian and Dutch coasts. Meets at East Coast venues to share knowledge on all aspects of cruising the region.

Local / UK Sections

Antipodean

For members who live in Australia and New Zealand and who sail in the Northern Hemisphere.

CA London

CA London events are held at our Limehouse HQ.

East Midlands

Talks are held in various venues in the East Midlands.

Essex

Meetings held at Blackwater Sailing Club and mid-week lunches arranged.

Kent

Winter talks are held in Maidstone, and joint rallies are organised with Essex and Suffolk sections.

Solent

Summer rallies with weekend meets. Winter talks with ‘club’ suppers usually at a Hamble yacht club or marina.

South West

For members living in or cruising the areas from Portland Bill to the Isles of Scilly and along the north coast of Cornwall, Devon and Somerset to Bristol.

Suffolk

Joint meetings are arranged with the Royal Harwich Yacht Club at Woolverstone.

Thames Valley

Winter talks are held at the Upper Thames Sailing Club in Bourne End near Marlow.

Wessex

Talks are held at Lilliput Sailing Club, Poole.

West Midlands

Year round events held at Severn Motor Yacht Club, also winter meetings held at Ashwood Social Club Kingswinford.

Forthcoming Section Events

Non-members are welcome to attend

Meet our HLRs Part 1
Date: 04/12/2020

Meet our HLRs Part 1 An opportunity to meet and ask questions of some of our Baltic HLRs. On this evening we will be welcoming: Stig Eriksson from the...

Fastnet '79 - A Lesson from the Past by Imre Vadasz
Date: 05/12/2020

A first hand account of one man's fight to survive during the notorious 1979 Fastnet storm should be of interest to all who venture offshore, cruising or racing. The 1979 Fastnet Race proved a...

Ocean Sailing with Paul Heiney, Joint event with RIN
Date: 09/12/2020

Earlier this year the RCC Pilotage Foundation published ‘Ocean Sailing’ by Paul Heiney. His intention was to gather as much information as he could from people who had...

Beginning In Biscay - Cruising the Atlantic Coast of France
Date: 12/12/2020

Although the Bay of Biscay has reputation for storms and dangerous seas, the Atlantic Coast of France is one of Europe's best cruising grounds. Fortunately, from Spring to Autumn the weather is...

Med Section Christmas Virtual Get-together
Date: 15/12/2020

Many of us haven't been able to sail this summer, meet up with friends, hold our usual meetings at CA House or hold our Carol Service. The Med Section will be hosting an...

Unmanned Vessels, MASS, and the IMO by Andrew Higgs
Date: 09/01/2021

An autonomous sailing vessel has already circumnavigated Antarctica finding its own way back to port in New Zealand. Andrew Higgs, one of the Younger Brethren of Trinity House and a Marine Lawyer,...

Surveying Harwich Harbour by Meredith Scanlon
Date: 21/01/2021

Meredith will tell us how they have surveyed the sea floor beneath our familiar sailing waters; and how the survey methods have changed in our lifetime. She is the Surveyor for Harwich Harbour...

Celtic Seminar 1 - An Introduction to Cruising the South and West Coasts of Ireland - Norman Kean
Date: 21/01/2021

Norman Kean, Editor of the Irish Cruising Club Sailing Directions and frequent contributor to YM will take you on a journey along the coast line he knows and loves - ...

Celtic Seminar 2 - An Introduction to Cruising the East and North Coasts of Ireland - Norman Kean
Date: 28/01/2021

Norman Kean, Editor of the Irish Cruising Club Sailing Directions and frequent contributor to YM will take you on a journey along the coast line he knows and loves - from Tuskar...

Meet our HLRs Part 2
Date: 29/01/2021

Meet our HLRs Part 2 An opportunity to meet and ask questions of some of our Baltic HLRs. There will be four involved in this session each from a different part of the Baltic...

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