What is your chart plotter actually telling you? What if you lost GPS signal? From RYA instructor, features writer and author of Stress Free Sailing, Stress Free Navigation starts with the electronics and moves across to the traditional methods to see what the clever stuff is telling us. Course to steer in your head? Secondary Ports in your head? Just two things you will learn how to do in an evening of entertainment and, er, well, lots of useful stuff. Of course we will look at MOB and see how the electronics can help us there.
For those living in the bustling South East it is hard to imagine a part of the UK where the population is as sparse as that along the north coast of Scotland. The main West-East route from Durness to Caithness is designated a primary route (A road), but for much of its length is a single track with passing places. There are only two places of shelter along the 60+miles of coast, but these offer spectacular scenery and glorious solitude. Continuing east we reach Orkney, an archipelago of around 70 islands which is a cruising ground in its own right.
This event is now fully booked.Within days of turning his homemade telescopes towards Jupiter, Galileo Galilei made a discovery which would allow James Cook, 160 years later, to fix his position along the coast of Australia to an accuracy of 2.5 nautical miles, provided he stood on Australia.
With tropical destinations being increasingly affected by the consequences of climate change, many sailors are now looking for alternative cruising destinations in less frequented areas of the world. Challenging some of these voyages may be, but the rewards will more than make up for the effort. Jimmy Cornell, who has sailed both to Antarctica and more recently through the Arctic and the North West Passage, will present an overview of the various options in both the northern and southern hemispheres. Richly illustrated with photographs from his own voyages.
Nick Chavasse MBE will talk on editing and updating pilot books and their relevance in the face of advancing technology.
He'll describe some of the challenges in editing Atlantic France Edition 2 published in May 2018. The pilot book covers the Atlantic coast from Ushant to the Spanish Border.
Bridges and sandbanks are not the only challenges facing cruising yachtsmen. The talk will also cover how the modern pilot book needs to change its focus to complement developing technology.
The south and east coasts of Italy are under-appreciated as a cruising destination. People often pass through as quickly as possible on their way to or from Croatia or Greece. Yet there are many delightful towns and stops off the main sailing track and the iconic city of Venice is surprisingly easy to visit on a sailing yacht. With excellent food, wine and coffee, no flotillas and few charter boats, Boyd says it’s an area not to be missed.
The winters in UK can be cold, damp and downright miserable, so if you want to be warm and are missing sailing what do you do? Go south was Trevor’s conclusion. Tahiti and its islands sounded nice and so did the Bay of Islands in New Zealand. So why not a round trip and do them both? Oh! and perhaps throw in California on the way home. Trevor hopes this talk will inspire you to do something similar.
Rob Gibson, author of the RYA SailTrim Handbook for Cruisers, will pass on his huge experience in racing, cruising and sail training. Whether it’s thrashing across an ocean or a day-sail to a country pub, good sail trim will get you there faster, in greater comfort and with more pleasure.
Rob will talk about the essentials of rig set-up, different types of sail and sail materials and their uses, the benefits of good balance and the various controls to achieve good trim.
Charles and Susie have sailed Smystery, their Jeanneau 45DS, from their base in Phuket around the Andaman Sea, visiting Malaysia, Indonesia, Myanmar and India. In this talk they will explain how they ended up in Thailand and the practicalities, pros and few cons of cruising there. As well as covering the popular Islands southwards to Langkawi, they will talk about cruising to the remote, seldom visited Andaman Islands and the Mergui Archipelago.
The Baltic seems to many in the UK as a land far, far away. But it is only 350nm to Cuxhaven from Dover. Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Poland, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Finland and Russia are then available for great exploration. Marinas are much cheaper, food is cheaper and delicious, beaches are sandy and, surprise, surprise – there are no tides or tidal streams. What can possibly go wrong? Well let’s discuss that on the 16th of October.
He'll describe some of the challenges in editing Atlantic France Edition 2 published in May 2018. The pilot book covers the Atlantic coast from Ushant to the Spanish Border.