Kent

Cruising editor Camilla Herrmann and her husband Sam Brown always wanted to sail around Britain in their Westerly Storm Kalessin of Orwell, but after Sam suffered a stroke in 2012 which left him seriously disabled, it really wasn't a practicable option. They continued to sail gently, with crew, in our local East Coast waters, the Netherlands and France. In 2023 Sam died, and Camilla decided to devote the summer of 2024 to sailing anti-clockwise around (most of) Britain in his memory.

This talk is about how anchor rodes work, how they respond to the various forces acting on them, and how understanding them can help give your anchor an easier time and enable you to rest easy at night.

Date and Time: Thursday 12th February 2026 at 20.00

Venue: The Dog & Bear Hotel Lenham Kent ME17 2PG

Open to: Members and Non-members

SERV Kent, also known as the ‘Bloodrunners’, is a registered charity that has, since 1993, been delivering blood, blood products, samples for testing & other medical items to hospitals across the county of Kent. Riders, drivers and controllers all give up their free time to be on call, on a rota basis with up to six riders/drivers on duty every night plus two on the Air Ambulance run and a controller, 24/7, 365 days a year.

We are aware that at least two of our Kent CA members are volunteers with this little known essential service, come along and find out more.

Tony spent nine of his seventeen year Royal Naval career on board the Royal Britannia and during this time he served alongside Steve Porter. This double act will entertain you with stories and photographs of the people  and the different places they visited.

PLEASE NOTE CHANGE OF VENUE AND DATE

Medway Yacht Club have offered us this opportunity as our normal venue could not accommodate us on our usual date.

This will be an evening of photos and reminiscences of sailing in Australia & New Zealand. Roger has crewed on his friend's S&S 51' around Tasmania twice in the VDL cruises, and also across The Ditch to South Island New Zealand, as well as crewing on various boats in the Bass Strait, and a trip down the East coast from Queensland at the time of the fires.

Date and Time: Thursday 13th November 2025 at 20.00

Patrick started dinghy sailing at age 13 and went on to win several National Championships in different classes including the International Flying Dutchman class, but never got to compete in the Olympic Games in the USSR although selected, as the UK boycotted these games. He and his wife competed until 1989 when they bought a yacht for family sailing from the Solent to France, the Channel Islands and Holland. He now has a Beneteau First 32ft yacht, two Merlin Rocket racing dinghies and a share in a cruising catamaran in the Grenadines.

Our final talk of the Winter Warmer season is on Thursday 13th March 2025 is by Rob Smith. With so many ships visiting London, it is hardly surprising that there have been thousands of shipwrecks in the Thames. This talk tells the story of 12 ships that have sunk in the Thames and Medway, from a Roman cargo ship, to a mysterious sinking in the Cold War.

On Thursday 13th February 2025 Barry will be talking about the heritage Tug Kent which is based in Basin number One at Chatham in Kent. She was built in 1948 at Lowestoft and began her life on the Medway berthing ships in the ports of Rochester and Sheerness. The tug worked for 40 years being deployed in various locations including Scotland and the near continent. It was taken out of service in the 1980s.

On Thursday 9th January 2025 Tim will describe the role of a Marine Pilot in the UK, the Master/Pilot relationship and what to expect of a merchant ship bridge team. He will give an overview of the industry & ship types trading on the Thames & Medway and variations of berths & shipping terminals on the Thames.

On Thursday 12th December 2024 CA member Maxine Maters will give us a talk on her experiences sailing through Russia.