CA London

In June 2022, our most recent Hanson Cup winner, James and his wife Jenny joined the ARC Portugal rally to sail their Regina 43 Arkyla from the UK south to the sun, to base the boat for a season in Lagos, Portugal. James will briefly talk about the advantages of joining the rally for crossing Biscay and making passage down the Atlantic Portugal coast. He will then discuss in more detail cruising the Algarve, and the pros and cons of basing a boat in Lagos in terms of both sailing and maintenance.

The winners of the Lacey Trophy will describe voyages they made in 2021 in southern Denmark, in 2022 along the Baltic Coast of Germany and eastern Sweden, and in 2023 to the Åland Islands and the Gulf of Bothnia. En route, they explored the old Hanseatic League cities of Lübeck, Wismar, Rostok, Stralsund and Greifswald, which were part of a vast trading network stretching from Britain to Russia back in medieval times, and many Viking sites, including the former Viking trading centre at Birka in Lake Mälaren.

What connects Screaming Lord Sutch, Gianni Versace, the actor Ralf Little (Death in Paradise) and Doctor Who? While this sounds like a question from Only Connect, the answer actually lies in local east coast waters - the Maunsell Forts. These are a series of army and navy forts which were built in the second world war offshore in the North Sea to protect us from enemy airforce and naval incursions. These forts played a crucial role in early warning for air and sea raids.

The Port of London Authority has been in existence since 1908 and has had a hydrographic surveying function since that time to chart the river and estuary to support safe access and navigation for all mariners on the Thames.

In August 1779, more than four years after the start of the American War of Independence, a squadron of seven ships, under the command of John Paul Jones on the Bonhomme Richard, left the French port of Lorient to cruise for ‘prizes’ off the British Coast. Its task was to bring the Revolutionary War to Europe.

Nick and Alison invite you: "The weather’s rubbish or so they say, the scenery is outstanding, if you can see it, the midges are hellish, if they are out. However, banish all those thoughts from your mind. All our photos are blue sky days, the scenery is unrivalled anywhere in Europe and you can see it. The people are incredibly helpful and friendly and the hidden anchorages and off the beaten track lochs make this a magical cruising ground for as many years as you can spare.

In recent years, global weather conditions have seen major changes. Sailors planning to leave on an offshore voyage are rightly concerned about how this may affect their plans. The focus of this talk is a framework for planning, preparing, and bringing a voyage to a safe conclusion, even in these changing times, by taking into account all relevant factors.