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.
Hanson lecture by Paul Heiney - A Quick Dash for the Horn
Over the last three years, long-standing CA member Paul Heiney has been voyaging to the depths of South America on a cruise which eventually took him round the infamous Cape Horn. It is one of sailing’s most feared, yet respected headlands. In this year’s Hanson Lecture he tells the story of his Cape Horn adventure during which he clocked up 18,000 miles and explains why a ‘quick dash’ is the only way to do it.
Life and Death of a Tudor Sailor, by Trevor Sapey of the Mary Rose Trust
The warship Mary Rose, Flagship of Henry VIII, tragically sank off the Isle of Wight during a battle with the French. Over 400 men also lost their lives. The ship was successfully recovered from the sea bed in 1982. Apart from the ship, more than 19,000 artefacts were also recovered and many are now displayed alongside the ship in a new museum opened in June 2013.
