45 Spring 2025
TOP OCEAN CRUISING HONORS GO TO LEIV PONCET, COLE BRAUER, AND CARTER BACON
By: John Burnham
(NEW YORK, March 11, 2025)—The 2024 Cruising Club of America (CCA) awards ceremony was held at the New York Yacht Club on Friday, March 7, highlighted by the presentation of the Blue Water Medal to high-latitude voyager Leiv Poncet, the Rod Stephens Seamanship Trophy to Newport Bermuda racer Carter Bacon, and the Young Voyager Award to circumnavigator Cole Brauer. Sailors who were unable to attend recorded their acceptance comments, but Carter “Bink” Bacon of Cambridge, Massachusetts, was on hand to express his extraordinary sentiments in person:
“Being rescued from a sinking boat
is a surreal experience, even if you’ve got wonderfully competent people around who walk you through the whole process,” said Bacon, upon accepting the 2024 award. “I don’t think there’s anything about losing a boat anybody can ever really feel proud of. As it was made clear to me, the award isn’t for losing the boat, the award is for deciding to leave that beautiful boat before it turns into a nightmare.”
Bacon was recognized for his judgment and bravery in choosing to abandon his classic yacht at sea and directing a seamless rescue of himself and crew, assisted by the United States
THE CRUISING CLUB OF AMERICA PRESENTED ITS ANNUAL AWARDS TO U.S. AND INTERNATIONAL SAILORS IN NEW YORK CITY
Coast Guard. He received the award from CCA Commodore Jay Gowell.
Abandoning Solution, his 60-year-old sloop after 24 years and numerous voyages, including several races to Bermuda and a transatlantic crossing, Bacon and his crew were saved in a carefully orchestrated rescue 200 miles off Cape Cod.
“I am pleased to receive the award because I think people should understand that the boat is, at the end of the day, a very nice thing. No matter how special it is, no matter how devoted you may have been to it, it’s not worth a penny compared to the lives of the people who are enjoying it,” Bacon said.
continued on page 4
Carter “Bink” Bacon, right, receives the 2024 Rod Stephens Seamanship Trophy from CCA Commodore Jay Gowell in the Model Room of the New York Yacht Club.
Photo: Barbara Watson
LETTER FROM THE COMMODORE
Dear Friends:
The Annual Meeting and Awards dinner at the New York Yacht Club on March 7 was once again a fun and spectacular affair thanks to the leadership of Events Chair Deanna Polizzo and NYYC liaison Joe Hoopes. Steve James served as master of ceremonies for the award presentation with the assistance of Karyn James. You’ll read about the amazing accomplishments of the awardees in this edition of the Gam. I am very appreciative of all the efforts that Deanna, Joe, Steve, Karyn and many others contributed to make the events interesting, fun and successful.
Please enjoy the reports from the Stations and Posts around the CCA that have been written for your enjoyment in this edition of the Gam.
The CCA’s cruising calendar was very full in 2024. Fewer but more significant adventures are planned for 2025, with the addition of several summer Station cruises for those who prefer not to travel long distances for their cruising. Fleet Captain Ernie Godshalk, Events Chair Deanna Polizzo and several cruise chairs have provided an excellent summary of coming attractions!
The 2026 Bermuda Race planning is well underway. Race Chair Andrew Kallfelz and his team are building on the successes of the 2024 Race to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the CCA and RBYC partnership in organizing and running the race. We are thrilled that Melissa McTavish (GLS) has stepped forward to lead the important Ft. Adams shoreside festivities in connection with the race start, and we are appreciative of Karen Waterman’s bold leadership of the inaugural events in 2024.
As we have read elsewhere, the loss of 3 yachts either during the 2024 race or on the return resulted in a thorough review of structural, abandonment and rescue, and communications issues by the CCA, BROC and US Sailing that we expect will lead to opportunities to enhance the safety at sea curricula taught at safety at sea courses everywhere.
As a special treat, the History section of this Gam features a conversation between Past Commodore
Shelia McCurdy and Tim Murphy, members who have written important histories of the CCA. Shelia’s new book High Seas and Home Waters will be published soon, and Tim’s Adventurous Use of the Sea was published in 2022. Their contribution for this issue includes some fabulous pictures of CCA members and their boats, past and present.
Elizabeth and I had the pleasure to attend the Annual Awards Dinners for both the Royal Cruising Club in Edinburgh, Scotland, and the Irish Cruising Club in Mullingar, County Westmeath, Ireland. Like the CCA, both are “virtual’ clubs whose members are ardent, adventuresome sailors. Both events were great fun, and we were able to renew old friendships and make new ones. We are reminded of the many similarities and common interests among the members of the CCA and our friends in the UK and Ireland. (See page 6 for photos of the trip.)
It is not too soon to make arrangements for the Fall Meeting being hosted by the Pacific Northwest Station. A great program is being organized by Fall Meeting Chair Bruce Johnston and his team with guidance from Events Chair Deanna Polizzo. The Fall Meeting will be preceded by the “Three Corners Cruise” around the San Jaun Islands, organized by Joe Golberg and his team at the Pacific Northwest Station. Please plan to join us and attend both the Fall Meeting and the cruise, learn about all the activities of your fellow Club members in advancing the programs of your Club, and join in the fun!
Finally, welcome aboard to all the new members who were elected in February. You will enjoy reading about their interesting backgrounds in this edition of the Gam. Please be sure to invite and welcome them to your Station and Post activities.
Fair Winds, Jay
The CCA GAM
Published for the members of The Cruising Club of America www.cruisingclub.org
Editors: Phil Dickey, Chief Editor
Dennis Powers
Elisabeth Bohlen
Robert Beebe
Barbara Watson
Tad Lhamon
New Members Editors: Dianne Embree & Dorothy Wadlow
Commodore: John R. Gowell
Vice Commodore: A. Chace Anderson
Secretary: Patricia Ann Montgomery
Treasurer: Kathleen M. O’Donnell
Historian: Douglas D. Adkins
Fleet Captain: Ernest L. Godshalk
Webmaster: Michael Moradzadeh
Fleet Surgeon: Jeffrey S. Wisch MD
Rear Commodores
Bermuda Somers W. Kempe
Boston Nicholas R. Orem
Bras d’Or William B. Greenwood III
Chesapeake John F. Devlin
Essex Gretchen Dieck Biemesderfer
Florida Clinton G. Bush III
Great Lakes Peter Balasubramanian
New York Peter B. Becker
Pacific Northwest Douglas D. Adkins
San Francisco Charles G. Hawley
So. California James A. Eddy
Post Captains
Buzzards Bay Raymond J. Cullum
Gulf of Maine Barney J. Baker
Narragansett Bay....................Whitney E. Jones
GAM Editors Emeriti
Dan and Mimi Dyer 2003-07
Chris and Shawn Otorowski 2008-13
Pieter de Zwart and Joanna Miller-de Zwart 2014-17
Wendy Hinman 2018-20
Haley Lhamon 2020
Chris Otorowski 2021
Email submissions to gam@cruisingclub.org
Submissions deadlines are March 15th and October 15th
A MESSAGE FROM DEANNA POLIZZO, EVENTS CHAIR
The Events Committee is pleased to announce the following calendar which can also be found in the Events section of the website.
• The Summer Cruise in Company from Newport, RI to Kinsale, Ireland, is scheduled to leave Newport on June 10. The crossing will be followed by the Western Isles Cruise scheduled to start at Kerrera Marina, Oban, on July 19 and continue through August 1. The Fall meeting for 2025 hosted by the PNW station (Bruce Johnston and Stacey Wilson) will be at Semiahmoo Resort, Blaine, Washington, September 18th – 20th and will follow the Three Corners Cruise scheduled for Sept 10th -17th 2025. The PNW Station has an exceptional event planned and has worked hard to make the location easily acceptable for members traveling from all stations. Please visit the Events page of the CCA website for more information.
• 2026 will start off strong with a Grenadines cruise from January 24 to February 7th. The 2026 Annual Meeting will again be held at the New York Yacht Club, New York, NY, March 5th to 7th. The Events Committee will continue to work with the Membership Committee to host membership events surrounding the Newport Bermuda Race, which begins on June 19, 2026, and other major offshore races. Club cruises are planned to follow the Bermuda Race at the end of June and in New England in September. The Southern California Station has begun planning the fall meeting expected in October.
• Although 2027 seems far off, it will be here before we know it. The Annual Meeting is to be held March 4th to the 6th at the New York Yacht Club in New York. Following the Annual Meeting and Awards, a Winter Cruise in the US and Spanish Virgin Islands from March 19-April 3rd is in the works as is the Summer Cruise in the Bras D’Or Lakes from July 20-Aug 4th. The Great Lakes Station has taken responsibility for the Fall Meeting in 2027. Please check the website, and we look forward to seeing you.
• Finally, The Events Committee is looking to grow. We are seeking someone from the west coast to join our existing east coast members. We are also sad to see Margy Robfogel step down after many years of serving as the Fall Meeting lead. She is leaving big shoes to fill. For more information, please see the Help Wanted article in this issue.
COMING UP: CRUISES AND MEETINGS
FALL MEETINGS
2025: September 17-19, Blaine, Washington, Pacific Northwest Station
Stacey Wilson & Bruce Johnston
2026: Southern California Station
2027: Great Lakes Station
CLUB CRUISES
2025: June 10, Transatlantic Cruise in Company
Newport to Kinsale, Ireland – Steve Berlack
June 20 -29, Boston Station Cruise
July 19 – August 1, Western Isles Cruise –Jonathan Brewin, Rob Childs, Barbara Watson
September 10-17, Pacific Northwest Coast – Joseph Golberg
ANNUAL MEETING
Leiv Poncet, aboard his 38-foot steel sloop, Peregrine, in the Falkland Islands, received the Blue Water Medal remotely for his numerous intrepid high-latitude voyages around the world. His dedication to exploring the world’s most remote and challenging locations without fanfare include his circumnavigation of the Southern Ocean, voyages from the Falkland Islands to the Aleutian Islands, and first-ever high latitude sea-kayaking trips. Poncet, who lives on Beaver Island in the Western Falkland Islands, has also contributed to scientific research by using Peregrine as a base for ornithologists and other scientists.
“Thanks very much to the awards committee for this medal,” Poncet said. “I’m proud to have received it, and I think it’s something I’ll be proud of for a long time. When there are so many out there sailing and doing some amazing things, it means all the more for me to have been selected and is an honor.”
Referring to his remarks delivered by video, Poncet added, “When you give a medal to somebody who is a loner and a solo sailor you can’t expect them to change their habits too much. Once again, thank you very much.”
With this honor—the highest CCA award—Poncet follows in the wake of other remarkable sailors including
Bernard Moitessier, Eric and Susan Hiscock, Thies Matzen and Kicki Ericson, and Jean-Luc Van Den Heede. He is the first winner of the Blue Water Medal whose parents won it previously. Jerome and Sally Poncet earned the award in 1992 for their pioneering liveaboard voyaging in Antarctica and their publication of a handbook to voyaging in the region.
The winner of the CCA’s Young Voyager Award, Cole Brauer, also received the honor virtually. The award recognizes a young sailor who has made one or more exceptional voyages, demonstrating exceptional skills and courage.
Brauer, a 30-year-old sailor who lives in Newport, Rhode Island, made
history at the age of 29 by becoming the first American woman to sail around the world, non-stop, singlehanded. Her remarkable journey of 130 days aboard the Class 40 First Light in the Global Solo Challenge not only showcased her racing skills and seamanship but also earned her a second-place finish in the race.
Challenges she faced included injuring her rib after being thrown around by a massive wave, becoming severely dehydrated, and handling many boat repairs—all while informing and entertaining a social media audience that soared to nearly half a million.
“The Young Voyager Award is so amazing, and I’m truly honored to receive it,” she said in an onboard video she made recently off the coast of Australia. “As sailors we are all the same. We may look a little different, be a little different size, maybe a little bit weirder, but we are a community, and this community is really strong.”
“I really hope I can continue in this sport and inspire the next generation and be a part of it,” she added during the two-minute recording. “I respect this sport a lot for what it has to offer, and I think there’s a lot of really amazing talent coming up, especially in the United States. Harnessing that as much as we can and being as inclusive as we can is the best that we can do.”
Via recorded remarks, Leiv Poncet accepts the 2024 Blue Water Medal as awards committee member Ellen Massey (a decorated CCA member) describes meeting Poncet while she cruised in the Falkland Islands.
Leiv Poncet at Kodiak Island, Alaska, prepares to clean his catch.
2024 Young Voyager Award recipient Cole Brauer receives the honor via recorded remarks. Photo: Barbara Watson
Photo: Barbara Watson
Photo: Leiv Poncet
Nigel Calder of Damariscotta, Maine, received the 2024 Diana Russell Award for Innovation, named for a yacht designer and yacht systems developer who was one of the first women to join the CCA. Calder received this recognition for his extensive knowledge, research, development, and production of advanced electrical systems for yachts.
Calder is renowned in the marine industry for his pioneering work and dedication to improving the safety, effi ciency, and reliability of yacht electrical systems. He has played a pivotal role in the development of standards for boat electrical and propulsion systems for the American Boat and Yacht Council in the United States and for similar orga nizations and authorities in Europe.
In a video with a boat’s nav station as the virtual background, Calder, recovering at home from knee replace ment surgery, emphasized the role that all sailors and CCA members play in his work. “Anything I’ve been able to achieve has been a massive, collective team effort in which we’ve all played a part,” he said. “This is an award for all of us, so we all need to take the credit, and I’d like to share it with everybody who’s in the room, and in the cruising community. Thank you.”
Another voyage, in 2013, covered 3,000 miles from Baddeck, Nova Scotia, into Hudson Strait as far as Kinngait (formerly Cape Dorset) at the southwest tip of Baffin Island.
The Club’s premier sailing honor for a member, Far Horizons Award for 2024, went to Finley H. Perry Jr., of Hopkinton, Massachusetts. The award recognizes the sailing achievements of someone who has embarked on a cruise or series of cruises that demonstrate the broader objectives of the Club, including the adventurous use of the sea.
Already a veteran sailor, Perry purchased an Aage Nielsen 46 named Elskov in 1998 and sailed her from Maine to Denmark, and up the coast of Norway to Tromsø. He sailed to Spitzbergen in 2003, reaching 80 degrees north latitude, then crossed to Iceland, southern Greenland, and Labrador.
In 2006, Perry cruised the west coast of Greenland, past Disko Bay to Uummannaq Fjord at 71 north latitude, then crossed Davis Strait and explored
The occasion also gave the Club the opportunity to recognize members for an array of milestones, such as reaching the 50-year mark in CCA membership; completing an ocean crossing aboard one’s own boat; and for special service to the CCA. Other awards presented included:
• Bill Barton of Beverly Farms, Massachusetts, received the CCA 2024 Charles H. Vilas Literary Prize for “Tazzarin—North to Nunatsiavut: A Voyage to Newfoundland, Labrador and the Inuit Lands,” to be published in the 2025 edition of Voyages, the CCA magazine.
• Nicholas H. “Nico” Walsh, of Freeport, Maine, won the CCA 2024 Royal Cruising Club Trophy for his outstanding cruise, including circumnavigation of the Isle of Mull in the western isles of Scotland, which served as a preview of the July 2025 CCA Scotland Cruise.
• William E. “Bill” Cook won the 2024 Richard S. Nye Trophy. Given at the discretion of the governing board, the Nye Trophy is awarded for bringing distinction to the Club by meritorious service, outstanding seamanship, outstanding performance in cruising and racing, international yachting statesmanship, or any combination of these accomplishments.
Cook has had a distinguished career in yacht design, and his own sailing accomplishments include multiple cruises in Europe and high-latitude waters. He also served as Rear Commodore of the Boston Station and for extended terms as chairman of the membership and awards committees, chairman of Mystic Seaport Museum, and as a founder of the Cape Cod Maritime Museum.
Read more about all that the winners achieved to earn their awards at the Awards page of the club website.
CCA Commodore Jay Gowell; Nicholas H. “Nico” Walsh accepts the CCA 2024 Royal Cruising Club Trophy; William E. “Bill” Cook, right, receives the 2024 Richard S. Nye Trophy from CCA Commodore Jay Gowell.
Photos: Barbara Watson
ROYAL CRUISING CLUB DINNER
EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND I MARCH 15, 2025
IRISH CRUISING CLUB DINNER
BLOOMFIELD HOUSE HOTEL, MULLINGAR, COUNTY WEST MEATH I MARCH 29, 2025
Top left: (L-R) Chris Jones, OCC Commodore Fiona Jones, Elizabeth Gowell, CCA Commodore Jay Gowell, Helen Markey, ICC Commodore Alan Markey, Margie Chevasse, and RCC Commodore Nick Chevasse.
Top right: Peter Haden, the first recipient of the CCA Friendship Cup, and Commodore Gowell.
Bottom left: Commodore Gowell addressing the Irish Cruising Club.
Bottom right: Hilary Keatinge receiving the CCA Friendship Cup from Commodores Markey and Gowell.
Photos: Hilary Keatinge
Photos: Daria Blackwell
Top left: Commodore Gowell addresses the Royal Cruising Club in Edinburgh, Scotland. Bottom left: Elizabeth Gowell presents the Cruising Club Bowl to Bill Rollo.
Above: Royal Cruising Club Dinner, March 15, 2025. Left to right David Denholm (Clyde CC), Martin and Philippa Clarke (Royal Highland YC), Alan and Helen Markey (Irish CC), Nick and Margie Chavasse (RCC), and Jay and Elizabeth Gowell (CCA).
ENVIRONMENT OF THE SEA
I am pleased to take over the Environment of the Sea Committee from Rowena Carlson. My husband, Al Hickey, and I have sailed in the Eastern Caribbean for 9 winters and in the Western Caribbean for two, as well as in Maine in the summers. I was horrified to see all the plastic water bottles, flip flops and Crocs that blew onto the gorgeous beaches of the Guna Yala (formerly San Blas) islands. They are downwind of the Atlantic Ocean and the Eastern Caribbean, so all trash lands there. I was personally inspired by Rachel Miller of the Rosalia Project and her cleanups of beach trash from
the sailboat American Promise She makes the important point that plastic is much easier to collect from the shoreline and ocean when it is in its original shape, rather than disintegrated into micro-plastic in the oceans. Whenever I walk on the shore, I take a garbage bag to collect trash. It’s a small thing but something everyone can do.
I look forward to working with the committee members to develop a mission statement for the committee and to engaging members from each station to identify tasks for each area.
Maggie Salter
Sweet Dreams in Lameshur Bay, St. John, USVI.
Maggie Salter (GOM), our new Chair of Environment of the Sea
San Blas Islands:
Azzedine Rouichi, unsplash
CCA ANNUAL MEETING
The Annual Meeting, which took place at New York Yacht Club on March 6th and 7th, provided an opportunity for members and club leadership to gather, share ideas and learn about existing and new initiatives being undertaken by the various committees. Although some believe that you need to be a committee chair or in leadership to attend, nothing could be further from the truth. The Events and Awards Committees collaborated to put on a successful Awards Dinner attended by just under 200 members who were able to see old friends and make new ones.
Meredith Rugg, Vice Commodore Anderson, Lesley Faria
Photos: Barbara Watson
Commodore Gowell, Past Commodore Willauer
Treasurer O’Donnell, Andrew and Julie Kallfelz
Jeb Embree, Rowena Carlson, Past Commodore Bob Medland and Sally Medland
Dan Biemesderfer, Dianne Embree
Barbara Watson, Chuck Hawley, and Timmy Larr
Mark Scott and Ann Lobdell
Tom and Sarah Post
Adrianne and Peter Becker, Treasurer O’Donnell
Yuko Nakajima and Deanna Polizzo.
Rob Stephan, Adam Loory
Steve James
Elisabeth Bohlen, Commodore Gowell, Dorothy Wadlow.
Hiro Nakajima, Beth and Paul Jennings
Frank Bohlen, Tom Wadlow
Paul Kanev, Chuck Hawley
Annie and Bill Barton
Margy Robfogel, Mark and Suzanne Grosby
Verity Powers, Steve Taylor, Timmy Larr, and Dennis Powers
BERMUDA STATION CRUISE CONFIRMED FOR 2026
While we only had a few foreign boats join the post-Newport Bermuda Race Cruise last summer, those who did join us gave rave reviews. With Jay and Chace’s prompting, we plan to repeat the fun following the 2026 race and hope more NBR competitors, their take-home crews, and others will focus on the opportunity for some unbeatable cruising.
Our current plan is similar to last summer, with fitted dinghy racing before an opening party Sunday
on Watling Island. Monday has us moving west to Mangrove Bay for a tour of the National Museum and dinner at Sandy’s Boat Club. Tuesday sees us round the island’s west end, along the Southeast Coast to Castle Harbour, then dinner at the c1652 Walsingham House, home for 200 years to Tom Moore’s Tavern. Wednesday has us in St George’s for a tour of the town. On Thursday we will move to Flatts Inlet on the North Shore for a tour of the Bermuda
Aquarium. We finish up Friday with a dinner at Royal Bermuda.
For those with a tighter time limit, you can check out of St George’s Thursday and be back in New England before the end of the holiday weekend.
Take an extra week and join us or have your take-home crew join us and enjoy the beauty of Bermuda – crystal warm water and great anchorages. What can be better? Full details are on the club web pages.
BERMUDA RACE LAUNCHES A RACE PREP SEMINAR
In February, the Bermuda Race introduced the 2026 Race Prep Seminar Series: What to Know Now to Prepare, a monthly series running from February to June 2025. Designed to equip skippers and crews with essential knowledge, these seminars provide critical insights to help sailors prepare for the next edition of the Newport Bermuda Race. Each session is led by experts in offshore racing, race organization, safety, and navigation, offering actionable advice and practical tips for both newcomers and seasoned veterans. The seminars are live-streamed on the Bermuda Race YouTube channel, where viewers can engage in a live chat for
questions, and recordings remain available for future viewing.
Before looking ahead to 2026, race organizers took time to reflect on the 2024 race and safety-related incidents. The first seminar focused on safety reviews conducted by CCA, BROC, and US Sailing members, categorizing findings into three key areas: Abandonments and Rescues at Sea, Structural Integrity & Inspections, and Communications at Sea. The objective was to gather facts, analyze incidents, and make recommendations to enhance safety in offshore racing. Full reports on these topics are in progress and can be accessed at bermudarace.com.
The March and April seminars shift the focus to boat preparation and crew readiness, covering topics such as insurance, inspections, safety-at-sea training, and qualifications. In May, the discussion turns to weather and data management, exploring the strategies top navigators and meteorologists use to interpret and apply weather data effectively. The series concludes in June with a breakdown of the Notice of Race, Safety Requirements, and Registration Process, ensuring sailors have a clear understanding of what it takes to get to the starting line on June 19, 2025. To learn more or watch any of the seminars, visit bermudarace.com.
Castle Harbour Dinner at Tom Moore’s Tavern
GRENADINES CRUISE JANUARY 2026
We are well underway with the planning of what looks like a glorious two weeks in the Grenadines. We start our cruise in St. Vincent because of its easy Jet Blue flights in and bareboat availability. For those who arrive early or have a free half-day, there are many wonderful sights in St. Vincent, from the Montreal Gardens to the Black Point Tunnel dug by slaves in 1815 to move sugar cane to a better beach for transfer to outbound ships and the filming site of Pirates of the Caribbean. After we have collected our provisions and liquor purchases, we waste no time in heading to Bequia, just 10 miles south of Blue Lagoon where the charter boats are in St. Vincent. We have our opening dinner there at The Plantation, one of the top restaurants and resorts in SVG, with beautiful views of Admiralty Bay and some kettle drums playing in the background. There is a lot of history on this small island. Spend some time exploring with a taxi tour to the homemade wooden model boats, Whaling Museum, and great beaches. You can get last-minute provisions from Doris’ market or
just stretch your legs. Then we head to Mustique for a fabulous lunch at Basil’s Bar perched over the water. This will be music festival week, and we are working with Basil to be there for one of the performances. The island is private with homes for movie stars and royalty, but feel free to walk around. The private areas are marked well.
South of Mustique is Canouan. On the leeward side of the island, there is a large, well-protected harbor for overnight, but also lots of little anses to explore along the way for some snorkeling. On the windward side there is a reef protecting the beach. On calm days you can snorkel out there as well. You’ll notice the Mandarin Oriental resort up on the hillside. You can make reservations here for dinner if you call ahead. In the past they would send a car for you from the resort. There are other restaurants and shops, and the local delicacies are oysters that grow on mangrove roots. There is a small airport and a black plane owned by a high-ranking US elected official who has been known to visit his home there.
On day 4 we head to Tobago
Cays! Here you slink in between the cut through Petit Rameau and Petit Bateau. Head for one of the moorings on the other side. The area along the west side of Baradal Island is protected to safeguard the turtle population. Anchoring is permitted in certain areas. There is good holding off
Princess Margaret Beach, Bequia.
Photo: Mike McBee
Cruise Route SVG to GRN
Jamesby Island. We are planning a rum keg and a lobster bake luncheon ashore with all the accoutrements including a steel band! About 2 miles west there is also a little harbor on Mayreau called Salt Whistle Bay, a lovely spot to anchor for a swim, get a snack or drink at one of the beach bars under a tent, or take a walk up to the top of the hill to see the aerial view of Tobago Cays and Union Island. The church on top of the hill was wrecked in the last hurricane. They are trying to raise funds to rebuild. CCA may try to offer some donations to help their cause.
Union Island is where we plan to clear customs out of St. Vincent for Grenada. The customs office is behind the Bougainvillea Café, now restored enough from hurricane Beryl damage to have the bar open while waiting for customs. All of Union Island is hard at work on restoration, and there should be many restaurants and shops open by January, 2026. The people are friendly and very resilient after Beryl damaged 90% of the island structures. The schools and hospital are reopened, and the airport should soon restore
commercial flights. There are other quiet anchorages like Cumberland on the protected west side of the island. Heading south to Carriacou, we plan to have expedited customs clearance in Tyrrel Bay on the SW corner of the island. The Immigration office
is around the back of the Tyrrel Boat Yard. If there is a wait, have a beer at the Iguana Café, fully open after Beryl damage. The snorkeling off Sandy Island is fantastic. There is a big drop off on its far eastern side and plenty of room here for a lunch hook and a snooze before you continue to the Hillsborough main harbor for the night. When commercial air service is restored to the airports on Carriacou and Clifton, either of these islands will be suitable for leaving or joining our cruise, and the charter companies are all prepared to redeliver boats as needed.
It is about 30 NM from Carriacou to St. George’s, Grenada, outer anchorage, and we may organize a fun pick-up race to entertain crews along the way. You will see Ronde Island along the way, but don’t be lured in for the night. This anchorage is rolly and not great holding (she says from experience…). Inside St. George’s Harbor, there is a great marina at Port Lewis where one can get a transient slip. The grocery store is right on the shore of the harbor, so you can take
The Aquarium Grenada, view of St. George’s Harbor, Grenada.
Photo: Peter Rugg Palm Island, Grenadines.
Photo: Peter Rugg
Admiralty Harbor, Bequia.
Photo: Mike McBee
your dingy over. If you don’t need provisions in St. George’s, one might want to grab a mooring for 2 hours in the Carenage and taxi to Sails Restaurant for local catch of the day and unforgettable nutmeg ice cream before sailing down around the southern coast of Grenada and exploring all the small bays. True Blue and Prickly Bays have marinas but can be crowded. Further east there are enchanting coves and harbors in Mt. Hartman Bay, Clarke’s Court Bay, Hog Island, Egmont Bay, Westerhall Bay and St. David’s Harbor, with small lobster shacks, options for provisions, a top repair facility at Clarke’s Court, and a sailmaker across from it. This gives us time to explore Grenada a bit by land. There are great trails with waterfalls and plenty of rum distilleries and nutmeg and chocolate factories to keep one busy ashore. Our closing dinner will be at Aquarium, reputed to be the best restaurant in Grenada, where we can have our last rum punch and bid each other farewell. The people in Grenada love the US since President Reagan helped them overthrow a communist coup in October 1983. The Grenada Medical School is accredited in the United States, and often more than 1000 students are from the US. Enjoying their freedom, minimal regulation and low crime rates, the Grenadians are happy, cheerful, and welcoming. All the taxi drivers serve as tour guides and ambassadors for visitors and cruisers alike.
Registration is on the Cruise page on the CCA web site.
- Peter Rugg, Narragansett Bay Post
FULLY UPDATED CCA CRUISING GUIDES TO LABRADOR AND MAINE
CCA Cruising Guides to Labrador and Maine: very different sailing destinations and very different guides, but both guides provide the very latest expert “been there, seen that” advice from experienced CCA members.
The 2025 edition of the Cruising Guide to Labrador is about to hit the bookstore shelves. Labrador is an attainable, if not easy, cruising destination for adventurous sailors who want to reach beyond their usual horizons and experience a remote coast that is both steeped in history but still almost completely untouched since the beginning of time. This fully revised and updated guide has lots of advice about how to prepare for northern cruising combined with all new chartlets and harbour descriptions. This is the only and essential guide to one of the few places in North America where your next anchorage can truly be an unexplored “off soundings” cove.
At the other end of the cruising spectrum, the free online CCA+ Cruising Guide to Maine covers waters closer to home for many CCA members. It highlights the best harbors and anchorages in one of the busiest cruising grounds and provides essential, up-to-date
information such as marine services, provisioning opportunities, charts for every location, local weather and wind forecasts, tide predictions, and insider tips on hiking, activities, and more. Annual viewership approaching 30,000 indicates how important it has become as a cruising resource.
• The latest quarterly newsletter (sent to nearly 2,000 subscribers) is available here: https://us20.campaignarchive.com/?u=f11460a532088b604be5f6163&id=a02238fa81
• The online Maine guide is available at https://guides.cruisingclub.org/
• The new Labrador Guide, along with the CCA’s four other print guides covering Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the Viking route, are all available from Paradise Cay Publications www. paracay.com. Use the code CCA25% to get a discount.
- Wilson Fitt (BDO)
What you see in Newport if you are not in the Grenadines.
Photo: Peter Rugg
PACIFIC NORTHWEST
PACIFIC NORTHWEST STATION THREE CORNERS CRUISE: SEPTEMBER 11-17, 2025
Calling all CCA members to join us for our CCA-PNW Fall 2025 Cruise in the San Juan Islands September 11th-17th prior to the Fall Meeting September 18th in Blaine, Washington. The archipelago consists of hundreds of islands with many delightful, protected anchorages in an area of about 900 square miles on the border of the United States and Canada. Jumping off points, Anacortes and Bellingham, are 90 minutes north of Seattle and 90 minutes south of Vancouver B.C. The “THREE CORNERS CRUISE” is named after three lighthouses that define the NW corner of the United States border with Canada. The Corners are: Lime Kiln Point on the west side of San Juan Island (48° 30.969’N x 123° 9.144’W), Turn Point Light on the NW end of Stuart Island (48° 41.328’N x 123° 14.248’W) and Patos Island Light on the NW end of Patos Island (48° 47.359’N x 122° 58.279’W). Our cruise will start September 11th at Sucia Island State Park which is the crown jewel of the San Juans and the Washington State marine parks. We will be gathering ashore for appies and BYOB drinks at the picnic area between Shallow Bay and the NW end of Echo Bay. Sucia Island is a short run from Anacortes
and Bellingham, approximately 22 nautical miles. September12th is a lay day for exploring; we will help visitors by encouraging them to ask a local. There is a great hike to Turn Point Lighthouse from both Reid Harbor and Prevost Harbor on Stuart Island, and we will offer additional options in your cruise guide. September 13th we will gather at PNW member Peter Powell’s house in Westcott Bay on San Juan Island for our traditional Rum and Chowder afternoon. Each boat will contribute enough chowder for their crew to add to the chowder pot and bring side dishes; we will provide a detailed chowder recipe.
September 14th is a lay day, and we will have a speaker/tour guide for those who want to visit English Camp National Historic Park in Garrison Bay (adjacent to Westcott Bay) in the morning to talk about the Pig War. English Camp was established in 1860 to house British soldiers to oppose U.S. troops encamped at American Camp south on Griffin Bay. The dispute known as the Pig War began when an American settler killed a pig rooting in his garden belonging to the Hudson’s Bay Company. Armed conflict was averted by international
negotiation with no human casualties! Westcott Bay Shellfish Company is at the head of Westcott Bay and a great destination for oysters served or bulk. September 15th we cruise to RC Douglas Adkins’ home in West Sound on Orcas Island for a local seafood gala with main courses and sides provided. September 16th is another self-directed day to visit lovely destinations in the San Juan Islands recommended in the Cruise Guide or by a local. For members attending the Fall meeting by boat or staying at Semiahmoo Resort, there will be a closing a la carte dinner at Semiahmoo, and meeting attendees who did not join the cruise are welcome. Cruise website is at: https://cruisingclub.org/event/ pnw-fall-cruise-2025 and registration is at: https://cruisingclub.com/ cruise/pnw3corner. Charter information is available on the cruise website. If you have any questions please contact: Stacey Wilson wwisail2@msn. com (206) 553-9941, Joe Golberg joegolberg@icloud.com (360) 298-4655, or Doug Cole douglascole7@comcast. net (360) 961-6101 is available to coordinate transportation from Seattle or Vancouver B.C. to Bellingham or Anacortes for charterers.
CCA 2025 TRANSATLANTIC CRUISE
CCA 2025 TRANSATLANTIC CRUISE IN COMPANY UPDATE
NEWPORT RI TO KINSALE IRELAND - JUNE 10, 2025
Seven Boats On Board For The Yachting Adventure Of A Lifetime
In June of 1996, the CCA organized a transatlantic Cruise in Company to support a cruise of Ireland that summer with the Irish Cruising Club. That was the last organized transatlantic endeavor the CCA organized. A “cruise in company” enables captains and their crews to enjoy the adventure and accomplishment of a North Atlantic Passage in the presence of others. The amount of planning, preparation, knowledge acquisition, and financial commitment is extraordinary. Unlike a normal CCA Cruise, this effort is an endeavor to enable yachts to get to a traditional CCA Cruise, such as the Scottish Western Isles Cruise commencing in Oban this summer.
The “expression of interest” invitation was posted over a year ago, and initially 17 yachts expressed interest. As members dug into the detail of preparing their yachts for a North Atlantic Crossing, combined with the time commitment, and the management all the life events that can override this type of initiative (weddings, reunions, moving, etc), we saw attrition in the ranks of the interested. I would say the largest headwinds were in vessel preparation and refit.
To help people address their concerns and have confidence in the capabilities in their boats and their crews, we organized several informational and knowledge transfer events over the last eight months. The highlight of these events was a Panel Discussion Luncheon, moderated by Gary Jobson, at the CCA Fall Meeting held in Annapolis. The panel
delivered relevant content in the discussions and created a lasting resource for yachtsmen adventuring on extended ocean passages. An edited video of the event can be seen here: https://www. youtube.com/watch?v= N3NBDlG2gnw.
Most of the yachts participating in the cruise will depart from Newport on or about the 10th of June, heading east in search of the great circle route to the United Kingdom. The major navigational challenge early in the voyage is the “Ice Triangle” posted off the southern coast of Newfoundland. This must be respected. In the 2015 Transatlantic Race, we had to sail 1,000 miles due east to clear this area prior to heading northeast to the UK. The prevailing wind patterns are a westerly flow, with a preponderance of downwind, “wing and wing” sailing for most rigs.
-
Steve Berlack,
Gulf of Maine Post
WESTERN ISLES CRUISE 2025
Not long now—but a few months to go before we all gather in Scotland. Much planning and preparation will be needed for those heading across the Atlantic.
The Clyde Cruising Club’s Sailing Directions, Kintyre to Ardnamurchan, Ardnamurchan to Cape Wrath and the Outer Hebrides are also available as downloads. CCA members get a 15% discount. Go to our Member Store, click on the IMRAY logo, and you’ll see a notice that our discount will be applied to all products including digital versions of the Clyde Cruising Club Sailing Directions.
• For Reeds Nautical Almanac: www.reedsnautical.co.uk
• Details of Bob Bradfield’s 2025 Antares Charts are now available, and links for downloading them can be found at www.antarescharts.co.uk
• Upload Navionics on your mobile phone or tablet.
• For local information check out About | Welcome Anchorages.
• As the GAM goes to press, we have 63 boats registered expecting 262 crew; 171 crew have signed up and paid their deposit from 57 boats. The closing day for registering and final payment is May 18th.
• For more information https://www. cruisingclub.com/cruise/western
There is definitely no requirement to bring a blazer; this is going to be a much more casual cruise. Of course any amount of tartan is quite appropriate. A warm hat will be in your goodie bag, but bring your own special sun hat since it may also prevent rain running down the back of your neck!
The Western Isles Cruise follows a long line of cruises in company with our Sister Clubs. We are particularly grateful to the Clyde Cruising Club, Irish Cruising Club, Ocean Cruising Club, Royal Cruising Club and the Royal Highland Cruise Club for following tradition and helping to put this event together.
It should be noted that 2025 for the Senior Cruising Club, the RCC, is their 145th year! No doubt an excuse for a wee dram. The RHYC is only a year behind.
Let’s backtrack a little, but not as far as 1920 when our original heroes arrived in Cowes and were welcomed by the Royal Cruising Club, inspiring the foundation of the CCA.
Just go back to 1982 when RC Forbes Perkins, BOS, chaired the CCA’s sexagennial cruise in company in Maine. I nvitations were extended to the CCC and other cruising clubs. A number of CCC members took part,
sailing with friends or chartering boats for their own crews. Forbes and his committee put on a great welcome for all the visitors and were largely responsible for sowing in the minds of the 30 members who attended the seeds of the idea which became the CCC 75th Anniversary Cruise in 1985. Forbes was elected an honorary member of the CCC in 1982.
Several boats came across from Ireland. One ICC member lost all power and communications, with a sextant of course, so his wife had patiently to wait in Maine until he turned up, which happily he did. A superb lobster cookout was held on Roque. Roque, after Maskell’s Harbour, is perhaps one of the most historic destinations on the east coast for the CCA and has featured in many a cruise. A sunflower raft up was created in the Benjamin River where the boats spent all night all together.
Tom Walker, BOS, and Commodore of the Manchester Yacht Club, agreed to organise the start of the Transatlantic Race to the Clyde in 1985. Tom and Anne were elected Honorary members of the CCC that year. The 1985 Clyde Cruising Club’s 75th Anniversary cruise really started with the reception for the Transatlantic Race competitors and other visitors
View north from Iona to Tresnish, Staffa, Ulva, and Mull
at Gourock where the major prize went to Art Snyder’s replica schooner Welcome from Massachusetts.
One Transatlantic visitor did not arrive in time for the Prize-Giving but having crossed from Newfoundland to Ireland in only nine days in his Farr 41 Reindeer, Newbold Smith was presented with a separate award at the next day’s major event. There was a very special party at Mount Stuart, by invitation of the Marquess of Bute, an honorary CCC member, amidst a major thunderstorm. From the start line off Crinan, Reindeer participated in the Tobermory Race. There followed a Guinness Book of World Records Sunflower raft up of 193 boats in Loch Drambuie and a sunlit party on Vatersay, which is very much the favourite and ultimate destination for most CCC members, in the Hebrides. Like Roque, it can accommodate a large number of boats.
In March 1994 CCA Vice Commodore Bob Drew was setting up the cruises for his watch, so he attended the ICC Annual Dinner, where he suggested the ICC run a cruise for which CCA would sail across in 1996. The Irish, never shy of a party, were happy to oblige, and Commodore Drew duly attended, presenting a bell in thanks to the ICC Commodore Liam McGonagle. A sunlit Baltimore Cocktail party run by the CCA and NYYC’s VC, Dooie Isdale, was followed by a photographic parade around the Fastnet Rock, a feature of many an ICC Cruise. The following year all the clubs were invited back to a summer cruise
in Maine to celebrate the CCA’s 75th. Many came. Highlights were a raft party at Roque on board Knight Hawk, Migrant, Hawksbill and Long Reach and CCC Commodore Katie’s Classic Malts raft up party in Pretty Marsh Harbor. Commodore Jim Harvie masterminded a huge contingent of CCA members to join the CCC’s Classic Malts Millennium cruise in 2000. Jim was elected an honorary member of the CCC that year. A sunflower raft beneath the Cuillins in Loch Harport and a party at Talisker were on a memorably perfect day. The Royal Highland Yacht Club joined in too and ran an Isle of Mull Lunch. In later cruises, the RHYC has organised an event at the Mussel farm in Loch Spelve.
The Irish Cruising Club celebrated their 75th in 2004. Nine boats left various ports on the US east coast to sail across, two of which completed the Newport Bermuda Race. Daily emails via Iridium phone provided position reports, weather updates, and conditions on board, allowing the shoreside contingent to share the experience. In all 26 CCA boats and 145 people attended the cruise along the southwest coast of Ireland. The ICC had 172 boats registered, and over 150 joined the cruise at some point. The total sailor count exceeded 800. Once more we all came home with photos taken rounding the Fastnet. This year Ireland declared anyone in a boat under 23’ must wear a life jacket and PFD, and they did. Ireland also stopped production of all single use plastic grocery
bags. You pretty quickly remembered to take your own multiple use bags.
The Clyde Cruising Club invited all the clubs to join in their centenary celebrations in 2010. The CCA had 144 members sailing in 33 boats. The total number participating in some or all events was around 1,000. Les Crane and Tanner Rose organised the CCA and ran an invitation-only cocktail party in Tobermory where Commodore Sheila McCurdy presented the CCC with a whisky keg crafted by PC Bob Drew. The cruise started in Ardfern, Tobermory Race, Sunflower, and Vatersay with volunteers from all clubs in charge of the numerous BBQs, RHYC’s Mussel party, and a closing sit down dinner for 400 in the big shed at Kerrera with fireworks.
If this all sounds a little familiar, it is almost the route the Western Isles Cruise will take this summer. Commodore Jay Gowell was determined to lead the CCA back to Scotland, and he really drove the decision. Luckily Jonathan and Rob had recently relocated home to the UK, so they are on the spot to organise. It is fifteen years since we were there--certainly time to go back and for some, it will be a whole new experience. This time WhatsApp will be our form of communication and Photo Circle will be used to share the pix.
We look forward to seeing you there!
- Jonathan Brewin, Rob Childs, and Barbara Watson: CCA25Scotland@gmail.com
Material sourced from The Clyde Cruising Club’s The First Hundred Years, Several past editions of The GAM, and Barbara’s records.
2010 Kerrera, Barbara Ellis (ESS) and Sally Medland (GLS).
Ceilidh dancing
ICC 75th in 2004 featuring the Gumleys and Pollets in the required PFD’s
NEWS FROM STATIONS & POSTS
BOSTON STATION REPORT
The Boston Station and its three Posts, Narragansett Bay, Buzzards Bay and Gulf of Maine, each reported on separately by their Post Captains in this GAM, are firmly in winter mode. Good fun and winter gatherings continue even though most of our fleet is ashore and under cover. Zoom meetings across the Posts help the Boston Station members to be aware of upcoming gatherings in other areas of possible interest to be shared. The Station has hosted its regular Rat lunches, its New Member Dinner / Annual Meeting and a very enjoyable winter Lunch Party at the Rear Commodore’s home by Nick and Phyllis Orem. And further afield, members continue to venture in far-away places.
The long-established and rather unique Rats Lunch of the Boston Station continues to be held and attract excellent gatherings of members for bimonthly midday lunch, convivial conversations and talks of interest. October’s lunch was followed by a very touching account by Carter (Bink) Bacon on the unfortunate loss of his yacht Solution , a 50’ Aage Nielsen sloop, last July on return from Bermuda and her last race to there. Bink’s talk was illustrated with some astonishing slides showing the painful drama of flooding and abandonment with one of himself in the rescue basket entering the helicopter, and in the background, far below, Solution before she sank. The Christmas lunch always features a capacity crowd and great conversations. February’s lunch featured a talk by Stu Flerlage, arranged by Stephen Foraste, on how Stu has experienced racing and cruising yachts at sea whilst enjoying the highest levels of seamanship. Yachts include Carina and the 1979 Fastnet storm and Snow Lion’s 2005-6 design and build followed by sailing with Larry Huntington. Stu, through
many examples, illustrated how Larry creates a culture of involvement and knowledge leading to the highest levels of overall competency and reliability amongst the crew. Core to their process is shared experiences and rotation through positions leading to both skill development and a highly detailed knowledge of the yacht, her equipment and her ways.
The New Members Dinner in the fall is always a very well-attended and enjoyable event at the Union Club in central Boston. The dinner is held in conjunction with the Station’s Annual Meeting. Sixteen new members were introduced, and each gave a summary of their sailing background. A diverse folio of experiences of making adventurous use of the sea was heard with much good humor. A notable number were of the “Next Watch” and have already made extended cruises, some with young family leading the way. Two new members were halfway round the world in the western Pacific with stopovers in Tonga. With many accounts of racing and cruising, from the Atlantic and Pacific, the future membership is true to the Club.
New member Carol Harrington was presented with a Circumnavigation
Pennant for her recently- completed cruise around the world. Her route was: Cutler, Me., Antigua, Panama, S. Pacific, NZ, Aus., Reunion Is., S. Africa, Brazil, Bermuda and back to Cutler, home port for their Morris 48, Icebear. At the other end of the spectrum, they also enjoy their Herreshoff 12 ½ .
The Annual Meeting segment of the evening gave a brief update of the Station’s activities and congratulated the new member proposers and the Committee for their work in identifying such qualified candidates. The Station Officers were duly approved for the next term. Commodore Jay Gowell addressed the gathering and reiterated that the strength of the Club arises from its sailing members exhibiting racing and seamanship skills whilst enjoying their adventurous use of the seas. Commodore Gowell also acknowledged the excellence in volunteering in a whole range of positions and encouraged new members to be involved.
The Station has an interesting mix of its yachts in overseas adventures. At current count, in a new effort to record such ventures, we count about twelve yachts in a variety of areas around the globe. We are collecting such information so that those of us ashore might vicariously enjoy such
New Members introduced at the Annual Meeting and New Members Diner: Left to right: Micah Davis, Ed Doherty, Andrew Howe, Carol Harrington, Leif Heimbold, Mary Martin, Soren Schroder, Jay Gowell, Pamela MacBrayne, Ryan Murphy, Todd Johnston, Jim Gabriel, Gordon Fletcher, Dan Gabriel, Peter VanAlstyne, Jr. Nick Orem, Jeff Wisch
NEWS FROM STATIONS & POSTS
adventurous use of the sea, honor their endeavors and possibly share their news and experiences. The term odyssey comes to mind for such “extended adventurous voyages.”
For example, new member Jamie Samuels is in New Zealand refitting Felix Le Cat , a Phisa 42 catamaran, for an extended cruise through Melanesia (Fiji, Vanuatu, Tuvalu etc) and onto Australia and possibly Tasmania before returning to New Zealand. He speaks highly of the skill base in Whangarei (mideastern North Island) for refits as they also transition from a monohull to the catamaran. They plan to be back in the US late 2027.
In the Atlantic region, we note Commodore Gowell and Moonstone (Tayana 52), currently in the Caribbean, with a circum-Atlantic odyssey planned to cruise across the Atlantic to NW Europe and participate in the
BRAS d ’OR
Delawana sailed November 2nd, 2024, headed for the Caribbean. The weather window indicated it would be a fast passage to the first landfall, Bermuda. It was a sunny day, and north winds greeted them as they raised the sails. The next three days looked terrific. Hans Himmelman has sailed this route more than most, and on this delivery he was accompanied by fellow station members Phil Wash and Les Savage. The anticipated quick leg came true as Delawana made the 720 nm passage in 3d, 20hrs.... nice way to start one’s winter escape. The crew enjoyed a brief stop, a dip at Tobacco Bay Beach, before carrying on to the ultimate destination, Martinique.
After a few days of cleaning up and rest following their arrival, Phil Wash carried on, via St. Lucia, to Grenada. Phil had been a sounding board for an old friend who was looking at the purchase of a sailboat he ended up buying, a Beneteau 40 centre cockpit. As with every new
CCA Scottish Cruise before exploring the coastline of Western Europe as they extend the voyage south to the Canaries. From there they will complete their odyssey back across the Atlantic to the Caribbean in December to winter and participate in the Grenadines CCA Cruise before heading home to Rhode Island in the spring of 2026.
Further north, Steve McInnes and Maverick (Hanse 505) continue their five-plus years of exploration of Scandinavia and NW Europe with a cruise leg to Scotland and the CCA Cruise there this summer. Many others likewise continue their adventures. We hope to gather a more complete database in the future. Please contact author if you can provide an entry or suggestion.
- David Curtin Boston Station Historian
ownership with extensive cruising plans, there were a number of projects that are undertaken, and Phil was there to help. The sea trial took them down the Carriacou and Grenada coasts as well as a stop at Ronde Island, part of the Grenadines. Beautiful sailing, sandy beaches, friendly people... the three weeks were over before Phil knew it.
The Next Watch article in the Fall GAM (P.8) 2024 spoke to the “support network” within the CCA. It’s so true. Phil Wash exemplifies this—he is always willing to lend a helping hand. I was reminded again of this benefit of the CCA while reading Commodore Jay Gowell’s March 2025 Waypoints ‘From the Bridge.’ The support network plays an important social role as well. The Commodore mentions he and Elizabeth met up with Dani and Hans aboard Delawana in Dominica. The CCA is an impressive community. Often it’s just nice to bump into someone familiar when
you are far from your home port.
David Arenburg and Sandy MacMillan used a different mode of travel going south—they drove to the Carolinas to check on Sandy’s boat and then onto Sarasota to check on David’s property following hurricane Milton. David reported all survived what was a destructive event for so many.
The station fall meeting was held at The Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Squadron (RNSYS) - Saraguay House. It is a wonderful venue and the setting, on the Northwest Arm, is second to none. The reception was followed by a lovely meal with station-sponsored wines. Wilson Fitt presented our station’s newest member, David McCurdy, with proud parents, Gretchen and Kit McCurdy, in attendance. It was a heartwarming moment. The Rear Commodore then presented the Millennium Bowl to Grant Gordon, Cruise Chair, in recognition of the tremendous job he did organizing the summer cruise. The business portion was led by RC
Carol Harrington being presented with the Circumnavigation Pennant by CCA Fleet Captain Ernie Godshalk and Rear Commodore Nick Orem.
Mid-winter GAM at home of Nick (RC) and Phyllis Orem. Left to right, Cici Cunningham, Ann Reis, Nick Orem, Phyllis Orem and Chan Reis
NEWS FROM STATIONS & POSTS
Bill Greenwood who orchestrated the station reports with enthusiastic support for the club to get behind Wilson’s recommendation that the CCA Cruise Guides be converted into digital format.
John Harries presented a comprehensive overview of his and Phyllis’s ‘hands on’ double-handed MOB exercises this past summer. Excellent, ‘real life’ lessons. Things happen quickly, and we all need to be prepared... it’s a serious activity when one is out on the water. We had a sobering reminder recently when an experienced Canadian sailing couple washed ashore in their dinghy on Sable Island this July 10th. The couple were aboard their sailboat, Theros, headed across the Atlantic when something seriously went wrong... resulting in them abandoning ship and tragically perishing at sea. Theros has never been found. A comprehensive investigation only leaves us speculating as to the cause, but the message is clear: safety first... it just may save your life or a loved one.
On a more uplifting note, Hugh Goodday has been elected to the Board of Sail Canada, the governing body of our sport. Congratulations to Hugh on this fine recognition of his dedication to the sport and the depth of expertise
and ability he brings to the role.
Judy Robertson cruised the Med this summer/fall ending up in the Canaries. Judy left her boat in Gran Canaria and recently returned with her two daughters and partner to prep for a transatlantic to the Caribbean. Semper Vivens’ landfall is anticipated to be St. Lucia. So, as you read this, Judy has finished her crossing and is hopefully enjoying the turquoise waters and sandy beaches of the Caribbean. Safe voyage!
It was bright and sunny for the station’s Blomidon Inn retreat weekend January 25th, 2025, in Wolfville, N.S., generally referred to as ‘The Bras d’Or Station Gathering.’ Thirty members made the trek to the beautiful Annapolis Valley. The weekend kicked off with a hike along the pretty Gaspereau River as it winds its way through some of the area’s gorgeous wine country with dormant vineyards and rolling snow-covered hills. The conditions underfoot were icy resulting in a few slip-and-falls but no injuries other than, maybe, an ego or two...we are just happy no one was injured.
The survivors were welcomed into Barbara and Peter Watts’ beautiful home for what is surely the most
appreciated and anticipated invite of the year. Now a post hike tradition, participants were met with offerings of Prosecco and Champagne along with wonderful hors d’oeuvres to warm the soul and soothe the weary bones...
An evening of lively conversation and fine dining followed at the Blomidon Inn. Syd Dumaresq delighted attendees with one of his entertaining tales as only Syd can... worth the price of admission! Bill Greenwood gave a station update and injected some fun with a version of musical chairs to shuffle the seating encouraging enhanced socializing which further enlivened the evening. Many came away saying this year’s event was the best Blomidon Inn gathering ever!
Hats off to everyone who participated, and special thanks to Anderson and Sheila Noel who travelled all the way from Newfoundland... and of course Barbara and Peter for opening their home and their magnificent hospitality. Great fun was had by all.
Mary Filbee has volunteered her many talents for the 2027 CCA Club Cruise to the Bras d’Or Lakes. Mary was integral in publishing the famed 2012 Club Cruise Guide to the Lakes which was so well received. I cannot
Gaspereau River - Station Hike. Photo: Phil Wash
Wilson Fitt introduces Stations newest member: David McCurdy, parents Gretchen & Kit look on. Photo: David Stanfield
Mama Angie’s coffee shop - St. George’s Bermuda, Delawana crew breakfast.
Photo: Phil Wash
NEWS FROM STATIONS & POSTS
imagine how it could be improved upon... but given a second kick at the can, the 2027 guide will be outta sight! No pressure Mary...:-).
It is a well-known fact that members ‘get out of Clubs what they put in.’ So consider following the lead of Mary, Grant, Judy, Phil and others, and volunteer for the 2027 CCA Club Cruise to the Lakes. It’s as easy as sending me an email...
What do sailors do who spend their winters in the frozen north?
Pickleball ... of course!
Denis Linton, David Archibald, Phil Wash, to name three, have been thrashing about local courts taking on all comers. Be leary if they suggest you play for a small wager ... they are sharks! Speaking of sharks, Phil Wash advises he has been contacted by the shark research vessel people so stay
BUZZARDS BAY
After a full summer of racing and cruising, it was time to move indoors for the start of the Post’s winter program.
In December, the Post hosted its first winter luncheon at the Beverly Yacht Club in Marion, MA. CCA member Sam Vineyard, who leads the yachting division of Marlow Ropes in the US, gave a very educational presentation on fibers, construction and applications of modern ropes. Rope technology has come a long way since our use of three strand nylon/dacron. There were 36 CCA members in attendance.
tuned for more action in the ‘cage.’ Ben Garvey and Julien Delarue with Amasek and Andromede remained in the water over the winter, so you know these warm spring winds will find them out sailing well ahead of the crowds. Erwin and Diane Wanderer, having returned from their winter escape to Portugal, will be eager to launch their new Reliance 12M daysailer. Erwin says he is only interested in leisurely sails... but those competitive juices are hard to contain... look for him on the starting line.
Reg Goodday was rumoured to have moved his legendary martini party stateside to the delight of his ‘happy’ skiing friends.
2025 is a Marblehead to Halifax Ocean Race (MHOR) year. Will Greenwood was spotted at the Halifax Boat Show keeping abreast of all the newest trends as he prepares Airborne IV for another Marblehead campaign.
In closing, if you have made it this far, and I have overlooked you, please send me an email with your recent activities and a picture or two, and help me keep station news fresh and interesting (curious minds want to know).
Fair winds!
Respectfully submitted, – David W. Stanfield
Blomidon Inn - Reception. Photos: Phil Wash
Deb Gayle-Malone exhibits cheek (of a block) at Schaefer. Fred Cook, owner of Schaefer Marine, New Bedford, Mass.
NEWS FROM STATIONS & POSTS
Our February luncheon moved to the world headquarters of Schaefer Marine in New Bedford, MA. Owner/President Fred Cook gave us a wonderful tour of his manufacturing facility giving all an inside look at the making of hightech marine hardware. From blocks to foils to boom furlers, Schaefer offers a considerable collection of highquality marine hardware. Lunch was served after, and Fred continued to field questions from the group. It was a very fascinating afternoon. Fortythree CCA members attended the meeting.
The Buzzards Bay Post is hoping to have a March tour and lunch at the Cape Cod Canal Control Station in Bourne.
Respectfully submitted Ray Cullum, Post Captain
CHESAPEAKE STATION
The CCA Chesapeake Station members enjoyed fall cruising at its best. Good weather set the stage for a memorable National Fall Cruise. Climatologists also promised that a La Nina weather pattern would deliver a mild winter to the Mid-Atlantic region. Unfortunately, the fickle polar front had a mind of its own and kept trying to make its way to Florida—occasionally succeeding. Our new Rear Commodore, John Devlin, who cruises with his wife Susan aboard their well fitted out Valiant 42, Gratitude, concurred. “Winter weather has been a challenge up and down the east coast and hopefully members who are voyaging further away are experiencing more stable, seasonal conditions.”
Our station hosted the annual CCA Fall Meeting at the Annapolis Yacht Club. It was a very well-attended event and opened with a packed cocktail cruise on a local harbor tour boat. It proved to be a perfect way to meet members from other stations and catch up with old friends. During a Luncheon at AYC, Gary Jobson moderated a well-received panel discussion on transatlantic voyaging. The Fall Meeting concluded with a banquet and numerous awards were given for offshore passages and achievements. The CHE Fall Meeting Committee
comprised of John Devlin, Marge Robfogel, Roel Hoekstra and Dorothy Goldweitz did a tremendous job organizing the event.
Next on the agenda was the CHE Fall Cruise, one of the most memorable in recent years. A total of 33 boats participated in some of the events with 27 along for the entire Cruise. It commenced with the fleet anchored in Lake Ogleton for a shoreside “Rum Keg Raft Up” on Friday night at the home of Tony and Claire Parker. Over 100 members and guests enjoyed fantastic hospitality.
Saturday’s racing saw 17 boats on the starting line facing calm seas and clear skies. The light wind died in the Eastern Bay but not before a shortened course race was completed. Jon Wright’s Dress Blue was first on corrected time followed by CCA Commodore Jay Gowell’s Moonstone and Peter Kellogg’s Black Watch . The cruise proceeded to Quarter Creek on the Wye River and the home of Fred and Sharon Kirsch where oysters and appetizers were enjoyed dockside.
The cruise highlighted one of the Bay’s nautical treasures, the venerable Chesapeake Bay Buy Boat. Their origin dates back to the heyday of oystering, crabbing and fishing when an effort was made to to get the catch to markets, packing houses and local restaurants more quickly. These versatile, beamy, 40–90 foot shoal draft workboats were soon carrying
Manufacturing process at Schaefer.
Rear Commodore John Devlin celebrates aboard Nellie Crockett.
NEWS FROM STATIONS & POSTS
All Photos: Ralph Naranjo
Denis and Laure Seynhaeve anchor Escapade in the Rhode River.
L-R Vice Commodore Chace Anderson, Susan Crump, Fleet Captain Jon Wright, Chace and Gary discussing upcoming transatlantic cruise.
L-R Safety Officer Ted Parish and Fleet Captain Jon Wright share words of nautical wisdom.
Dorothy Goldweitz receiving an award for her continued support of the Station’s events and activities.
Jahn Tihansky pondering another Everglades Challenge race.
(L-R) Jonathan Goldweitz, Ernie Godshalk, Commodore Jay Gowell at the conclusion of the Fall Cruise and the last sunset salute.
(L-R) Roel Hoekstra, Secretary/Treasurer Bill Read, Steve Director, Dave Adams enjoy the farewell sunset.
NEWS FROM STATIONS & POSTS
lumber, produce and a wide array of other cargo throughout the bay. Once numbering in the thousands, today there are about 40 Bay Buy Boats surviving. Only a handful see traditional duty, some serve as day tour boats while others have been restored and are on display in the tidewater museums of Maryland and Virginia. Two were an integral part of last year’s CCA Fall Cruise.
The Nellie Crockett , is a classic plank-on-frame deadrise design that’s listed as a National Historic Landmark. Owners Ted and Mimi Parish carefully restored the 61’ Oyster Buy Boat built in 1926. Approaching the century mark, she has become an integral part of CCA-CHE fall and spring cruises, serving as the RC boat and
center for socialization.
Peter Kellog’s Coastal Queen , an elegant workboat-to-yacht conversion, was launched in 1928 as a Buy Boat built in Hudson, MD. The lengthening and initial rebuild was done by Ralph Wiley’s Boatyard in Oxford, MD in 1959. And the current extensive rebuild by McMillen Yachts in Portsmouth, RI includes an upper deck, that affords a taller panorama. But on this year’s cruise, the lower working deck of the Nellie Crockett was home to the ever-popular CCA rum keg and received the most attention.
Ted Parish is also the Chesapeake Station’s Safety Officer, and he’s added a few reminders to add to our Spring Safety check lists. “Remember to pull the fire extinguishers, inspect and
shake, mark them as checked. Before all the gear is returned to the boat, go through the bilges and tighten hose clamps, check for chafed wires, look for signs of cracking around the keel bolts, bulkheads, thru hulls (very important this year due to the severe freezing) and mast steps. For the dark side boaters — really focus on the hidden spots in the boat that are not ideal to climb into during the summer. Particularly stuffing boxes, rudder stuffing, shaft pillow bearings if installed, and out of sight engine plugs, wires, and hoses.
Safety is a culture of preparing for the worst and praying for the best.
– Ralph Naranjo
Check out the Website: www.cruisingclub.org
The CCA website is remarkable for its clarity, ease of navigation and the wealth of information it contains. Michael Moradzadeh has done a truly amazing job in putting together a website that functions so well. You can find out almost anything you need to know about the CCA, its cruises, officers, committees and members on the site and download important cruising information. GAMs from the past seventeen years can be downloaded.
Nellie Crockett and Coastal Queen rafted up and ready for boarding.
Traditional craft with a well-tested, fully functional Rum Keg.
History of the CCA
Sheila McCurdy (BOS) and Tim Murphy (BOS) have collaborated on the two books that the CCA commissioned for the Club’s Centennial. Tim wrote and Sheila edited Adventurous Use of the Sea featuring some of the extraordinary members and their escapades over the years, and Tim edited High Seas and Home Waters , the 100-year history of the Club that Sheila has written and will be published soon.
Tim: We expect to see High Seas and Home Waters available to members in coming months. How did you go about capturing a hundred-year history of a club that has had thousands of members?
Sheila: Our friend John Rousmaniere advised me to approach the project as a family history of multiple generations incorporating both the stories of the most notable members with those who contributed in smaller significant ways. We may think of CCA members only as proficient bluewater sailors, but another, more important, commonality is their love of storytelling and camaraderie. The Club’s history is a narrative of dreams, accomplishments, and challenges undertaken by members. The close friendships ashore and at sea are the continuity that has bound the club together, but like a family there have been differences.
nity of enthusiastic, adventurous sailors. After the war he returned to Baddeck and hatched a plan to build the 45-foot ketch Typhoon to sail to England and back, drawing on his friends to accomplish the well-publicized venture full of storms, stress, and derring-do. Many of those friends became the charter members of the Cruising Club of America in 1922.
• Casey Baldwin was one of the friends in Baddeck who made Nutting’s dream possible. Baldwin not only offered to build the boat at his employer’s (Alexander Graham Bell) boatyard but also sailed with Nutting to England. Baldwin was a much better seaman than Nutting and a pioneering aeronautical engineer who was the first Canadian to fly a heavier-than-air craft.
• Henry Wise Wood was one of the charter members who started out in canoes, and while a sensible person might choose a larger boat for coastal cruising, Henry and his wife Elizabeth piloted a 16-foot sailing canoe from New York to Prince Edward Island over the course of two summers in 1907–1908, which including sailing and paddling outside Cape Cod, along the coast of Maine, and up the Bay of Fundy. Henry was also an engineering innovator, poet, and political firebrand. His grandiose phraseology exhorts our members even today from the words he penned in the Plan and Scope Report of the inchoate Cruising Club in 1923. He said, “By gathering in a group all who are fond of offshore work, we sow the wilderness of the sea with a host of acquaintances…And we convert the winter into a season of sport, wherein those who have been afloat swap their summer experiences with each other, and share them with their unfortunate shorebound clubfellows.”
Tim, your book, Adventurous Use of the Sea , singles out some of our extraordinary CCA members over the years. Thinking about members who defined the Club at its founding, maybe the Club history should be called the Audacious Use of the Sea. What characters—shall we admit reckless characters—come to mind?
Tim: Some of the Club’s earliest members have taken on perilous exploits as a lark:
• William Washburn Nutting—Bill to his friends, of which he had many— was the catalyst for the Club. His day job was an editor at Motor Boat magazine, but he taught himself bluewater sailing by singlehanding an ancient cutter from New York to the Bras d’Or Lakes, Nova Scotia, in 1913, where he added to his frater-
High Seas and Home Waters will be published in the next few months for the enjoyment of the membership.
Henry Wise Wood and his wife Elizabeth on their canoeing escapade in 1908.
History of the CCA
• Slade Dale, who joined in 1929, was certainly cut from the cloth that Wood envisioned. In 1925, Slade and a friend built two 12-foot sneakboxes, normally sailed or rowed for waterfowl hunting on Barnegat Bay, New Jersey. The pair set their sights on Miami. They launched the boats into the surf of the Jersey Shore in October and sailed 50 miles north in open ocean to New York Harbor before working their way through canals to the Intercostal Waterway, camping along the way until they reached Coconut Grove, Florida, where they happened to meet the esteemed yacht designers Ralph Munroe and Nat Herreshoff. Slade was never far from water, boats, or adventure for the rest of his life.
Back to you, Tim. Who would you say are some of the characters we have covered who exemplify the Club to you?
Tim: I would have to start with those who have sought out barely charted places for their own fulfillment:
Sheila, you have made the boats as much characters as the people. What boats have played a big role in the club?
Sheila: We cannot even scratch the surface of extraordinary boats here, but we do in High Seas and Home Waters. Some of the best-known ones served their owners exceptionally well, and you gave them full chapters in Adventurous Use of the Sea —iconic vessels like Typhoon , Dorade, Belvedere, Night Runner, and Carina . Other boats that have achieved character status include
• Coastal Queen was built in 1928 as a Chesapeake buy-boat until Slade Dale transformed her into a passenger yacht the late 1950s, and she has been chugging up and down the East Coast ever since as a gracious gathering place, most recently for her owners and CCA members: Jim Bishop and Peter Kellogg.
• Wanderer III : The stout Laurent Giles 30-footer earned two Blue Water Medals for her owners over 50 years apart—in 1955 to Eric and Susan Hiscock and in 2011 to Thies Matzen and Kicki Ericson—and is still going.
• Finisterre : The Sparkman & Stephens cruiser racer gave three consecutive Bermuda Race wins to her original owner, Carleton Mitchell,
and inspired countless similar centerboard yawl designs in the 1950s and 1960s.
• War Baby: The boat started out in the CCA fleet as the S&S racing thoroughbred on the Great Lakes Dora IV with her first owner Lynn Williams, and she became the ocean racer and the 1979 Fastnet Race winner, Tenacious with owner Ted Turner, and changed careers again to become an expedition yacht under the ownership of Bermudian Warren Brown venturing both to the Arctic and Antarctic and across the Pacific.
• Alexander Forbes arranged an expedition with cartographers and other experts on the 97foot schooner Ramah mapping the coast of Labrador from seaplanes in 1931, which turned out to be very helpful to the Allied conveys and air support in World War II.
• Paul and Carol Sheldon spent summers on their 39-foot ketch Seacrest exploring the Canadian Maritimes for 15 years during the 1940s and 50s which extended the reach of the Club’s cruising guides and earned him a Blue Water Medal without date in 1961.
• Donald Starr and his CCA friends, Harold Peters and Hod Fuller, set off on the John Alden schooner Pilgrim, circumnavigating in 19321934 with a crew of eight. Starr, an
Warren Brown, in red, aboard his boat War Baby in Spitsbergen
Hod Fuller, Donald Starr and Harold Peters (left to right) with three other crew members aboard Pilgrim
History of the CCA
accomplished lawyer, would serve as rear commodore of the Boston Station twice, before resigning in the mid-1960s when he thought the club had devoted itself too much to racing. Hod Fuller went on to distinguish himself in World War II in the Marines and the OSS. In the late 1950s he settled in Greece with a well-appointed charter yacht on which he entertained CCA members, among others.
Sheila: I might add that Alex Forbes was a Harvard Medical School professor who researched amplification of the electrical impulses of the heart, so, during World War I, the Navy assigned him to install radio-direction finders on destroyers in Ireland. On a particular day he came up for air in his usual disheveled working attire to be surprised by a formal event on deck—complete with a band and dress uniforms. It turned out the Assistant Secretary of the Navy had been piped aboard and looked his way. Franklin Roosevelt, Forbes’s Harvard classmate, casually said, “Why, hello Alex.”
The CCA cruising guides fulfill one of the earliest objectives of the Club “to gather and keep on file all information which may be of assistance to members in cruising.” While few of our members today would consider going to Newfoundland or beyond without chart plotters, radar and satellite communications, a dedicated group is still gathering and updating information as part of a continuum of contributions by Charles Bartlett, Paul and Carol Sheldon, Sandy Weld, Doug and Dale Bruce, Wilson Fitt, Bill Strassberg, and so many others.
There are many more curious coincidences throughout the Club’s history. What are some of the member interactions that stuck in your mind?
Tim: Dennis Puleston was a naval architect and self-described “bluewater vagabond” who got to know many early members through a series of wild adventures in his early life, but during World War II, he collaborated with the sailing icon Rod Stephens in developing the amphibious DUWK. In
a further CCA coincidence, Rod was testing the DUWK prototype on Cape Cod when CCA member Peabody Gardner’s 65-foot schooner Rose, which was in the Coast Guard Auxiliary’s submarine patrol, was stranded on an offshore sand bar near Highland Light during a storm in 1942. Rod was able to drive the DUWK over the dunes and off the beach to rescue the crew. Unfortunately the boat was lost.
You have made a point in the Club history that members share traits of individualism and a desire to escape the normal life on land, yet when they are on land, they share experiences and find ways to improve equipment and techniques.
Sheila: A good example of that is the focus on safety at sea in the aftermath of the 1979 Fastnet Race where a serious storm devastated the fleet crossing the Irish Sea. The Club and its investigative members took on analyses of design stability, wave capsize, and rating rule influence on yacht construction to improve the survivability of boats in ocean conditions. The Club even published a book in 1987 called Desirable and Undesirable Characteristics of Offshore Yachts to help boat buyers and owners assess seaworthy and seakindly boats.
Turning the subject to how stories influence us, who among our betterknown members have inspired younger generations—even you and me when we go back a few years?
Tim: There is a long tradition in the Cruising Club of sharing stories beyond Club gatherings sometimes in magazine articles or in books. It was interesting to learn that Olin Stephens in his twenties was inspired by reading the newly published The Track of the Typhoon by Bill Nutting. Irving and Exy Johnson took boatloads of young people around the world aboard the brigantine Yankee , repeatedly. There is no way of knowing how many young readers of their articles in National Geographic went on to sail toward a fictive or literal horizon. Lin and Larry Pardey, also CCA members, gathered a loyal following of adventurous sailors through their articles, books, and videos as they put hundreds of thousands of miles under the keels of their small, engineless cruising boats. Other members put their efforts into creating educational organizations like Outward Bound Hurricane Island, the Seattle Sailing Foundation, and Sea Education Association (SEA), among others. SEA first put college students to sea for a semester aboard Westward, the
Rod Stephens driving the prototype DUWK with 25 passengers proving its load bearing stability
History of the CCA
99-foot schooner turned brigantine that CCA member Draytie Cochran had built to circumnavigate in the 1960s.
Sheila: There are so many coincidences and close associations that I came across researching this history. The members today are closely tied to each other through connections they may be unaware of. A short conversation at a Club meeting or gam with an
unfamiliar member exposes any number of threads of common interest and friends in common.
I was much relieved by one of these chance encounters when I was trying to get the outboard on an inflatable dinghy to operate on the morning we had arrived in the blustery yacht harbor on Hiva Oa. I had thought the sputtering engine was my only
problem when I realized that the bow tube was deflating, and I was being blown onto a jagged concrete pier. Just when I thought I would be swept under the exposed rebar, a familiar voice said, “Sheila, toss me your painter,” and there above me was Doug Cole, a CCA member from Seattle. Suddenly my plight turned into a friendly reunion and a good story. I guess that is why I am so fond of CCA members.
Doug Cole, a PNW member, whose surprise appearance was a welcome relief in Hiva Oa.
Draytie Cochran got chummy with the sea lions of the Galapagos on his circumnavigation in the early 1960s.
NEWS FROM STATIONS & POSTS
ESSEX STATION
The ESS Annual Meeting was held on December 5,2024. 72 members and guests were in attendance at the gracious Essex Yacht Club. Outgoing RC Tom Wadlow was recognized for his good works, and incoming RC Gretchen Biemesderfer was warmly welcomed. Six of 7 new members were in attendance, each being recognized by Gretchen.
At the Annual Awards Dinner in NYC, Dianne Embree received The 2024 Commodore’s Award “for many years of much-appreciated devotion as author of the new member biographies for publication in the GAM.”
On Feb 24, there was a fire in the mast shed at the Mystic Shipyard. A number of CCA members have their rigs stored in this shed. The process of sorting out the damage is being slowed by the necessary environmental approvals. The impact on member sailing plans is yet to be determined. We know for sure the damage would have been far worse if Frank Bohlen had not discovered and reported the fire.
On April 2nd, ESS will hold its popular potluck dinner at The Hounds, Clay Burkhalter’s popular Stonington venue.
The 140-mile Sam Wetherill Race will start on May 16. This venerable race is a favorite with ESS members, starting in Essex, on to Gay Head, Martha’s Vineyard, and back, leaving
Block Island to the north. It provides a good shakedown opportunity before the “season” begins in earnest.
Cruise Chair Stan White has asked that our cruise schedule be published with the invitation to members from other stations to join us.
Spring Cruise:
• Friday May 30: Sail to Block Island with GAM on Bonnell Beach
• Saturday May 31: Shore adventures and group dinner (site TBD)
• Sunday June 1: Return to home ports
Fall Cruise:
• Friday Sept 5: Meet up Fishers Island West Harbor or at Ram Island Yacht Club in Noank.
• Saturday Sept 6: Stonington Harbor Yacht Club (moorings and dockage available) with a group dinner at SHYC (land cruisers welcome)
• Sunday Sept 7: Block Island with GAM on Bonnell Beach
• Monday Sept 8: Return to home ports, or join LARK for a cruise to Buzzards Bay, Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket (7 to 14 days)
Louis Meyer reports he’s preparing for his 9th Bermuda 1-2 after a podium finish in 2023. He’s also a strong candidate for the Ancient Mariner Award.
Mike and Carol McBee are in Bequia with Carol Connor checking on venues for the 2026 Grenadine Cruise.
Gerry and Amy Leger left Noank, Ct, last fall and headed south in their new PDQ 34 power cat, AdventureUS With a draft less than 3’, they found mostly solitary anchorages in the Berry Islands and the Abacos. They plan a return to Noank in May.
And lastly, our popular lunches are
held on the 3rd Thursday (mostly), September through June at Pilot’s Point Marina in Westbrook, Ct.
The lunches are informal and fun. The attendance has been growing through the last year averaging 35 merry sailors. Come join us!
- Mike McBee, Historian
Jeb & Dianne Embree.
Strummer at B 1-2 Start.
Carol and Mike McBee with Carol Connor in Bequia.
AdventureUS in Berry Islands.
AdventureUS at sunset.
NEWS FROM STATIONS & POSTS
GREAT LAKES STATION
It has been a quiet winter up here in the north—lots of snow but not a lot of sailing activity.
Skip Novac threw in the towel for summer cruising in the Antarctic to go skiing in Klosters, Switzerland. Skip did a 2500-meter vertical uphill on skis and skins in four days and saved a fortune on lift tickets. He is training for South Georgia this August with a dads’ and kids’ trip for a Shackelton’s Traverse on South Georgia in August 2025.
In December 2024, Peter and Amanda Balasubramanian did a transatlantic crossing from Lanzarote, Canary Islands, to St. Martin on their X-Yacht Elefance . All was going well and on track for a successful crossing until Friday, December 13th, when the internal tie rod supporting the starboard shroud base failed and snapped, leaving the starboard shrouds supported only by the deck, which separated from the hull under the stress. After a very immediate and gentle gybe onto port, they were able to quickly assess the damage and the risk to the rig, which they considered significant. They proceeded to implement a two-stage repair: first they secured the mast as best they could using extra halyards and dyneema supports for immediate stabilization, and then over the next 48 hours, they implemented a semi-structural repair reattaching the shroud base to the interior steel grid by drilling through the deck and then using a combination of dyneema and chain cut from the anchor rode. Critically, they were able to obtain sufficient tension on their jury-rig tie rod by repurposing an inner forestay tensioner and a spare turnbuckle they had on hand. They also used spare sailcloth patches and some of the material from the inside cabinetry, which they had taken apart, to repair the tie rod system in order to waterproof the
hull joint where the deck had lifted. At the time of the incident, they were about 1500nm from St. Martin. During the evening after they had implemented the repairs, they ran into a squall with winds exceeding 50 knots—while nerve-wracking in the moment, the strong gale was the test they needed to be confident that the rig could make the rest of the journey. They proceeded to sail the rest of the way under jib alone and arrived in St. Martin after a total journey of 21 days. It was not the “straightforward” Atlantic crossing that they had hoped for, but in the end, it was an adventure they won’t soon forget! The boat is under repair in St. Martin and is due to be launched and back in business by the end of March. They plan to sail to Grenada in early May and store Elefance on the hard in Grenada for hurricane season. They will return to St. Martin in December 2025 and plan to enjoy some uneventful cruising in the Leeward Islands during the 2026 winter season.
Mellisa Hill has been sailing down in Guadeloupe and up to Antigua. They visited English Harbour and Nelson’s Dockyard. They were lucky to arrive just as the RORC 600 boats were finishing a six hundred-mile race around eleven Caribbean Islands.
Mike and Donna Hill returned to their boat in Naples, Florida, in November and took a direct shot for Key West. They had a perfect crossing with no wind and flat seas. Spending some time with their family, they visited Dry Tortugas by float plane. Mike and Donna are headed home to Thornbury on Georgian Bay and hope to be back home in June having completed the Great Loop.
Rob and Lisa Emery with their daughter Tory are visiting Brian and Melissa Hill in Antigua.
- Jock Macrae
GULF OF MAINE POST
The Post has new leadership, with Peter Driscoll and Charles Tarbell being replaced by Barney Baker assuming Post Captain duties and Howard Coon assuming the Secretary role. We want to extend our thanks to Peter and Charles for years of service to the Post.
Gulf of Maine Post (GMP) activities this year have included many special events. We welcome those CCA members from away that attended and encourage all to participate in future events on our beautiful coastline.
Old Town Key West.
Skip Novac climbing 2500 meters. No tows.
The Hills heading out for Dry Tortugas.
NEWS FROM STATIONS & POSTS
The 2024 Downeast Cruise from Camden Maine to Saint Andrews, New Brunswick, was a highlight. The cruise included Maine gatherings at Lyman Morse, the Wooden Boat School, a sand bar in Merchants Row and on the lovely Great Beach at Roque Island. Sailing was at its best with many enjoying long spinnaker runs in the afternoon southwesterlies from Penobscot Bay to Campobello. Onshore events hosted by GMP included tours of projects underway at Portland Yacht Services (May) and Rockport Marine (February). Prock Marine Company provided a lecture on the coastline damage attributed to the January 2024 storms (April). Members toured the Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences in Boothbay (October). The annual Damariscotta River Grill lecture in December featured GMP member Peter Plumb’s trip to Greenland.
In February the GMP hosted a tour of Rockport Marine, one of Maine’s premier boatyard builders that specialize in the maintenance, design and restoration of wood and composite yachts and work boats. Representatives from Mystic Seaport were on hand to answer questions regarding their ocean classroom schooner Brilliant that was undergoing a major refit below the waterline. Brilliant 61’-6” was designed by Sparkman & Stevens and built in 1932 by the Henry B Nevins Yard. We also had a chance to step aboard Project Ouzel (pictured below), the new 95-foot cold-molded sloop that has been under construction for 2 years with a launch date this fall.
In March, the GMP and the Portland Yacht Club sponsored a fascinating lecture by Harold Youngren (MIT Aerospace Professor/Consultant) on foiling technology and his experience working on the foil design for separate syndicates on the last four America’s Cup campaigns. Despite (or perhaps because of ) the technical nature of the topic, the discussion was light and lively with lots of Q&A. Apparently these boats have trouble going more than 50 knots!
Complementary events in the final planning stages for early August target Penobscot Bay cruisers who
can attend by boat and will also have connections for those coming by car.
• Fenders over the side (FOTS) in Burnt Coat Harbor, Swans Island during the Sweet Chariot Music Festival, August 5-7 https://www.sweetchariotmusicfestival.com/schedule.html.
• A day out hosted by staff from the Hurricane Island Center for Science & Leadership https://www.hurricaneisland.net will include a tour of the Island facilities, hiking opportunities and a CCA reception.
Other GMP events in the planning stages include an Island Cleanup & Oysters in Casco Bay and a Potluck Dinner at the Post Captain’s residence in October. The annual GMP luncheon in Damariscotta in December will feature Southern Ocean sailing by GMP member Max Fletcher.
Further details on these events and others will be posted on the CCA website.
- Barney Baker, Howard Coon
NARRAGANSETT BAY POST
On a beautiful late fall afternoon, members of the NBP gathered at the home of Kay and Charlie Chapin. With their house located on the west bank of the Barrington River, several members chose to get one more sail in and arrive by boat. The warm afternoon rolled into evening, and many stories were exchanged while the rum keg lubricated the chatter. Little did we know that this was to be the last
time we would be enjoying Charlie’s company. Charlie, a member since 1998, passed away in December. His widow, Kay, continues to be an active part of our post. A donation in memory to Charlie’s love of Narragansett Bay and Block Island was made to the Bonnell Cove by the NBP.
- Annie Lannigan, NBP Secretary/Treasurer
NBP group enjoying late fall cocktails at the Chapin residence.
S/V BOLERO and Ed Kane on station at Kay and Charlie Chapin’s house on the Barrington River.
NEWS FROM STATIONS & POSTS
Having recently returned from the CCA Annual Meeting in New York, I am excited for what the 2025 season will bring. We are planning a lunch/tour of the Naval War College in Newport this spring, as well as our annual joint Gam with Buzzards Bay post to Third Beach in Middletown Rhode Island. This event is held in early June when the weather can throw us just about any conditions. Later in June, several NBP members will be joining the Boston Station Cruise to Massachusetts Bay and North Shore Boston. This event is Chaired by NBP member Jason Walsh.
A Gam in Dutch Harbor / Jamestown is usually on the calendar for later in August. Rhode Island Sound, the Cape and Islands are busy cruising grounds during the height of the season. It is not uncommon to see the CCA burgee in many coves and anchorages. These can be coincidental or by design. If a group will be on a cruise, please feel free to share with the Post. An informal cocktail with fellow members is easy and a fun way to get together.
- Ned Jones, NBP Captain
NEW YORK STATION
On Saturday, March 29, 2025, the CCA-New York Station was treated to a captivating presentation by third-generation CCA member, Peter Gibbons-Neff Jr., with assistance from Jane Millman, about his 2023 Mini Transatlantic race.
Peter’s endeavor took three years of preparation before completing the qualification for the race. The race is limited to 90 boats, out of a field of approximately 150 hopefuls. In September 2023, Peter departed Les Sables d’Olonne, France, for the first 1,300 nm leg of the 2023 Boulangère Mini Transat. Competitors hailed from 17 countries, and Peter was the only American. The first leg from France to La Palma in the Canary Islands started in calm conditions but with a
pending deep low within the first three days. In true CCA fashion, Peter completed the leg without issue and was in good shape for the 2,500 nm second leg.
Peter recounted the disappointment and surprise when one of the two rudders broke free from the transom while he was hand-steering and blasting along under spinnaker. This became a cause for diverting south to Cape Verde for repairs. With very limited communication allowed by the race rules, Jane was left to scramble to figure out exactly the port Peter might choose at which to arrive and to plan for repairs. They must have read each other’s minds, and Peter arrived, the rudder was successfully repaired, and since the race rule required minimum stopover, he headed back out to sea. Peter was now something like 700 nm behind the leading pack. However, positioned further south, Peter was in more wind and quickly gained miles on the pack.
sailing. Peter tells how the organization helped him after a simple introduction. And now it is the mission behind his drive to again sail the Mini Transat but this time in a new prototype design.
Peter finished the leg having overtaken and passed 5 boats. What a sense of accomplishment! Peter is focused on coming back for the next race even better prepared and with a “go big or go home” attitude. Peter, a lifelong sailor, is passionate about adventurous use of the sea and an active military which he shows by supporting and representing U.S. Patriot Sailing. The organization is an all-volunteer, non-profit 501c3 focused on supporting veterans through
The event was well-attended by the CCA-NY station, and we were honored to have Past Commodore Jim Binch in attendance, plus past Rear Commodores Bob Darbee and Hiro Nakajima, as well as station royalty Scott Kuhner. Additionally, we had 5 potential CCA candidates in attendance.
Discouragingly, the tasting samples from the RC’s first attempt at aging rum in one of the Station’s new 5L oak casks were not a huge hit. Questions linger: was a luncheon too early for drinking? Do we need more time in the barrel? Will Deanna Polizzo’s work with her own coconut-infused rum win the day at our next event? Station members will have to attend the next event to find out.
- Peter Becker, RC, New York Station
Some of the station members, left to right, Richard West, Tim James, Commodore Binch, Peter Zendt, Bob Darbee, H.L DeVore.
Above: Peter Gibbons-Neff talks about his dream of his next adventure.
The station’s 5L rum cask for custom rum aging.
NEWS FROM STATIONS & POSTS
PACIFIC NORTHWEST STATION
We look forward to hosting the 2025 Fall Meeting at Semiahoo Resort in Blaine, Washington, at the doorstep of the San Juan Islands on September 17-19. The details are being deftly orchestrated by our own Bruce Johnston and Stacey Wilson. September is a wonderful month in our corner of the world, and the amenities and program at the resort shouldn’t disappoint.
Prior to the meeting, the Pacific Northwest Station is pleased to invite all members to our Three Corners Fall Cruise in conjunction with the 2025 Fall Meeting. All members are invited to join us. Registration is available on the CCA cruise website. Participants wanting to charter boats for the cruise are encouraged to contact the three available charter companies as soon as possible to assure availability; our Cruise Chairman Stacey Wilson, (206) 553-9941 is Charter Liaison and can help coordinate chartering and transportation. The lighthouses at Lime Kiln Point, San Island, Turn Point, Stuart Island, and Patos Island define the northwest corners of the United States and are included in the cruise itinerary. We’ll begin on Thursday, September 11th, at Sucia Island State Park a few hours’ sail from the ports of Anacortes and Bellingham. The week’s events will take us to Orcas Island’s West Sound and to San Juan Island’s Westcott and Garrison Bays with several lay days for cruisers to explore on their own before returning to the mainland on Wednesday, September 17th, prior to the club’s Fall Meeting on September 18th.
In the nearer term, Roger Werner and his Cruising Committee are in the process of meticulously planning the Spring Cruise which will take place May 12-16 down Hood Canal. The start on May 12th will be at Port Ludlow, followed by a night at Port Gamble, a Rum Barrel and Chowder feed at Kennell’s beach cabins in Quilcene Bay, then Pleasant Harbor,
with a tour of the Hama Hama Oyster Company, and a final stop at Alderbrook Inn at the far end of this beautiful inlet.
Our intrepid Pacific Northwest cruisers continued to make adventurous use of the sea in such diverse ways as transiting the Northwest Passage and competing in last fall’s America’s Cup. Rusty Lhamon reports on his successful passage with owner Graeme Esarey aboard Dogbark through the Northwest Passage. Key take home from Rusty: you can tell when the water is starting to get shallower because the big icebergs start running aground. Rusty promises a full report at a future meeting. Starfire with Trish and Caspar Schibli passed by the Vendi Globe fleet during their 40-day 5600nm passage from Cape Town, S.A., to Albany, Australia. As of this writing, they have arrived in Adelaide to spend the winter. Altair, with Paul Baker and Suzette Connolly aboard, are heading to the Caribbean and have crossed the Gulf of Tehuantepec. Bill and Kathy Cuffel on Jurana are in the Mediterranean for another season. Hoptoad with Sonny and Margie Stolsig are in Guam planning to passage to Okinawa. Totem with Jamie and Behan Gifford are in Micronesia bound for Japan. On the way to Micronesia, they had a small rudder incident which had them diverting to Johnston Atoll to assess the situation. A closer inspection there showed a lack of urgency, and they were able to continue to the Marshall Islands. Capaz and Rob and Kathleen Hurlow have reached Kodiak and will continue through Alaska down to Seattle this cruising season. Scott Malone in Morning Star sailed solo from La Paz, Mexico, to American Samoa, where his wife, Mary, flew in to meet him. They will continue to New Zealand for the cyclone season after a stop at Minerva Reef. Frederic and Janet Lafitte aboard Sagittarius were in southern France this fall competing in the Les Voiles de Sant-Tropez. At the same time, Paul Bieker was in Barcelona with the Luna Rossa Team. Complexity with Jim and Barbara Cole are in the eastern Caribbean. Starr with Don Stabbert is in Oahu and planning a voyage to Fiji with Rob Hurlow as crew.
John Robinson continues his work coordinating the invaluable PNW edition of the “Safety for Cruising Couples” workshop. The informational seminars will be held this spring at the Seattle Yacht Club, the Tacoma Yacht Club and the Bellingham Yacht Club.
Our interesting lunch programs this fall and winter included October’s presentation by Joe Golberg of the Dick Enersen film on the Courageous campaign in the 1980 America’s Cup. December’s meeting had Rear Commodore Adkins sharing his fantastic story of the Concordia Yawl Coriolis and its near destruction, and subsequent rebuild, in the notorious Pier 3 fire at Seattle Yacht Club in 2002. Finally, PNW member Alex Simanis of Ballard Sails gave fascinating insight into the design of sails, sail cloths, and sail care during February’s meeting.
At our annual meeting in late November, Chris Otorowski shared his experience as our commodore and presented a heartwarming slideshow of his last couple of years at the helm of the CCA. Chris’s leadership, along with his wife Shawn, took us out of the pandemic and through our centenary celebration. Along the way they enhanced ties with clubs on both sides of the pond, sailed the Pacific, the Atlantic, the Caribbean and the Mediterranean.
During that meeting, we also welcomed Glen Margolis and his partner Sophie to the club and the Pacific
Rear Commodore Doug Adkins welcomes new PNW member Glen Margolis.
NEWS FROM STATIONS & POSTS
Northwest Station. Glen is a Pacific Cup veteran, leads a floating wind energy startup and is a naval architect. He cruised many voyages up and down the west coast on his Farr 44, Confetti.
Please join us for our monthly meetings. The PNW Station normally meets at the Seattle Yacht Club on the first Wednesday of alternative months except July, August and September when we are out cruising. We are always very happy to have members from other posts and stations join us, whether for luncheons or our fabulous spring and fall cruises.
-John Kennell PNW Historian
SAN FRANCISO STATION
Led by Rear Commodore Chuck Hawley, Secretary Mary Lovely and Treasurer Synthia Petroka, the 100-plus members of the SAF Station are active and engaged in cruising and racing on its home waters of San Francisco Bay, as well as across Blue Water to Hawaii, the South Pacific, the North Atlantic and around the Americas.
One of our three SAF Blue-water Medalists, Randall Reeves, with friend and crewmember Harmon Shragge, intends to circumnavigate the Americas the “wrong way.” That is, Randall and Harmon are going to sail Randall’s yacht, Moli , clockwise around the continents of North and South America. They are going to, if you will, “leave the Americas to starboard.” They transited the
Northwest Passage west to east from Alaska during the summer of 2024 and, via Greenland, made their way to Newfoundland, where Moli has spent the 2024/2025 winter on the hard at the Royal Newfoundland Yacht Club in Conception Bay. Moli is awaiting
their April/May return to wake her up again. Randall and Harmon intend to depart St John’s in early June for Cape Horn via the Azores, Cape Verde, Madeira, with likely port calls in Rio de Janeiro and Montevideo on the way south. Their plan is to arrive in Puerto
Moli on the hard at the Royal Newfoundland Y.C. Photo: Randall Reeves.
Tom Condy and Sylvia Seaberg in a Kauri treetop. Photo: Tom Condy
Todd Hedin and Liz Baylis in the Berry Islands, Bahamas. Acquaviva in background. Photo: Liz Baylis
Loveseatoo at Annapolis Yacht Club Guest Dock (2024). Photo: Bill Mittendorf
The Beek Family at Isla Isabela, Mexico: L-R, Henry (12), Dr. Alison Cooke, Lena (8), and Clark.
NEWS FROM STATIONS & POSTS
Williams, Chile, by the end of this year and to depart in February or March of 2026 for San Francisco Bay via Easter Island, Pitcairn, The Gambier Islands and Hawaii, time permitting.
Another of our Blue-water Medalists, Jeanne Socrates, has recently completed a two-and one-half year solo voyage from Victoria, BC, to Australia aboard her yacht Nereida. Jeanne is currently in Tasmania, and on February 11th, while in Hobart, Jeanne was invited by Her Excellency the Honorable Barbara Baker AC, Governor of Tasmania, and her husband, Emeritus Professor Don Chalmers AO, to Afternoon Tea for members of Women Who Sail Australia (WWSA), at Government House. Also, while in Hobart, Jeanne attended the biannual Australian Wooden Boat Festival 2025, with no less than 11 tall ships gracing the River Derwent.
Down Under also are Sylvia Seaberg and husband Tom Condy, who are currently in Whangarei, New Zealand, aboard their yacht Cinnabar, as well as Banu Oney and her husband, Peter Saggers, who call Nelson, New Zealand, their home port. Sylvia and Tom arrived in Whangarei in October of last year after a six-day sail from Fiji and spent the first month of 2025 cruising the beautiful Hauraki Gulf. While anchored at Waiheke Island, they had a chance to experience a firsttime adventure, ziplining. “At the Man O’ War winery,” enthused Sylvia, “it was FUN to go flying over the tops of the great Kauri trees.” Sylvia and Tom will leave Cinnabar in New Zealand for the Southern Hemisphere winter and return to her next summer. Banu and Peter recently returned to Nelson after a six-week cruise throughout the bays and islands of the Marlborough Sounds in their yacht Denize III
Currently cruising the West Coast of Mexico are Clark Beek with his wife Dr. Alison Cooke and their son, Henry,
who is 12, and their daughter, Lena, who is eight. They are on a six-months’ voyage in Condesa , the yacht on which Clark completed a solo circumnavigation back in 2008. Clark had a couple of interesting observations about modern cruising today. Clark writes:
It’s been sixteen years since I returned from my circumnavigation and since I’ve done any real cruising. I’d say the two biggest changes (aside from me being in my fifties rather than my thirties) are Starlink and inflatable standup paddleboards. I had my reservations about Starlink, but almost every boat has it, and it makes a lot of things easy, like the kids’ online schooling, for example.
Looking forward to cruising the Pacific Northwest this summer are Stan and Sally Honey who, last October, positioned their powerboat Sarissa from Redwood City, California, to Sidney, British Columbia. They will rejoin Sarissa when winter lets go of B.C. Mike and Bobbe Brown will bring their powerboat Journey to Sidney in late Spring as they have kept the yacht in San Diego for the winter and still have a cruise to make to Baja California before beginning the long voyage up the West Coast to British Columbia in May. Once in B.C. Mike and Bobbe plan to cruise the San Juan Islands, the Sunshine Coast of B.C. and as far north as Canada’s Broughton Archipelago Marine Provincial Park. It
would not be surprising if Sarissa and Journey share anchorages this summer.
Some SAF members keep their yachts on the East Coast and spend the summers racing and cruising from the Canadian Maritimes down to the Bahamas. Opting for the warm waters of the Caribbean this winter, Liz Baylis and Todd Hedin are in the Bahamas aboard their yacht Acquaviva This May, Bill and Joan Mittendorf plan to daysail their yacht Loveseatoo south from Harpswell, ME, to Chesapeake Bay. In June, they will sail up the Hudson River as far as the fixed bridges will clear their mast and, in July, they will work their way back north to be out of most hurricane paths by the end of summer. If time and weather allow, they might go up the Saint John River in New Brunswick.
SAF-member Matt Brooks, owner of the 95-year-old, legendary yacht Dorade , in January of 2024, lost his wife Pam Rorke Levy, who the crew referred to as their “preferred helmsperson.” The crew, however, in her honor and memory determined to carry on as Pam would have wished and completed the 2024 season with races at New York Yacht Club and classic yacht regattas. The 2025 season is shaping up similarly, beginning with three June regattas highlighted by the 171st New York Yacht Club Annual Regatta. Dorade will sail the New York
Trepidatious Sylvia on the Zip Line at Waiheke Island. Photo: Tom Condy
Dorade competing in the 2021 NYYC Annual Regatta.
Photo: Paul Todd/Outside Images
NEWS FROM STATIONS & POSTS
Yacht Club cruise in July, wending her way from Marblehead to Newport, and then compete in a series of three classic yacht regattas in Nantucket, Bristol, and Newport in late August.
Rowena Carlson and Robb Walker spent the summer of 2024 cruising the Baltic Sea aboard their Omega 42, Natsuko , after which they stored the boat for the winter in Nävekvarn, Sweden. This May they intend to return to Nävekvarn and rejoin Natsuko for another four months of cruising the Stockholm Archipelago.
Our brine-storming Webmaster, Michael Moradzadeh, has donated his Santa Cruz 50, Oaxaca , to the
midshipmen of Cal Maritime Academy, in Vallejo, California—who will race her this summer to Honolulu in the Transpac Race. Michael has a new-to-him J/40, Oaxaca 2 . Michael will spend the summer on San Francisco Bay learning and tweaking his new yacht.
On March 4th, the SAF attended its annual Crab Feed hosted by the Pt. San Pablo Yacht Club (PSPYC) and served by its members. The hospitality of the PSPYC and its members is second to none, and SAF members appreciate it very much. Three new members joined us for their first CCA event: Erica Mattson Siegel, sponsored by Bob
Hanelt; Zan Drejes, sponsored by Stan Honey; and Steve Reeder, sponsored by Cree Partridge. All have extensive blue-water experience. In addition, our Rear Commodore, Chuck Hawley, and his wife Susan had just returned from two river cruises: first they spent seven days cruising up the Brahmaputra River from Guwahati, India and back; and then five days cruising up the Nile from Esna, Egypt to Aswan, Egypt. Chuck gave us a brief summary, which was fascinating. Look for a future Voyages article from Chuck about these river cruises.
- Bob Hanelt, SAF Historian
(L-R) New Member Steve Reeder, Sponsor Cree Partridge & R/C Chuck Hawley.
(L-R) Sponsor Bob Hanelt, New Member Erica Mattson Siegel & R/C Chuck Hawley.
(L-R) Sponsor Stan Honey, New Member Zan Drejes & R/C Chuck Hawley.
CCA-SAF Station member hosted by members of the Pt. San Pablo Y.C.
Photos: Dick Enersen
NEWS FROM STATIONS & POSTS
SO CAL REPORT
From Bill Guilfoyle: Transpacific Yacht Club Commodore Bill Guilfoyle provides an update on the fastapproaching Transpac race to Honolulu:
Transpac 2025, the 53rd edition of the classic race across the Pacific, plans a first start on July 1 off San Pedro’s Point Fermin. Two faster fleets will start on July 3 and July 5.
In these final months, the TPYC Board of Directors, committee chairs, and volunteers, both here and in Honolulu, are hard at work making the final preparations to welcome the 61 entries to Cabrillo Way Marina and Honolulu.
Once again the CCA SoCal Station is well-represented on the water and among the many volunteers organizing this year’s race. On the water, CCA entries make up 10% of the fleet and include Ali Bell’s Cal 40 Restless , Dave Clark ‘s SC70 Grand Illusion , Kerry Deaver with the Cal Maritime entry SC50 Oaxaca , Roy Disney’s Andrews 70 Pyewacket , Doug Jorgensen’s J/111 Picosa skippered by his son Jack and Tom Purcell’s Andrews 50 It’s OK
In addition to the sailors, the entire TPYC bridge and many Staff Commodores and Directors are CCA members. It’s been my honor to work alongside Vice Commodore Alan Andrews (Race Chairman), sailing this year on the Ker 52 Fast Exit, and Rear Commodore Ali Bell.
I’d like to extend an invitation to all CCA members to join us in San Pedro for the week of festivities as we celebrate with the sailors their first significant milestone, making it to the starting line, and send this year’s fleet off to Honolulu.
The week starts on Saturday, June 28, with the Aloha Sendoff party sponsored by Fess Parker & Third Window Brewing onboard the battleship USS Iowa . There we will have live music, food & drink, USCG demonstrations, fleet introductions
and a blessing of the fleet all capped off with the firing of the Iowa’s 5” anti-aircraft guns to mark the official opening of Transpac 2025. If you’d like to join us, tickets can be purchased online from our website at transpacyc.com.
Sunday, June 29, will mark the official opening of the Suntex Marina’s Transpac Village. The village, located on the south side of the marina adjacent to the dry boat storage, will be the home to the official race office & sponsors. Official Transpac 2025 race gear can be purchased, and Third Window Brewing will have smash burgers, smoked ribs, beer and wine each afternoon through the last start on Saturday.
We’re excited to have a great fleet with plenty of shore side activities in San Pedro and Honolulu. We look forward to seeing CCA members and families of racers join us in sending off our sailors on a fast and safe passage to Hawaii.
From Kerry Deaver: Kerry Deaver reports on her effort to field another Cal Maritime team for Transpac 25. She is an excellent sailor with Transpac experience. Kerry’s coaching of this team will provide cadets with invaluable experience that will no doubt apply in their future careers.
Cal Maritime races in the biannual Transpacific Yacht Race from Los Angeles to Honolulu on a CMA Foundation-provided offshore race boat. The Sailing Team has raced numerous times over the years, most recently in 2019 and 2023. Cadets are in charge of all aspects of the race and return delivery, with a safety officer on board.
Sailing in Transpac provides the cadets an opportunity to learn new skills, leadership, responsibility, overcoming adverse conditions, teamwork, and rolling with the punches. The CMA offshore race boat also participates in other local races as school and dinghy racing schedules permit.
This year’s Transpac crew will consist of three Cal Maritime graduates from last year who were exceptionally disappointed when the T/S Golden Bear delayed her departure on Summer Cruise from Vallejo for a month, eliminating the previous boat from the Pacific Cup. Another alumnus is now a 2nd engineer and will be making his third transpacific crossing, all with Cal Maritime. The cadets will be comprised of two seniors, a junior and a freshman.
The boat this year is Oaxaca, a Bill Lee-designed Santa Cruz 50 that was the one of the original “Fast is Fun” light, narrow and easy to sail offwind
Transpac Glory
NEWS FROM STATIONS & POSTS
designs. SC 50’s have been racing to Hawaii in nearly every Transpac since being launched some 45 years ago.
Since her launch in 1980, Oaxaca has spent some quality time in the yard: rigging redone, new high aspect rudder, and transom extended. She is one of the lighter boats in the fleet, and her smaller sail configuration means better performance and easier manageability in advanced sea states and breezier conditions.
Transpac is not just a race--it’s a life-changing adventure that begins long before the starting gun--all of which broadens each cadet’s skills for a professional life at sea.
From Doug Jorgensen:
Doug Jorgensen has a lot of offshore experience in a variety of boats, including five Transpac’s, starting with his first Honolulu race in 1975. Here he reports on the Islands Race which takes a fleet of offshore boats from Los Angeles Harbor out 60 miles and around Catalina and San Clemente Islands. Hosted by Newport Harbor YC and San Diego YC, the Islands Race has been run in early spring since 2010. The distance is 142 miles. While much of this year’s race was in light conditions, several years have featured gale conditions. Thirty-one boats sailed in this year’s race. Doug mentions at the end of his report that Picosa won the race
overall, with his son Jack as co-skipper and Jack’s friends as crew. There were three J/111’s in Picosa’s class, along with a J/122, a 1D35 and a Beneteau 36, with a total of about a dozen very well-sailed big boats in the race.
The 15th running of the Islands Race was sailed February 28th. The Islands Race is co-hosted by Newport Harbor Yacht Club and San Diego Yacht Club. NHYC handled the start of the race near Point Fermin about 2 nm west of the entrance to Los Angeles Harbor. The start is in inverse order and takes the fleet around the west end of Catalina Island and San Clemente Island, both to port, then to the finish in the vicinity of green marker #3 in the entrance to San Diego Harbor. The fun thing about the inverse start was that it allowed the larger boats and smaller boats to converge together as we tacked up the remaining few miles to the west end. Virtual exclusion zone marks were set up off of San Clemente to ensure that the fleet avoided going too close to shore in an area where military exercises are common. They then had a light, long downwind sail to the finish.
The race this year fielded 31 entrants total divided into 5 classes, A thru E. My Son Jack, his 4 friends and I were on our J/111 Picosa in Class E. We had 3 J/111s in our class, and multiple
CCA HELP WANTED
The CCA Events Committee is looking for two people to serve on the Committee. We need:
1. A west coast representative to coordinate events on that coast with the Committee’s Chair, Deanna Polizzo
Contact: Deanna Polizzo, dpolizzo@whitehatcap.com
2. A Fall Meeting Coordinator who will work with Stations hosting a Fall Meeting as a source of information and advice, maintain the rotation list of host stations, and update the Fall Meeting Guidelines as necessary. Attendance at the meetings is helpful. Rewards: meeting and working with members from all the stations.
Contact: Deanna Polizzo, dpolizzo@whitehatcap.com or Marge Robfogel, mmrobfogel@gmail.com
class boats always make it fun. The race started in about 11 knots of wind out of the normal southwesterly direction, cool with puffy white clouds. Definitely not a breeze-on race this year, it was rather a game of chutes and ladders as we navigated though several large and distinct “holes.” We worked hard. We didn’t try to fly the chute when it just wasn’t working, deferring instead to a drifter for some time with port and starboard trimmers as it tugged one way and then the next. We sailed directly on the heading to the next mark when the knotmeter showed “goose eggs,” using instead the COG and SOG to give us a sense of boat movement even if the sails and knotmeter weren’t showing anything. We managed a Class E first to finish, Class E 1st overall and were 11th boat across the finish line. The icing on the cake was the coveted First overall placing.
SDYC provided nice hospitality with a nice roast beef carving station after the finish. We stopped just long enough to get fuel at the dock and to say goodbye to our friends. We then began our 83-mile delivery back to San Pedro to beat an unfriendly weather picture rolling in with strong breeze out of the west. Thankfully we won that race, by a narrow margin, even if we don’t have a trophy to show for it. – Brad Avery, SOC
GAM Editor:
Phil Dickey, the GAM Editor, will retire after 5 years following the Spring 2026 issue, and we need a member to replace him. The position requires some work, but it is a great way to meet members from the stations and to get involved with CCA leadership. Literary skills are a plus, but anyone who could manage a high school yearbook can learn.
Contact: Phil at pdickey@newhavenneuro.com
MEMBERSHIP
On February 18, 2025, we welcomed 19 highly qualified new members to the Cruising Club of America. The average age was 56 years, six are considered Next Watch (<55 y.o.) and seven are women.
Station Member
Boston Sam Webster
Boston Anthony Giarratana
Boston Phillip Thorn
Chesapeake Tasha Sims
Chesapeake Douglas MacDonald
Chesapeake Scott Ward
Essex Jeffrey Wilson
Great Lakes
New York
New York
Melodie Schaffer
Megan Gimple
Douglas Renfied-Miller
New York Mark Ploch
Pacific Northwest Samuel Landsman
Pacific Northwest Joy Archer
Pacific Northwest Harry Pattison
San Francisco
Erica Mattson-Siegel
San Francisco Zan Drejes
San Francisco
San Francisco
Linda Foley
Stephen Reeder
Proposer
Eric Irwin
Paul Kanev
Ann Noble-Kiley
Robert Frantz
Robert Frantz
Seconder
Matt Gimple
Hank Halsted
Ernest Godshalk
Lydia Strickland
Lydia Strickland
Jahn Tihansky Pete Carrico
Phil Dickey
Erwyn Naidoo
Mary Martin
Steven Landis
Dean Miltimore
Paul L’Heureux
John Winder
Heather McHutchison
Jim Murphy H. L. DeVore
Don Stabbert Jack deFriel
Robert Hurlow Tad Lhamon
Robert Hurlow
Tad Lhamon
Robert Hanelt Aaron Wangenheim
Stan Honey
Bill Lee
Cree Partridge
Southern California Catherine Robinson Fin Beven
This was the first of our Club’s new three-classes-per-year membership schedule, so I was particularly gratified to have so many qualified candidates. Even more gratifying was the strong Next Watch and female representation. Six months ago in these pages, I made an entreaty to you all to identify the many accomplished women sailors you know and consider bringing them forward for membership. Only four times in the past ten years have we seen the number of women new members above 20%, and in January, we were close to 40%! This was also the second youngest class to be elected over that period. Bravo!
As with the fall meeting in
Annapolis, much conversation at the annual meeting in New York in March centered around membership and identifying the many qualified potential members out there. Between October and February, the CCA has now brought on 50 highly qualified new members. That number just about equals the number we lose in any given year to deaths and resignations. That means if we are to meet the Commodores’ goal of 1-2% growth, we are looking for another 15-30 highly qualified ocean voyagers in the next few months. Recent experience shows that they are out there, often close friends or frequent shipmates, and all we have to do is find them and
Beau Vrolyk
Skip Allan
Ruben Gabriel
Ric Sanders
sell them on the many benefits of CCA membership.
The next deadline for proposals is on April 21, 2025. I encourage you to think hard about others with whom you have voyaged over the years. Those with experience commanding small vessels at sea coupled with the temperament of a good shipmate would undoubtedly make great members of our Club. If any such sailors come to mind, I urge you to bring them to the attention of your Station membership committee Chair for further discussion.
Respectfully, -
James Phyfe
(BOS), Membership Committee Chair
CCA SHIP’S STORE
For CCA burgees, private signals, club apparel (with cruise logos and boat names optional), discounted IMRAY charts and cruising guides, name tags, and more, visit The Member Store at: https://cruisingclub.org/store
ADVENTUROUS USE OF THE SEA
“Some think sailing yachts are only for the elite to show off their wealth and fame. The reality is anything but, as shown by Tim Murphy’s intriguing Adventurous Use of the Sea. This book profiles colorful skippers from contrasting backgrounds, each harnessing wind and sails in singular ways to power their dreams. Tim Murphy has done a wonderful job telling each story of hardship and triumph that puts the reader in the cockpits of historic yachts, sturdy cruisers, and high-tech race boats. This book belongs on your bookshelf to savor for years to come.”
– Tom Whidden, past president of North Technology Group and America’s Cup Hall-of-Famer, is the author of three books, including The Art and Science of Sails.
“Tim Murphy’s book about Cruising Club of America members and their yachts is a great read. He captures the very essence of 100 years of CCA history Each voyage is unique, and the locations are special, but the best part is getting know the people who have enjoyed remarkable lives on the water. A good collection of excellent images enhances the narrative. Every sailor should read Tim’s book. You will return to it often.”
– Gary Johnson is a sailor, television commentator, and author of 19 sailing books. He is Vice President of the International Sailing Federation and President of the National Sailing Hall of Fame.
The publisher of Adventurous Use of the Sea, Seapoint Books, is owned by CCA member Spencer Smith (BOS). Queene Foster (BOS), also a CCA member, was a principal editor. The book is available through every bookstore in the US and many in Canada, as well as the CCA and Amazon.
By Tim Murphy. Edited by Sheila McCurdy. Reviews from CCA Members.
The Foundation is a 501 (c) (3) organization that makes grants each year to other charitable organizations with a particular emphasis in areas of safety at sea and marine environmental protection. Each year there are two grant cycles for grants received on or before February 1 and September 1. The Officers and Board of Directors are most appreciative of the organizations submitting grant requests and those individuals who encourage the nonprofit to apply for grants.
At the March 6, 2025, meeting of the Board, of the twentyfive grant applications received requesting $198,410, fifteen grants were awarded totalling $64,807.
Here are some examples of the organizations receiving grants from the March 6, 2025, meeting:
• Bellingham Bay Community Boating Centre, Bellingham, WA – a non-profit offering inclusive programs to foster small watercraft education, access, safe recreation, and marine stewardship serving over 5,000 participants each season.
• Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences - Bigelow Laboratory is an independent, nonprofit research institution founded in 1974 and is one of the preeminent marine research laboratories in the world. Our mission is to study the foundation of global ocean health, use our discoveries to improve the future for life on the planet, and engage students in world-class mentorships that train tomorrow’s environmental leaders.
• Billion Oyster Project, New York, NY – The Project’s mission is to restore oyster reefs in New York Harbor through public education initiatives. To date 140 million oysters have been planted across nineteen acres at 19 acres across 18 sites involving 19,000 students and 20,000 volunteers.
• Cape Cod Maritime Museum – The Museum’s mission is to preserve the rich maritime traditions and history for which Cape Cod and the Islands are known. The Museum’s Young Mariner Program in its third year is designed to introduce young people to maritime culture, science, and seamanship in a handson manner.
• E Inc. - Since its founding in 2002, E Inc. has provided hands-on STEM education programs to K-12 students, focusing on topics such as marine biology, climate change, alternative energy, and zero waste. An E Inc. program, Fort Point Channel Discovery Program, serves 200-250 students each summer and explores the ecology and health of the Boston Harbor and Atlantic Ocean. Students learn about marine ecosystems, water quality, and the impact of invasive species.
• Gulf of Maine Research Institute – GMRI, a nonprofit organization develops and delivers solutions to global ocean challenges. Bonnell Cove Foundation supported significant safety upgrades to their primary research vessel.
BONNELL COVE FOUNDATION
• Hurricane Island Foundation - Established in 2009, the Hurricane Island Center for Science and Leadership delivers experiences to inspire youth to become leaders and environmental stewards, training the next generation of scientists. They partner with local fisherman and a network of field stations and laboratories to coordinate and prioritize scientific training and research within the Gulf of Maine. Our research initiatives connect marine scientists to the commercial fishing community, creating collaborative relationships to better understand changes to the ecosystem and economy in the Gulf of Maine.
• Save the Bay, Providence, RI - For over 50 years, the organization has championed the protection and cleanup of Narragansett Bay working to ensure the Bay is swimmable, fishable, healthy, and accessible to the residents of the Bay’s 1,705 square-mile watershed and to millions of visitors to the region each year. Save the Bay strives to inspire environmental Stewardship among those who live and visit the region.
• Seaside Sustainability Inc. - a small nonprofit founded in 2016 in Gloucester, MA. They recently created the Clean & Green Boater’s Guide to educate their community about the role local marinas, fishing groups, and individuals play in maintaining the health of coastal environments.
The Officers and the Board of Director are most grateful to the 185 contributors (2023 – 172) who generously contributed $48,845 (2023 - $44,925) to the Bonnell Cove Foundation in 2024. As a result of these contributions together with investment income the Foundation was able to grant $107,036 (2023 - $96,919) to 21 (2023 – 19) charitable organizations during 2024. There is a clear and growing need for the Foundation to support projects in the areas of safety at sea and the marine environmental protection. The Board is respectfully asking for your ongoing support to enable the Foundation to continue its much-needed work evidenced by the grant application requests.
Respectfully,
Bob Medland, President
Block Island, RI Photo: Tom Ahern
William M. Munroe
May 20, 2024
Jon Bowman
Dec 6, 2024
Peter L. Chandler
Dec 18, 2024
Terence C. Johnson
Dec 18, 2024
FINAL VOYAGES
Charles F. Chapin
Dec 27, 2024
Carole Heller
Feb 16, 2025
Charles M. Stillman
Feb 18, 2025
A. Gilman Middleton
Feb 24, 2025
Peter D. Haddock
Mar 5, 2025
Peter F. Littlefield
Mar 7, 2025
Ted Murphy
Mar 11, 2025
Obituary links may be found on the Final Voyages page in the members-only section of the CCA website. Voyages will continue to carry full remembrances with photos.
FINAL VOYAGE INFORMATION FLOW PROCEDURESON THE PASSING OF A MEMBER-FRIEND
The passing of a friend, no matter how expected, is one of life’s great moments of loss and grief. A revised procedure to better capture and act upon the information flow was recently discussed and approved by the Board. It is detailed in a Board Presentation document which you can review on the website – https://cruisingclub.org/member/passing
The documented and revised procedure identifies the Station’s Rear Commodore as the principal gatekeeper for information pertaining to Station members and especially the death of one. He or she will inform the Station as appropriate and work with the deceased member’s spouse to see if he or she wishes to continue as a Surviving Spouse. He or she will also work with the Final Voyages Coordinator/Editor (currently David Curtin) for matters such as arrangements for an Eight Bells Notification and for the Final Voyage essay to be written and included in Voyages.
The key here, like with a building on fire, is to “call it in.” Please be sure that information of a colleague’s passing is forwarded to your Station’s Rear Commodore as soon as possible. Everyone’s cooperation and knowledge of the system will help in the timely sharing of the information to allow friends and membership to be advised quickly and with dignity.
- David Curtin – Final Voyages Coordinator and Editor
JOY ARCHER
WELCOME NEW MEMBERS
Bainbridge Island, WA
Spouse: Harry Pattison
Yacht: Mason 44 Oh Joy II
Station: PNW
Proposer: Robert Hurlow
Joy Archer sailed as a teen aboard her parents’ Hobie Cats and happily joined Harry aboard their first monohull in the early years of their marriage. They owned an Olin 35 sailboat which they cruised extensively in the Puget Sound and Gulf Islands. Harry, a lifelong sailor, had always wanted to do an extended blue water cruise. At first Joy was hesitant to join him, but she gradually came around when they bought the Mason 44 Oh Joy II. She took courses on sailing and safety at sea, learned about the boat in detail and realized how visiting new places dovetailed with her love of nature and her talents for organizing and writing. You can find Joy’s and Harry’s his and hers articles about her transition from reluctance to enthusiasm in Cruising World magazine. (Joy “Making His dream Ours” Oct ‘24 and Harry “Cruising Couples and the Power of Shutting Up” Nov ‘24 can be found online.) They decided on a 2-year trip through the Pacific Islands to New Zealand and back to Seattle via Alaska. Joy got some offshore practice beforehand by acting as Harry’s co-captain on deliveries. In 2021 they headed south from Seattle to Baja and then across to the Pacific Islands and New Zealand. Joy was proficient in the tasks of co-captain: conning the boat, navigation, electronics, safety procedure and trip planning. She also took charge of the provisioning and administration of arrivals and departures in new juris-
dictions. The passages home from New Zealand to Alaska were challenging. On the leg from Tuvalu to the Republic of the Marshall Islands, Harry came down with COVID, and Joy managed the boat herself while he recovered. Joy is an excellent writer and took the lead in their newsletters via Substack. Since returning to Bainbridge Island, she has been writing a book about the trip. Both Joy and Harry pass on the joys of cruising to other boaters. They have given several talks to sailing groups including seminars at the 2024 and 2025 Seattle Boat Show.
Affiliations: Port Madison Yacht Club, Seven Seas Cruising Association.
ALEXANDER DREJES (ZAN)
Mill Valley, CA
Yacht: Freya 39 Candide
Station: SAF
Proposer: Stan Honey
Zan Drejes grew up sailing in the San Francisco Bay area and was fortunate to make a career in the marine industry. In the early days, he helped construct Star boats for Olympians, worked as a sailmaker, and built spars. At the same time, he pursued his sailing career--qualifying for the US Youth Championships, participating in the 18’ skiff world championship in Sydney Harbor and just missing the 1984 Mini Transat Race when a storm destroyed his boat prior to the race. That year he began working for Bill Lee (SAF) Yachts to build the first Santa Cruz 70 Blondie and was her Captain until she was sold. He worked for Bill during the construction of later SC 70s and was Captain of hull #7 Mongoose for 5 years. Roy Disney hired him for build-
ing, racing and delivery on four different Pyewacket’s. He also worked with Larry Ellison on the ILC Maxi Sayonara for final build, sea trials, delivery and as race crew for the Sydney Hobart and Transpac Races, Maxi World Championships and Antigua Race Week. Then he joined Pegasus Racing as Captain of an Andrews 70, a RP 77 and an Open 50 in charge of operation, racing and delivery. Zan is also proficient with large catamarans, racing in the ’86 to ‘88 ProSail Circuit with Tom Blackaller, serving as Captain of a VPLP 50’ and MOD-70, and delivering a Morelli Melvin 65’ from San Francisco to Key West via the Panama Canal. To date Zan has at least 200,000 delivery and racing miles, equal to about eight circumnavigations. He is an outstanding shipmate with a trove of great stories to share. His many CCA friends thought our Cvlub’s focus would fit perfectly with his strengths and interests in offshore sailing, seamanship and safety. He owns a Freya 39 Candide and plans to do less “work” and more cruising in the future.
LINDA MOORE FOLEY
Aptos, CA
Yacht: Islander 36 Zoop (co-owner)
Station: SAF
Proposer: Bill Lee
Linda began her sail training at Redwood City Yacht Club in El Toros. By age 14 she knew she wanted travel the oceans in a sailboat. While she was on the sailing team at UC Santa Cruz, she helped deliver a Santa Cruz 50 from Hawaii to California and was a Skipper in the Adams Cup US Women’s Championship. After completing her PhD in the
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molecular evolution of marine plants, she married Jim Foley who had a similar dream to go blue water cruising. They bought and completed building a Santa Cruz 40 named Dana, and beginning in 1992, they spent six plus years on a doublehanded circumnavigation. Back in Santa Cruz they had twins, Dana and Trevor, who they raised in the blue water sailing tradition. In 2004 when the children were four, Linda and Jim took them along with Randy (SFA) and Sally-Christine Repass and their nine-year-old son aboard their 65’ performance passagemaker Convergence from Santa Cruz to the Marquesas and on to Papeete via the Tuamotus. While the children were growing, Linda was very involved in the Junior Sailing program at Santa Cruz Yacht Club, and the family continued to cruise on their 26’ trailerable sloop in the Pacific Northwest and Sea of Cortez. It is no wonder that Dana and Trevor are talented and avid sailors. Recently as a widow and empty nester, Linda has half ownership in an Islander 36 Zoop which she races weekly in Monterey Bay. She also has returned to blue water passaging. She sailed 200 miles doublehanded from Rangiroa to Tahiti with her college teammate and 1800 nm with two friends from Bora Bora to Tonga aboard Aldabra, a Catalina 42. Linda remains active in the Santa Cruz Yacht Club and is Board Secretary for both the club and its Sailing Foundation. She is well known by many SAF CCA members who are enthusiastic about her admission to the club.
Affiliations: Santa Cruz Yacht Club, US Sailing
WHERE TO GET CCA BURGEES
The Sail Bag Lady is the supplier of CCA burgees. There is a seperate page for them on the CCA website at: https:// sailbaglady.com/cruising-club/ You can also call Bettina (the sailbag lady herself) at 203-245-8238.
ANTHONY D. GIARRATANA (TONY)
Franklin, TN
Spouse: Lisa
Yacht: Hinckley Sou’wester 52 Bella
Station: BOS
Proposer: Paul Kanev
While Tony now resides in Tennessee, he grew up in Florida, where his earliest sailing adventures were on beach catamarans. After moving to Tennessee, he acquired a J/22 in 2004, which he raced and cruised on Tennessee lakes. Tony eventually moved up to a Morris 29 in 2008, which widened his horizons over the next 10 years to include offshore cruising. The pleasure he derived from sailing offshore, often single-handed, led him to his 2016 purchase of Bella, a Hinckley Sou’wester 52. Tony was Paul Kanev’s Watch Captain (on Paul’s Hinckley Sou’wester 51 Momentum) in the 2019 Marion to Bermuda race. Since then Tony has skippered Bella on three Newport to Bermuda races and returns, one of which was to Maine. Tony is a meticulous pre-race planner, dedicated to safety at sea. He spares no expense in maintaining Bella in Bristol condition, enjoying state-of-the- art sails and electronics. Her incredible brightwork and his impeccable attention to detail make Bella a sight to behold in harbors from RI to Maine. Tony and Lisa have enjoyed spending 6 weeks a year sailing the coast of Maine. He has been having work done on Bella at Front Street Yard in Belfast the past several winters, and they plan to head from there to Nova Scotia in the summer of 2025, followed by a cruise to Newfoundland in 2026.
MEGAN GIMPLE
Pawcatuck, CT
Station: NYS
Proposer: Mary Martin
Megan started her sailing life like many young people, in Optis, followed by 420’s and Lasers. She also crewed for her father Matthew J. Gimple, Capt. USCG (retired). She exhibited leadership skills at an early age as junior race coach and then head instructor at various southeast CT yacht clubs. Megan, then a high school junior, began building her offshore acumen when she was selected and raced on the MudRatz sailing team Swan 48 Dreamcatcher. Dreamcatcher took a 1st in Class 5 and won the Olin J. Stephens trophy in the 2018 Newport Bermuda race. She was then selected as Watch Captain for the 2019 Marblehead to Halifax race, in which Dreamcatcher earned a 2nd in class. Megan continued to gain experience both inshore and offshore on a variety of vessels including a Fastnet Race in 2021 with her older sister Lindsay (NYS) on Hiro Maru. At age 21 she was bow/trimmer/helmsman on the J/122 Alliance for both the Ida Lewis Distance race and the 2022 Newport to Bermuda race. In addition to these tasks, Megan was also Environmental Steward for the race, implementing many solutions to achieve a significant reduction in waste generation. Her exemplary all-around skills led to Megan being selected as Watch Captain on Alliance in the 2023 Annapolis to Newport race, a gruelling race in gale-force weather, in which flooding issues were encountered. As her shipmates have noted, Megan has the ability to remain calm, to
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quickly assess situations, and to identify and communicate solutions contributing to successful resolution.
For her 3rd Newport to Bermuda race in 2024, Megan was Watch Captain on Banter, her father’s Archambault 40RC. Banter was second boat on the scene during the rescue of the crew of Alliance, during which Megan acted as right hand to her father in coordinating all hands to down sails in very rough sea conditions and prepare to rendezvous with the Alliance life raft and bring the crew on board.
Megan recently graduated from the University of Rhode Island with her Masters in Ocean Engineering where her thesis focused on the application of LiDAR technology for surface wave measurement and its implementation for floating offshore wind turbines.
The CCA is delighted to welcome a young sailor with such a depth of experience, and we look forward to the contributions she will undoubtedly make to our organization.
SAMUEL FREDERICK LANDSMAN (SAM)
Bainbridge Island, WA
Spouse: Anna Serra
Yacht: Nordhavn 50, Akeeva Station: PNW
Proposer: Don Stabbert
Sam Landsman has an impressive amount of offshore cruising powerboat experience for a thirty-six-year-old. His first cruise to Alaska was singlehanded aboard a 22-foot C-Dory, MV Retriever. This trip led to two conclusions—he needed a bigger boat, and there was a need for an online source of information
for boats cruising north. Sam created a website to fill the niche. Slowboat.com features webinars, available on the site and YouTube, about all aspects of cruising to Alaska, including such topics as passage planning, safety, navigation, maintenance and routing. They organize educational flotilla cruises north from Washington to Alaska. Aboard MV Safe Harbor, his Nordic Tug 37, Sam led eleven flotillas for cruising power and sail boats to Alaska and five around Vancouver Island. His boat was known as the “Napa Autoparts of the Sea,” and he gained vast experience in maintenance by helping flotilla mates. With his USCG 100 Ton Nearshore Master’s License, and STCW95 Basic Safety Certification, Sam was often asked to Skipper deliveries up and down the West Coast.
After many trips up and down the Inside Passage, Sam and his wife Anna purchased a Nordhavn 50 named Akeeva and cruised from Seattle to Prince William Sound (450nm), south to San Francisco (800nm), and on to Mexico. To avoid a hot summer in Mexico, he joined proposer Don Stabbert (PNW) and his wife Sharry on their Northern Marine 77 MV Starr on a 15,000 miles journey from Hawaii to Japan via Guam, then west to Attu Island, Alaska, and returned to Hawaii. They successfully negotiated adverse weather conditions, a propeller trapped by a fishing net, and challenging ports. After all this power cruising, Sam finally tried dinghy sailing for the first time when he and Don organized an adult sailing program at Hawaii Yacht Club in 11’ Zests. Don says he is a natural sailor. Perhaps we will see him in his own sailboat in the future.
Affiliations: Seattle Yacht Club, Hawaii Yacht Club
DOUGLAS A. M ac DONALD
New York, NY
Spouse: Tasha Sims
Yacht: Hallberg-Rassy 48 Deja Blue
Station: CHE
Proposer: Robert Frantz
Douglas’ passion for the sea began in his childhood, sailing with his family on a local lake. He enjoyed bareboat charters in the BVI for several years before making his first offshore passage on a J120 from Bermuda to CT in 2012. Between 2014 and 2021 Douglas and his wife Tasha cruised the eastern seaboard on their previous yacht, a Hallberg-Rassy 43 named Blue Heron, which he skippered in 2018 on a round trip from New York City to Bermuda. In the summer of 2021, Douglas crewed on a Swan 59 from Annapolis to Bermuda and later that year was Watch Captain on a friend’s Hallberg-Rassy 412 on her voyage from the Canary Islands to St Lucia. In 2021 Douglas and Tasha purchased Deja Blue and have enjoyed many offshore and coastal cruises on her. In 2023, Douglas again acted as Watch Captain for friends on a voyage via the northern route from Halifax, Nova Scotia, to Oban, Scotland. He skippered Deja Blue in 2024 from New York City to Bermuda, followed by a longer cruise that year from Hampton, VA, to Antigua. Douglas and Tasha have also taken part in many marine engine basics and Safety at Sea seminars. They enjoyed the 2024 CCA Fall Cruise, and we should expect to see them alongside more frequently.
Affiliations: Ocean Cruising Club (UK); Salty Dawg Sailing Association; Hudson River Community Sailing; US Sailing
HARRY PATTISON
Bainbridge Island, WA
Spouse: Joy Archer
Yacht: Mason 44 Oh Joy II
Station: PNW
Proposer: Robert Hurlow
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they have done speaking programs for yachting groups and at the Seattle Boat Show including one called “How to Sail to New Zealand in Five Easy Steps.” Harry also has a business called Mates First which provides sail training for couples.
Affiliations: Port Madison Yacht Club, Seven Seas Cruising Association.
Harry Pattison grew up sailing on a variety of boats. He and his wife Joy Archer owned an Olin Stephens 35 Oh Joy for seven years which they actively cruised in the Pacific Northwest. It had always been Harry’s dream to do an extended offshore cruise. He earned his USCG 100 Ton near shore license, his Offshore Safety at Sea Certificate, taught sailing and did deliveries up and down the West Coast of the US and in the Caribbean, including bringing his proposer’s boat Capaz from San Diego to Seattle. With distance cruising in mind, the couple bought a Mason 44 named Oh Joy II and decided on a doublehanded circumnavigation of the Pacific. In 2021 they first sailed from Seattle to Baja, then did the 3000 miles offshore passage to the Marquesas, through the islands to Fiji and down to New Zealand. To complete the circuit, they sailed north to Tonga and a 5050-mile leg from the Marshall Islands to Sitka, Alaska, before returning to Seattle in 2023. As with all doublehanders, Harry had a lot of jobs—co-captain, navigator, weather forecasting, and repairman for the diesel engine, electronics, sails, dinghy, outboard engine, tools, stove, plumbing and rig. Then he did repairs on the aforementioned repairs. Harry and Joy kept folks updated on their adventures in a well-written newsletter. They have also published several articles for Cruising World magazine. Back home in Seattle,
MARK C. PLOCH
Stamford, CT
Spouse: Mara
Yacht: Nautitech 4600 Bayside
Station: NYS
Proposer: Jim Murphy
Mark has been lucky enough to combine a lifetime sailmaking career, as owner of Doyle Sails, with his love of racing and, now, cruising. He has 13 Newport Bermuda races under his belt, as well as 3 Marblehead to Halifax. He was also Watch Captain on the 82-foot sloop Congere on the Buenos Aires to Rio Race in 1991. Mark has been an active committee member of the American Yacht Club for many years, specifically in his role as Fleet Measurer. Mark is admired for his decades-long friendly and professional support of sailors, especially juniors, through his sailmaking knowledge and prowess. Throughout his many successes in international offshore, inshore and one-design races, Mark has demonstrated superior navigation and seamanship skills. He is an outstanding skipper and shipmate who always seeks to place the safety and comfort of his crew first.
In 2022 Mark purchased a 46’ cruising catamaran on which he is energetically setting out on his cruising life. He has already skippered Bayside numerous times up and down the eastern seaboard, in-
cluding one straight shot of 1,000 nm from Rye, NY, to Fort Pierce, FL. He, Mara, and other members of his skilled sailing family intend to start extensive long-distance cruising in the coming years.
Affiliations: New York Yacht Club; American Yacht Club; St Petersburg Yacht Club
STEPHEN JOHN REEDER (STEVE)
Morro Bay, CA
Spouse: Teri
Yacht: Cheoy Lee Offshore 47 Desperado Station: SAF
Proposer: Cree Partridge
Steve Reeder grew up in Southern California sailing and exploring in the coastal waters and islands. His grandparents built their first sailboat in the 1940s, and sailing with them instilled a love of the lifestyle and desire to continue the family tradition. Thirty-two years in the fire service taught him many valuable skills that also apply to sailing: leadership, a focus on safety, mechanical abilities, teamwork, shift work, working well with others, keeping calm and thinking clearly in chaotic situations, problem solving and knot tying. Steve and his wife Teri cruised and raced their Catalina 22 for 8 years and a Cal 2-25 for 12 years before purchasing their current boat the Cheoy Lee Offshore 47 Desperado. They completed a six-month cruise as far south as mainland Mexico and back with several 400-mile legs. Steve has earned his USCG 100 Ton Master’s License and has taken American Sailing Association classes in Basic Cruising and Bareboat Chartering and USCG Sailing
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and Seamanship and Advanced Coastal Navigation courses. He has done numerous sailboat deliveries between San Francisco and Mexico and has skippered numerous bare boat charters in the Caribbean and the San Juan Islands. In 2021 Steve signed on as Navigator on the Jeanneau 49 Galen Diana, the support boat for the 4th Great Pacific rowboat race from San Francisco to Honolulu. Three separate trips were involved: one of 200 miles to see the rowers safely offshore, a second of some 400 miles to check on the rowers and the final to Hawaii for the finish. With returns they totaled 4280nm. Recently Steve has raced locally with his proposer Cree Partridge (SAF) on his Antrim 40 Glass Slipper. He was Navigator for the 2300nm return trip on the Pacific Cup. The yacht’s designer Jim Antrim was following the boat on a tracker and was impressed with how well Steve’s diligence and knowledge kept the boat in catspaws of winds during the continuously unstable high-pressure weather.
Affiliations: Morro Bay Yacht Club
DOUGLAS RENFIELD-MILLER
Redding Center, CT
Spouse: Jean
Station: NYS
Proposer: Steven Landis
Doug has made many offshore passages in the past 20 years, several of them as Captain on his Oyster 46 Thales. On Thales he voyaged frequently on the eastern seaboard, including a passage from Newport to Tortola and return, before returning to Tortola in 2014 as Watch Captain on a friend’s Little Harbor 54. In 2015 Doug was Watch
Captain on that same boat on her return from Bermuda to Newport. In 2024 Doug joined Chace Anderson on Bonnie Rye for a repositioning trip to Bermuda. He was one of only two crew members and basically shared the Captain responsibilities with Chace. Chace was made aware of Doug’s skills as soon as they entered the bumpy Gulf Stream at which time the boat started to take on water and simultaneously to lose oil, both problems due to boatyard errors. Doug dove into action and not only diagnosed and addressed problems with the raw water intake but also replaced the impeller on the hot engine—no easy task in those conditions. The oil loss was repaired in Bermuda. His companionable demeanor and skills at all aspects of boat handling and mechanical engineering make it clear why he is often invited on blue water voyages.
Doug is a member of the NYYC Cruising Committee, and he was a leader on the 2024 Winter Cruise circumnavigation of Antigua. He is the Event Chair of that club’s planned 2026 French canal cruise, where his skills at creating and managing spreadsheets are put to good use.
Affiliations: New York Yacht Club, Cruising Committee
CATHERINE ROBINSON (CATHY)
Leucadia, CA
Spouse: Jim
Yacht: Islander 36
Station: SOC
Proposer: Fin Beven
up sailing on her parents’ succession of schooners and ketches. The family was active in Schooner Association races up and down the coast of California from San Diego to San Francisco. These trips were the foundational experiences of watch standing and coastal navigation that set Cathy on a path to a seagoing career. Her first coastal transit as Captain was in 1977 from Newport to San Francisco Bay on Landfall, the family Schockdesigned schooner. That year she began her education at the California Maritime Academy. While a student she bought Dutchess, a 37’ Rhodes centerboarder, and she lived aboard her senior year. After graduation she spent the next eight years crewing on ARCO tankers around the world. Jim Morgan (SOC) was First Mate aboard two ships when Cathy was Third and Second Mate. He praises her exceptional talent for navigating, seamanship, and tanker skills. It was not easy as a young woman aboard with experienced crews who were unforgiving of any perceived weaknesses, but Cathy earned the respect of all aboard. She learned the competence, calmness, and professionalism which those who sail with her appreciate. Post ARCO she did deliveries plus cruising and racing with family. After marrying Jim Robinson in 1999, they took over ownership of her father’s Islander 36 which they continue to cruise extensively in Southern California. Jim is the deck hand who trims the sails for speed. Cathy is definitely the Captain and Navigator. She has also done offshore sailing and cruising with her brother Scott Culver. Cathy was First Mate and Navigator aboard Va Bene, a Beneteau 43, in a transatlantic from New York to Portugal in 2012. Recently she has been Second in Command for Scott on his Jeanneau 47 Landfall for the Baha Haha in 2021 and a cruise to position the boat from Los Angeles to Cabo San Lucas MX in 2023.
Cathy Robinson went on her first sail when she was 10 days old and grew
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MELODIE SCHAFFER
Toronto, ON, Canada
Yacht: Class 40 Whiskey Jack
Station: GLS
Proposer: Erwyn Naidoo
Melodie Schaffer began her sail training at the Royal Canadian Yacht Club in Toronto. From her teens to mid-twenties, she raced nationally and internationally in Lasers, 470s, I14s, 8 meters, Sharks and J/105s. She then shifted her focus, earning a Master’s in Biomedical Engineering, working in her field, and raising her 3 children as a stay-at-home mom. In 2018 when the children were of university age, Melodie discovered a new passion for offshore sailing at the Caribbean 600. She signed up for various offshore events to build her knowledge and experience, including as Watch Captain on two legs of the Clipper Round the World Race. Planning to enter the inaugural Globe 40 doublehanded race, Melodie bought a Class 40 boat, Whiskey Jack. She skippered the boat from Maine to Europe for international racing, including the Transat Jacques Vabre doublehanded race from France to Martinique The 2022 Globe 40 race began In Morocco and entailed 35,000 miles in eight legs, around all three capes, ending in France. Melodie, the only woman skipper, dealt with immense challenges. She had only owned the boat for 10 months and had six different co-skippers on the various legs. She was plagued with torn sails, a broken bowsprit, rail, and rudder, as well as downed communications, but Melodie didn’t give up. The boat won Leg Seven, set three speed records in the race and was fifth overall. Melodie
is the first Canadian woman skipper to race around the world. In 2023 she was elected the Canadian Rolex Sailor of the Year and in 2024 was awarded the Gerry Roufs Award for offshore sailing and the Women of Inspiration Award in New York City. She has used resulting publicity to encourage women’s participation in sailing. Melodie and Whiskey Jack signed on for the next Globe 40 Race in 2025-26. She will have more experience and knowledge of the boat, a steady teammate, new sails and other boat improvements. CCA members, happy to see one of their own in the race, can follow her progress at melodieoceanracing.ca
Affiliations: Royal Canadian Yacht Club Toronto
ERICA MATTSON SIEGEL
Tahoe City, CA
Spouse: John
Yacht: Moore 24 Accelerando
Station: SAF
Proposer: Robert Hanelt
By her late teens Erica was an accomplished sailor. In 1995 she was only the fifth woman to skipper in the Governor’s Cup youth match racing regatta and won the Chet Purcell Sportsmanship Trophy. She qualified for the US Sailing Team in 1997, doing an Olympic campaign in the women’s singlehanded Europe Dinghy. Erica worked on the shore crew for both Larry Ellison’s Sayonara during the 1998 Sydney Hobart Race and as Project Manager for Phillipe Kahn’s Pegasus Racing including numerous deliveries on the West Coasts of California and Mexico. She has been seriously involved
in racing aboard Moore 24s and J/105s for years. In 2021 she purchased a 40-year-old Moore 24 named Accelerando, got her into racing shape, and began campaigning offshore. After finishing as the first mixed gender crew in the 60mile Farallones Doublehanded Race, she set her sights on the 2100-mile Pacific Cup Race from San Francisco to Oahu, Hawaii. Being doublehanded and one of the smallest boats in the race was challenging, especially since they lost electronics early on. It took the Volvo 70 Pyewacket six days to finish. Accelerando took 17 days and was 7th out of nine in her class. Not deterred, Erica sailed Accelerando doublehanded again in the 2024 Pacific Cup. This time she took only 13 days and finished first in her class. For many years, Erica has been active in the management of her favorite sport. At St. Francis Yacht Club, she was on the Board of Directors for six years, for US Sailing she was Chair of the Adults Championship and Singlehanded Championship Committees, and she is currently on the Moore 24 Offshore Committee. Conservation of the marine environment is also Erica’s priority. She was President of the Board of Directors for the Greater Farallones Association for two years. Erica’s combination of yachting expertise and service to the sport will make her a valuable addition to the CCA.
Affiliations: St. Francis Yacht Club, Tahoe Yacht Club, Pacific Cup Yacht Club
To reduce waste and minimize our impact on the environment, you have the option of requesting a single copy of the GAM, Voyages, and the Yearbook for multiple-member households.
TASHA SIMS
New York, NY
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Spouse: Douglas MacDonald
Yacht: Hallberg-Rassy 48 Deja Blue
Station: CHE
Proposer: Robert Frantz
Tasha discovered her passion for ocean sailing after graduate school, while crewing in the Pacific on a Trintella 49 from the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador, to Easter Island, Chile. She is now co-owner of Deja Blue, a Hallberg-Rassy 48 MKII, having previously co-owned Blue Heron, an HR43 MKI, both of which were with her husband, Douglas. She and Douglas have enjoyed bareboat charters in the BVI, as well as coastal cruises on OCC and Salty Dawg rallies. Tasha has served as Mate, Watch Captain, and crew on some notable passages, including two transatlantic crossings, one from the Canary Islands to St. Lucia in 2022, and one from Halifax, NS, to Ireland in 2023. In November 2024, Tasha was Watch Captain on a Caribbean passage from Hampton, VA, to Antigua.
Committed to safety and skill development, Tasha has training in Celestial Navigation, Marine Weather, Diesel Mechanics, Rigging, and Offshore Safety. In her zeal to grow the offshore sailing community, she prioritizes mentoring first-time offshore sailors on her voyages.
She and Douglas thoroughly enjoyed the CHE CCA cruise in October 2024 on board Alpine Blue with Bob and Janellen Frantz and are excited to join the CCA community.
Affiliations: Ocean Cruising Club, Salty Dawg Sailing Association, Hudson River Community Sailing; US Sailing
PHILIP H. THORN
Duxbury, MA
Spouse: Jennifer
Station: BOS
Proposer: Ann Noble-Kiley
Phil has been sailing since he was a teenager, and in the 40 + years since, he has had inshore, coastal, and offshore racing experience, as well as cruising and deliveries on the eastern seaboard up to maritime Canada, and down to the Caribbean. Many of his passages have been made with CCA members who have been delighted to have Phil as a shipmate, be it in the role of Skipper, Watch Captain, Navigator or “Chief Humor Officer.” The latter title was bestowed on him during the 1998 Newport to Bermuda race on Jay Gowell’s S&S 56 Southerly. Those who remember that race will recall being becalmed for days. Jay points out that after arrival on Thursday (!), Phil was last to the bar, as he is the ultimate volunteer who always makes sure that all chores have been done before disembarking. Phil had a brief hiatus from sailing while he and Jennifer brought up their two daughters, but once they entered high school, he expressed an interest in heading offshore again. In 2023, Phil made passage with Jay and some younger friends delivering Jay’s new cruising boat, Moonstone, from Port Canaveral, FL, to Jamestown, RI. They encountered gale force winds and rough seas off Cape Hatteras and had to put into Hampton, VA, for repairs before finishing the voyage. Phil and Jennifer were guests of Jay and Elizabeth on the 2024 Downeast Cruise. Phil was once again a welcome Watch Captain on Moonstone in October 2024
on her passage from Jamestown, RI, to Annapolis, MD, and then from the Chesapeake to Antigua in December. Crossings aboard Moonstone from Antigua to the Azores and on to Ireland and Scotland are planned for the coming spring.
SCOTT G. WARD (GUS)
Hollywood, MD
Spouse: Beth
Yacht: Beneteau First 50
Station: CHE
Proposer: Jahn Tihansky
Gus grew up in Southern California racing small boats and Hobie cats, with considerable success – in 1985 at age 18 he was fourth in the Hobie 18 World Championships in Australia, Hobie 18 National champion, and top five finisher in the Worrell 1000. After a military move to the Chesapeake area in 2004, he purchased a Beneteau 40.7 Crocodile and returned to offshore sailing and cruising. A few years later Gus acquired a First 50 as his second Crocodile on which he cruised the eastern seaboard and Captained the Newport Bermuda, Annapolis to Newport and Marblehead to Halifax Races. He also re-connected with Australian sailing friends, competing with them as Watch Captain on a TP 52 KOA in the Sydney to Hobart race. Gus is a retired LtCol in the Marine Corps, where he served as a Harrier pilot. As such, he brings aboard his Marine Corps training of preparation and attention to detail with the boat’s equipment and systems. In addition, his training as a pilot taught Gus the importance of safety equipment and crew training in safety procedures. He
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always has a “what if?” escape plan in the back of his mind.
His background led Gus to be invited to coach and mentor midshipmen team members in the US Navy Varsity Offshore Team program for Head Coach Jahn Tihansky. To this end he was Officer in Charge on Poseidon, the US Naval Academy Swan 45 in the 2024 Newport Bermuda race. It is a credit to Gus’s energy levels that he works full-time in the defense industry as Deputy Director, NAVAIR AIRworks, while maintaining a sailing schedule of his own, with a crew who have for the most part been with him over 10 years. He also spends 1 or 2 days a week coaching at the Naval Academy as well as coaching midshipmen aboard for extended periods for transits, training and racing each summer. Crocodile is now an international team combining Aussies, military veterans, and past USNA VOST team members. In this last season, Gus led a crew of military veterans to represent U.S. Patriot Sailing, a non-profit organization, in Ireland’s Volvo Cork Week. He skippered a newly formed crew, with varying degrees of skill, in the first race – an overnight from Cork, around the Fastnet Rock, returning to Cork. Almost inevitably, the batteries in the charter boat died unexpectedly, and the motor wouldn’t start. Gus safely rallied the somewhat unnerved crew to race the rest of the night in unknown waters without electronics, turning the event into a true learning opportunity. He also captained the Crocodile combined team in this year’s Rolex Middle Sea Race, in which the team experienced a sudden unanticipated 70 kt+ storm event.
Currently Gus is preparing for next season’s events, such as the Annapolis to Newport race on Crocodile, USNA VOST events and this year’s Sydney to Hobart race aboard KOA
Military service: 1988-2012, as both USMC enlisted and officer, retiring as LtCol
SAM WEBSTER
Cambridge, MA
Yacht: 20’ Andrew Young skiff
Station: BOS
Proposer: Eric Irwin
learned to sail at a young age at Willow Bank YC, Cazenovia, NY. Continuing his passion, he joined the sailing team at Cornell while studying mechanical engineering. His sense of responsibility led Sam to be elected Team Captain in his senior year. After graduation, Sam remained active in the Boston area sailing community, and in 2019 (age 25) he was accepted to join the crew for the MudRatz Youth Offshore Team Race from Marblehead to Halifax. Sam’s problem-solving skills, reliability and engineering knowledge made him a perfect choice for the team. Throughout that winter and spring Sam travelled multiple times from Boston to Mystic offering his expertise during the refit of the team’s classic Swan 48 Dreamcatcher He became a favorite offshore sailing companion with the Gimple family (NYS) on their Archambault 40RC Banter, as well as on the J/122 Alliance owned by Eric Irwin (BOS) and Mary Martin (BOS). Sam served as Watch Captain on Alliance during the 2023 and 2024 racing seasons. This included the gale force conditions leading to water ingress encountered in the 2023 Annapolis to Newport race. Sam went forward, identified the problem as blockage in the anchor locker drain, grabbed a boat hook, and fixed it in a pretty extreme sea state. Heavy weather conditions were also encountered in the 2023 Ida Lewis race. For Alliance’s 2024 Newport to Bermuda race, Sam was delegated the
responsibility of performing the pre-race safety inspection, which was flawless. His engineering and sailing skills led to improvements in Alliance’s sail handling and rigging. His competency and calm demeanor were exhibited to the full after Alliance hit a submerged object during the night, resulting in catastrophic steering system damage. Sam and the other Watch Captain were vital in getting the 9-member crew of Alliance aboard the life raft in six-foot seas, while straining to hold on to the life raft ladder which was being pulled by the drogue. Sam was last to board the raft.
The CCA is pleased to note that Sam has expressed an interest in becoming an active member of our Club and is committed to further honing his sailing skills in areas such as Safety at Sea and Navigation.
JEFFREY D. WILSON Fairfield, CT
Spouse: Grace Peiffer
Yacht: Sabre 42 CB Tacktile Station: ESS
Proposer: Phil Dickey
Jeff grew up in San Diego, spending his youth cruising and racing big boats and Hobie Cats in Southern California. He began his professional career on the East Coast, where he re-ignited his passion for sailing in the early 2000’s.
Jeff has owned Tacktile since 2010, and he and Grace have enjoyed regular cruises in New England. He has also taken part in many Block Island, Vineyard and Wetherill races. He has served as Navigator and
Sam
Helmsman for friends on deliveries from Southport, CT, to the Bahamas, and from Newport to MD. Jeff spent well over a year preparing Tacktile for his first Newport Bermuda race in 2022, soliciting advice from his CCA friends. During onboard training he didn’t stop until every crew member had mastered all of the drills. He skippered her in the Newport Bermuda races in 2022 and 2024, finishing 5th and 7th in class respectively. On both occasions he skippered Tacktile’s return to Southport. Jeff avoided the bad weather conditions encountered by many yachts in the 2024 return by plotting a course back to CT which postponed Tacktile’s entry into the Gulf Stream until conditions had stabilized. Jeff has a competitive spirit balanced with a thoughtful and intelligent approach to all aspects of blue water sailing. He and Gracie are looking forward to gaining more experience and expanding their horizons with the CCA.
Jeff and Grace are very active at the Pequot Yacht Club, to whose Board he was recently elected.
Affiliations: Pequot Yacht Club, Member of the Board
“And if an author in recording what has interested himself differs from editors—so everlastingly concerned with what may interest others, he may no less, knowing himself the only worthwhile thing for him to be, hope that a hundred thousand souls will see him as the mirror of themselves—and buy his book.”
- Rockwell Kent, N by E
101 articles collated from Skip’s Yachting World column. Mainly opinion pieces on topics all things sailing with a few yarns thrown in.
Read a few pages while on watch, keep on your bedside table or along-side when on the loo… Enjoy!
Tongue-in-cheek sketches by Davide Besana.
AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE AT:
Bloomsbury/Adlard Coles: www.bloomsbury.com/skip-novak-on-sailing9781399414746/ Blog Post: www.bloomsbury.com/uk/discover/articles/ features/skip-novak-on-sailing/ Amazon: www.amazon.co.uk/Skip-Novak-Sailing/dp/1399414747
Cruising Club of America
449 Thames St., #331
CCA Calendar of Events
FALL MEETINGS
2025 September 17-19
Blaine, Washington, Pacific Northwest Station
Stacey Wilson & Bruce Johnston
2026 Southern California Station
2027 Great Lakes Station
CLUB CRUISES
2025 June 10
Transatlantic Cruise in Company
Newport to Kinsale, Ireland – Steve Berlack
June 20 -29
Boston Station Cruise
July 19 – August 1
Western Isles Cruise
Jonathan Brewin, Rob Childs, Barbara Watson
September 10-17
Pacific Northwest Coast – Joseph Golberg
October 16
Chesapeake Fall Cruise
Newport RI 02824 Monthly Station Luncheons: Check station websites for latest information.
Deadline for Fall Issue is October 15, 2025
2026: January 24
Grenadines Cruise
June 19
Newport Bermuda Race
June 28
Bermuda Cruise
2027 March 3
Spanish Virgin Islands Cruise
July 20
Bras d’Or Cruise
ANNUAL MEETING & AWARDS DINNER
March 5-7, 2026
New York Yacht Club
STATIONS & POSTS
Please email your major events dates so members visiting your area can be aware, to: gam@cruisingclub.org
For latest info, please check: www.cruisingclub.org.