Category: Lecture Summary

GXSA Talk – Wednesday November 20th Martin Thomas Rum, Sodomy and the Lash – A history of Naval Medicine Martin Thomas, surgeon, sailor and former OCC Commodore will talk about medicine and surgery in the navy during the age of sail. He will trace the story of scurvy and of how lessons learnt were forgotten and learnt again, with mention of…

GXSA Talk – Wednesday November 27th June and John Gorrie   ”Cruising in the Carribbean …                        without a budget !”  Two of our members, John and June Gorrie will recount their adventures on a 110 metre yacht in the Carribbean. They will tell how they managed to sail in a big circle from Bridgetown, Barbados to St Lucia, Grenada,…

GXSA Talk – Wednesday December 4th Viv Cox   ”Sailing and Boat Maintenance” Vyv Cox is a marine engineer, metallurgist, photographer, lecturer and occasional contributor to Yachting Monthly. He has also sailed extensively in cruising yachts. Viv will give us two short talks: anchors and anchoring, explaining why some equipment works better than others; A cruise in 2013 around the…

GXSA Talk:          Wednesday January 8th Jeremy Batch   ”Invaders, Explorers and Shipbuilders”  We are privileged that the renowned speaker Jeremy Batch has agreed to start our 2014 season of talks. Jeremy, you may recall, has been to GXSA three times previously and on each occasion he has thrilled us with an excellent well researched and prepared historical talk exploiting PowerPoint to the full.…

GXSA Talk:          Wednesday January 15th Rob Johnstone   ‘The Clash of the Dreadnought ’  The race for naval superiority between the Allies and German forces in WW1 resulted in the largest naval battle and the only full-scale clash of battleships of the war – the Battle of Jutland in 1916. The resources involved were vast – over 250 ships.…

GXSA Talk:          Wednesday January 22nd Dylan Winter    -   ‘Keep Turning Left ’  Dylan Winter’s cruises are not the usual “plain vanilla one summer’s round Britain dash” of which we know of many, they are a number of meticulously planned cameos which explore harbours and rivers to their navigational limits capturing the real essence of sailing. His boats are…

Talk:          Wednesday February 5th Port of London Authority and the Role of the Harbour Master Steve Rushbrook  The PLA oversees navigational safety on 95 miles of the tidal Thames, from Teddington Lock to the North Sea. The river is home to the second biggest port in the UK, the busiest inland waterway for freight, passengers and a…

GXSA Talk:                Wednesday February 12th Sue Lewis    -   ‘Round Britain with the Old Gaffers ’   Not all the boats were old, or even gaff–rigged, yet twenty of them sailed round Britain last summer to celebrate 50 years of the Old Gaffers Association, of which Sue is Secretary. She and her husband Howard sailed their gaff cutter Bonify…

GXSA Talk:                Wednesday February 19th John and Freda Andrews    -   ‘Butterflies, Bulls and Blarney’ Returning for a third presentation of Qwyver’s remarkable 6 year sail round the world, John and Freda focus this time on Islands in the North Atlantic, which make a splendid finale to their voyage. In recognition of their remarkable achievement, they have received…

GXSA Talk:      Wednesday February 26th – Joe Pearce ‘Through University on a 23ft boat, sailing near and far’  Joe was a student at Aberystwyth, and tells how he came to spend his student life living on board a small yacht – ‘Golden Cloud’ a 23ft Falmouth Gypsy which cost a mere £800. He kept the boat at…