Programme Spring 2019

Dr Simon Boxall

Oceanography and Climate Change in the Arctic

Simon is Principal Teaching Fellow in Ocean and Earth Science, National Oceanography Centre at the University of Southampton. He heads up the science on the Cape Farewell programme focusing on the impact of climate change.  More details

Jeremy Batch

‘Allo, ‘Allo: the Story of Communications

Jeremy will tell us how a combination of sums, soldering and stubbornness enabled Maxwell, Hertz, Marconi, Arthur C. Clarke, Julius Caesar and others to predict, prove, build and strengthen the communication systems we now take for granted, bringing us from flags and flares to VHF, SSB, G&T and GMDSS, and allowing you to see and speak with people on the other side of the world.   More details

Eric Vischer

Five days in the Java Sea

Erik tells the story of his Dutch sea-faring family and their experiences during WW2 in the Dutch East Indies. His father, a 2nd Lieutenant in the Royal Dutch Marine Reserves, escaped from the Japanese in a small boat but was recaptured. The whole family was incarcerated in Japanese POW camps - Erik will recount how the sea shaped their experiences.  More details

Frances and Gareth Watkins

Sailing to Svalbard

In 2014, Gareth and Frances decided to sail from the UK to Svalbard, a remote archipelago 600 nautical miles from the North Pole. The first step was to buy a boat. By mid 2015 they had achieved their ambition and were sailing their Hallberg Rassy 352 amongst the icebergs. More details

Phil Haigh  

Clipper Race - Australia to Seattle

At the end of January 2018 Phil joined Clipper Round the World yacht ‘Visit Seattle’ in Airlie Beach to crew on two legs of the 17/18 race. Three months later he arrived in Seattle with wider shoulders, 30 days growth of beard and a strong desire never to see another Chinese sausage again.  Join him as he talks about sail repair with a hammer and a hacksaw, surfing downwind on helm at over 20kt and tying bowlines on the foredeck in 80kt of wind.  More details

Jonty Pearce

Man Overboard - Could you deal with it? 

Jonty, a retired GP and ex commodore of The Penguin Cruising Club, sails his Southerly 105 with his wife Carol from Milford Haven, and has a particular interest in MOB recovery. They contributed to a Cruising Association MOB seminar following a Yachting Monthly article ‘How an 8st woman recovers a 20st man’ and have given several lectures to sailing clubs on the subject as a result.  More details

Diggory Rose

Forgotten Craft

Diggory will talk about Boathouse 4 and the Forgotten Craft collection in the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard. He will detail the work of the Portsmouth Naval Base Property Trust, the boats in the collection and the development plans for the next few years including the restoration of the Motor Gunboat 81 and the Armed Steam Cutter 26 as well as the construction of a replica of CMB4, a First World War torpedo boat.  More details

Sue Pennison

Spirit of tradition - How to build a Gaffer

Sue & David will tell us how and why they chose to build a gaff cutter in their back garden. They will discuss their approach to building the Golant Gaffer ‘Satellite’ and what has been learnt from the first year of sailing.  More details

Guy Nicholls

Boat Surveys

Marine surveyor Guy Nicholls will talk about his work on yachts, what to look for when buying a boat, how to pre-empt a full survey by looking at some key items before making an offer and how to hide blemishes when selling.  He will discuss the most frequent problems experienced, with a few examples of specific boat types and general problems that occur; mostly, how we can look after our own boats better!  More details

AGM, followed by 

Review of the Year and a look forward to the coming sailing season and events.