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AALSMEER,AALSMEER, HOLLAND HOLLAND Q THOMASTON,Q THOMASTON, ME MEQ MIDLAND,Q MIDLAND, ONTARIO ONTARIO Q ABERDEEN,Q ABERDEEN, HONG HONG KONG KONG +1 +1207 207 354 354 0804 0804 Q www.epifanes.comQ www.epifanes.com FOLLOWFOLLOW US US 2 OCC FOUNDED 1954 offi cers COMMODORE Simon Currin VICE COMMODORES Daria Blackwell Paul Furniss REAR COMMODORES Jenny Crickmore-Thompson Zdenka Griswold REGIONAL REAR COMMODORES GREAT BRITAIN Chris & Fiona Jones IRELAND Alex Blackwell NORTH WEST EUROPE Hans Hansell NORTH EAST USA Dick & Moira Bentzel SOUTH EAST USA Bill & Lydia Strickland WEST COAST NORTH AMERICA Ian Grant CALIFORNIA & MEXICO (W) Rick Whiting NORTH EAST AUSTRALIA Nick Halsey SOUTH EAST AUSTRALIA Paul & Lynn Furniss ROVING REAR COMMODORES Bill & Laurie Balme, David Bridges, Grahame Brookes, Suzanne & David Chappell, Andrew Curtain, Franco Ferrero & Kath McNulty, Ernie Godshalk, Simon & Hilda Julien, Barry Kennedy, Stuart & Anne Letton, Jonathan & Anne Lloyd, Pam McBrayne & Denis Moonan, Sue & Andy Warman PAST COMMODORES 1954-1960 Humphrey Barton 1994-1998 Tony Vasey 1960-1968 Tim Heywood 1998-2002 Mike Pocock 1968-1975 Brian Stewart 2002-2006 Alan Taylor 1975-1982 Peter Carter-Ruck 2006-2009 Martin Thomas 1982-1988 John Foot 2009-2012 Bill McLaren 1988-1994 Mary Barton 2012-2016 John Franklin 2016-2019 Anne Hammick SECRETARY Rachelle Turk Westbourne House, 4 Vicarage Hill Dartmouth, Devon TQ6 9EW, UK Tel: (UK) +44 20 7099 2678 Tel: (USA) +1 844 696 4480 e-mail: [email protected] EDITOR, FLYING FISH Anne Hammick Tel: +44 1326 212857 e-mail: [email protected] OCC ADVERTISING Details page 196 OCC WEBSITE www.oceancruisingclub.org 1 CONTENTS PAGE Editorial 3 The 2018 Awards 4 Sending Submissions to Flying Fish 24 Vigo to Virginia:... Seamogs and the Prudent Mariners 27 James McCaughan Is there Life on the Other Side? 39 Misty Fitch The Warmest of Welcomes:... Cruising the East Coast of the USA 45 Jonathan Lloyd New Zealand to South Africa:... My OCC Youth Sponsorship Passage 56 Cian Mullee From the galley of ... 61 Tim Bridgen, Daria Blackwell, Misty (also on pages 84, 122 & 136) Fitch & Jenny Crickmore-Thompson Singlehanding Home 62 James Tomlinson Cruising the Northern Coast of Greece 73 Mike & Helen Norris Sailing Paradise:... Crossing the Caribbean Sea 87 Helena Klocke Sailing the Ring of Fire, Part 1 93 Andy & Sue Warman Book Reviews 109 Greek Waters Pilot, Happy Hooking: The Art of Anchoring, Sail Away, The Schooner Maggie B Lydia across the Indian Ocean 117 Donald Begg The Rise of a Phoenix 125 Rhys Walters The Baltic: Stockholm to St Petersburg 139 Ernie Godshalk & Ann Noble-Kiley Three Thousand Miles for a Pint! 151 David Burall Chasing Glaciers ~.A Cruise through... British Columbia & South East Alaska 159 Angela Lilienthal & Clive Woodman Obituaries and Appreciations 173 Advertisers in Flying Fish 195 Advertising Rates and Deadlines 196 HEALTH WARNING The information in this publication is not to be used for navigation. It is largely anecdotal, while the views expressed are those of the individual contributors and are not necessarily shared nor endorsed by the OCC or its members. The material in this journal may be inaccurate or out-of-date – you rely upon it at your own risk. Cover Photo: Seamogs on a mooring in St Lucia – see ‘Vigo to Virginia: Seamogs and the Prudent Mariners’, page 27. Photo Emily Rawlings 2 This Flying Fish, my 58th as editor, marks something of a watershed. My predecessor David Wallis, after whom the Trophy is named (see page 6), founded our Journal in 1964, with a flying fish on the cover but no formal name. The first issue contained 46 pages and was printed in London, even though David worked at the Chaucer Press, a major book publisher near Cambridge. By the early 1970s – and now displaying the familiar logo on the cover – it was being printed in South Wales near where the Secretary kept his boat. It then moved first to a company in Norfolk and then to one in Hertfordshire, but in the late 1980s Derrick Bettiss, a colleague of David’s, started up a small independent printing company and David naturally put some work his friend’s way. Thus the past 62 issues, spanning more than 30 years, have been printed by Bungay Printers in Suffolk. Sadly David died in 1990. He was a brave and stoic man, unwilling to admit how ill he was, with the result that there was no-one on standby to take over. I offered to do one issue (1990/2) on a trial basis, and found that I enjoyed editing members’ articles and then laying-out the galleys (strips of printed text) and bromides (final size photos converted into monochrome) on pre-printed layout sheets. Perhaps partly in self-defence, as well as to assist this total novice, Derrick and his team were helpfulness itself and a very special relationship developed. This continued after Derrick retired and Tony Grimwood joined John Pettit to run the business. By the late 1990s I was seeking their advice about creating the Fish on computer, soon followed by the challenge of colour photos. Even now it would be rare for an issue to go to press without several phone calls. Although I’m sure our new printers will be fine,fine xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxI shall really miss working with Tony and John – thank you both for your help and support over so many years! Anne, Editor Tony does the techie side... ... while John runs the machines Back to the future, and the DEADLINE for submissions for Flying Fish 2019/2 is Tuesday 1st October, though I’d appreciate receiving your articles and photos several weeks earlier if possible. 3 THE 2018 AWARDS In accordance with OCC tradition, the 2018 Awards were presented at the Annual Dinner, held this year at the Sport Wales National Outdoor Centre at Plas Menai in North Wales on Saturday 6th April. A capacity crowd of 90 members were present though sadly only three Award winners, plus one relative, were able to attend in person. As in previous years, Topsail Insurance provided generous support towards the cost of the event. Past Commodore Bill McLaren was an outstanding Master of Ceremonies. His notes were invaluable when compiling the following summary, as was the information collected from Awardees by Vice Master of Ceremonies Bill McLaren Commodore and OCC PR Officer Daria Blackwell. Photos taken at the Dinner are by Alex Blackwell, Regional RC Ireland, and by your editor (who much prefers to be behind a camera than in front of one). Finally, thanks are due to Fiona Jones and Eoin Robson, co-chairs of the Awards Sub-committee, and to both Fiona and Chris, Regional RCs GB, for organising such an enjoyable weekend, details of which will be found in the accompanying Newsletter. Further details of the history and criteria for each award will be found at https:// oceancruisingclub.org/Awards. THE QUALIFIER’S MUG Presented by Admiral (then Commodore) Mary Barton and first awarded in 1993, the Qualifier’s Mug recognises the most ambitious or arduous qualifying voyage published by a member in print or online, or submitted to the OCC for future publication. Celebrating Christmas aboard Seamogs in Lanzarote. Left to right: James, Tyler, Emily, Guy and Lydie 4 The Qualifier’s Mug for 2018 went to New Zealander James McGaughan, skipper of Seamogs, for the passage described on page 27 of this issue. Vigo to Virginia: Seamogs and the Prudent Mariners is an enjoyable account of a passage from northwest Spain to St Lucia via the Canaries by a young and inexperienced crew – none of the five had made an ocean passage before – in a family-owned Nicholson 48. They suffer the usual gear failures and malfunctions along the way, and though James is modest and good-humoured throughout, he and his crew are clearly both competent and resourceful. They also appear to be a happy crew, who work well as a team and thoroughly enjoy the whole experience – other than getting mugged Emily and ‘Captain’ James in St Lucia, though even running the barbecue that is treated as a learning experience. Their interaction with local children while moored off The Pitons is vividly described and will resonate with many OCC members. On learning that he’d won the Qualifier’s Mug, James wrote: “Good evening. Unfortunately for me I am unable to join you all this evening as by the time this is read out I will most likely be bobbing along happily somewhere in the Sargasso Sea.” (He later explained that he’d be sailing Seamogs from the Caribbean back to the US East Coast for hurricane season.) “A big thanks goes, of course, to the crew members who joined me aboard Seamogs on the Vigo to Virginia trip. They contributed more than their fair share of mischief but they were also patient, strong, hardworking and fantastic shipmates.