Category: Cruising Association

CA Winter Warmer Talk, 13 December

James Collier from RATS (Regulations and Technical Services) who work on behalf of Cruising Association members to advise and campaign on subjects affecting cruising. Their research and knowledge of technical and regulatory subjects is unique in the world of boating and they will liaise with both local and national government on behalf of members. Regulations and ‘red tape’ varies between countries and is constantly changing. RATS keeps our members up to date with the latest changes in legislation on issues such as red diesel, taxes and visas

This Festive Special will include mince pies and mulled wine – it is always well attended!

Other forthcoming Kent Cruising Association “Winter Warmer” talks:

  • 10 January: Des Crampton, trip to Svalbard
  • 14 February: Roy Brooks, Scotline
  • 14 March: Chris Jeckells, Jeckells the Sailmakers
  • 11 April: Dick Holness, East Coast Pilot

More information on the CA Kent Winter Warmer 2018 – 2019 programme…

We are all invited to these excellent talks, which are held at 8pm at the Dog and Bear, Lenham, near Maidstone. It’s a good idea to book a meal (by 5pm please) on 01622 858219 for 7pm before the talk. A special CA 7-choice menu is available for £9.95.

CA Winter Warmer talk: Medway Queen, Thu 11 Oct

Clifford Mickleburgh has announced the Cruising Association Kent Section’s 2018/19 programme of “Winter Warmer” talks:

  • 11 October: Pam & Mark Bathurst, Medway Queen Preservation Society
  • 8 November: Peter Norris, Clarke & Carter Kent
  • 13 December: James Collier, RATS (CA Regulations and Technical Services)
  • 10 January Des Crampton, trip to Svalbard
  • 14 February: Roy Brooks, Scotline
  • 14 March: Chris Jeckells, Jeckells the Sailmakers
  • 11 April: Dick Holness, East Coast Pilot

More information on the CA Kent Winter Warmer 2018 – 2019 programme…

We are all invited to these excellent talks, which are held at 8pm at the Dog and Bear, Lenham, near Maidstone. It’s a good idea to book a meal (by 5pm please) on 01622 858219 for 7pm before the talk. A special CA 7-choice menu is available for £9.95.

The first presentation on 11 October is by Pam & Mark Bathurst of the Medway Queen Preservation Society. The Medway Queen was launched in 1924 and entered service on Thames estuary routes in May of that year. She was used as a minesweeper in WWII. Few ships associated with Dunkirk have fought so hard and escaped destruction so tenaciously and for so long as the Medway Queen. After the war she returned to her old route until 1963. From 1966 until 1974 she was a nightclub in the Isle of Wight. The hull rebuild was undertaken in Bristol with support from the Heritage Lottery Fund and the European Regional Development Fund and completed in late 2013. Medway Queen was towed back home and is now moored at Gillingham Pier where she can be visited.

CA Winter Warmer Talk, 110 Years of Cruising by Jeremy Batch, 8 March

What is it? All will be revealed by Jeremy.

There is nothing… absolutely nothing, half-so-much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.” Appropriately, those words were first published in 1908, the year that the Cruising Association was founded based on a different book: “Cruising for 100 Years” by Brian Hammett and with additional material provided by many other members, this is Jeremy’s adaptation of the story of the CA over the past 110 years, told against the background of a century of developments  in  leisure boating  and  marine   technology  including:  how  a  melted  ice- cream led to an invention which has been blessed – and cursed – by every CA member [and it wasn’t the freezer] and how  “the most valuable cargo we ever sent to America” can now be found on many of our homes

The Cruising Association Kent Section Winter Warmers are held at 8pm on the 2nd Thursday of each month at The Dog & Bear Hotel, The Square, Lenham, ME17 2PG, which is 8 miles east of Maidstone, just off the A20 in the village square. All are welcome. There is a small charge of £3. Many eat beforehand and it helps speed up service if you telephone the pub on 01622 858219 and order your meal before 5pm.

CA Lobster Pot Campaign

Please sign up to the petition before it closes in March, and also inspire people of goodwill to work with the CA to find a solution to the problem. Full details of all the CA’s news on this petition can be found here.

If you do have an incident with poorly marked fishing gear please remember to report it to the RYA here. Such evidence is vital to the campaign.

CA Winter Warmer talk, 11 Jan 2018

Our next Winter Warmer is on Thursday, 11 January 2018, “Engineering Our Way Across Europe” by Patricia & Neil Lynn aboard Sea Griffin. In 2010, we decided to bring Sea Griffin from the Baltic to the Mediterranean using the inland route. It is of course a tourist delight; you only have to watch the Viking Cruise advertisements on TV. But how do you do it? What did the old and new engineers have to do in order for us to make this trip? This talk will attempt to show some of the engineering we saw and used along the way: the canals, locks, bridges, forts, factories and tunnels. And of course, there is the history that went with it. In other words, what did Europe do in order to use its waterways as an industrial transport network, a source of energy and now, as an amazing recreational facility. And two summers later, the system took us to the Black Sea.

The Cruising Association Kent Section Winter Warmers are held at 8pm on the 2nd Thursday of each month at The Dog & Bear Hotel, The Square, Lenham, ME17 2PG, which is 8 miles east of Maidstone, just off the A20 in the village square. All are welcome. There is a small charge of £3. Many eat beforehand and it helps speed up service if you telephone the pub on 01622 858219 and order your meal before 5pm.

Further CA Winter Warmers will be as follows:

  • 8 February 2018: Members’ Confessions, what went right or wrong?
  • 8 March 2018: Jeremy Batch on 110 Years of Cruising

CA Winter Warmer talk, HM Coastguard, Thurs 14 Dec

Jeremy Littlewood has been in HM Coastguard for 7 years as a Watch Manager at Thames and London Operations Rooms and now 2 years as Senior Coastal Operations Officer in East Anglia managing Coastguard Rescue Teams and Major Incident Response. Jeremy will give an overview of the activities and capabilities of HM Coastguard afloat and  ashore and give a presentation and discussion about safety equipment that can be carried on yachts. Mince pies will be provided, apparently.

The Cruising Association Kent Section Winter Warmers are held at 8pm on the 2nd Thursday of each month at The Dog & Bear Hotel, The Square, Lenham, ME17 2PG, which is 8 miles east of Maidstone, just off the A20 in the village square. All are welcome. There is a small charge of £3. Many eat beforehand and it helps speed up service if you telephone the pub on 01622 858219 and order your meal before 5pm.

Further CA Winter Warmers will be as follows:

  • 11 January 2018: Patricia & Neil Lynn, Engineering Our Way Across Europe aboard Sea Griffin
  • 8 February 2018: Members’ Confessions, what went right or wrong?
  • 8 March 2018: Jeremy Batch on 110 Years of Cruising

CA Winter Warmer talks start on Thurs 12 Oct

Carl Madjitey will give a talk on the 1667 Raid on the Medway. The 350th anniversary was commemorated by Medway Council this year.

In June 1667 the Dutch, under the command of Admiral Michiel de Ruyter, bombarded and captured the town of Sheerness, sailed up the River Thames to Gravesend, then sailed up the Medway to Chatham and Gillingham, where they burned three capital ships and ten lesser naval vessels, and towed away HMS Unity and the English flagship, HMS Royal Charles.

The Cruising Association Kent Section Winter Warmers are held at 8pm on the 2nd Thursday of each month at The Dog & Bear Hotel, The Square, Lenham, ME17 2PG. Situated 8 miles east of Maidstone, just off the A20 in the village square. All are welcome. There is a small charge of £3. Many eat beforehand and it helps speed up service if you telephone the pub on 01622 858219 and order your meal before 5pm.

Further CA Winter Warmers will be as follows:

  • 9 November 2017: Matt Craughwell on Rowing the Atlantic Ocean
  • 14 December 2017: Jeremy Littlewood, HM Coastguard, on Safety Equipment for yachts
  • 11 January 2018: Patricia & Neil Lynn, Engineering Our Way Across Europe aboard Sea Griffin
  • 8 February 2018: Members’ Confessions, what went right or wrong?
  • 8 March 2018: Jeremy Batch on 110 Years of Cruising

CA Relaunches Lobster Pot Campaign

Poorly marked lobster pots and fishing gear are the most difficult and unpredictable hazard facing coastal cruising people. Fishermen, too, report the loss of expensive gear as a result of entanglements. These encounters could even be life-threatening. In one year alone the RNLI dealt with 295 incidents of fouled propellers. Most Cruising Association members say they would try to sort the problem out themselves so this could be a fraction of the actual number. One lifeboat station said 25% of their call-outs were purely from boats caught up in fishing gear.

Sign the Government petition here