Vancouver Island South – Club Night: Getting Your Boat Ready For Adventure

Enjoy an evening with Norm and Beth Cooper, as they share their thoughts on offshore boat preparation, ranging from rigging and ground tackle to electronics and satellite communication.  Along the way, they’ll share stories of adventure and misadventure with hundreds of dazzling photos of the South Pacific.  The latest trends and technologies in use by cruisers today will be discussed.  A large selection of books on offshore cruising will be on hand, including several on the subject of boat preparation and maintenance.

Norm and Beth  are experienced offshore voyagers.  They spent 3 years sailing to New Zealand and back.  Prior to that, they spent two years preparing their boat, Sarah Jean II, a Saga 43, for the adventure.  This talk is based on their boat preparation experience, their practical experience offshore and their observation of hundreds of cruising boats of various designs.  Norm is a certified ISPA sailing instructor.  He teaches weather and boat preparation courses for BCA and authors “Lessons Learned the Hard Way” for Currents magazine.  Norm and his wife, Beth, operate Ocean Forest Voyaging, a local sailing school providing coastal and offshore sailing instruction, educational books and passage planning software.