VI South Hybrid Club Night: The Voyage of an Unlikely Sailor with Cathy Norrie

Cathy Norrie lived 60 years before she first sailed offshore; before that, sailing for her was all about small boats on a big lake in northern Alberta. When she married Bill Norrie in 2009, all of that changed. No more small boats. No more lake sailing. It was now all about bluewater cruising on big oceans. 2009 was also the year that they bought their first offshore boat. Terrwyn was a Pacific Seacraft Crealock 37 and Cathy insisted on being involved in the whole process of choosing, inspecting and buying that beauty, much to the amazement of her husband.

Cathy, a dual citizen of Canada and New Zealand, agreed to try her hand at sailing offshore, eager to get back to New Zealand where she had spent 6 years of her young adulthood. What better way to return to New Zealand than on a romantic cruise in a small boat with her new husband? She soon found out what that really meant… Join Cathy as she shares the reality of what sailing a small boat as part of a short-handed crew on the wide, wide sea is all about.

Biography: Cathy had her first taste of offshore sailboats at the age of 23, when she lived in New Zealand. Once she married Bill, she was soon immersed in ‘everything sailing’, joined the Calgary Chapter of Bluewater Cruising Association, joined Fleet and their sailing dreams started to take shape. Casting off at Bamfield, BC in 2011 aboard Terrwyn, a Pacific Seacraft Crealock 37, the next five years provided Cathy  with an advanced degree in ocean sailing. Cathy and Bill circumnavigated between 2011 and 2016, heading to the South Pacific then westward from New Zealand across the Southern Oceans, then up to the Caribbean, Panama, Hawaii and back to Victoria, with many stops in between.

Note: Payment is now required for virtual attendance via Zoom—see below

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Hybrid Meeting Format

In-Person Attendees: For those attending in-person, the format will be very much the same as “normal”. Doors open at 7:00PT and meeting starts at 7:30PT with presentation immediately to follow.

COVID Protocol: COVID protocols have been suspended as per BCA policy available here.

Cost: $5/Members, $10/Non-Members

Virtual Attendees: Virtual club nights (via Zoom) have enabled BCA to continue our monthly meetings and presentations throughout the pandemic, with an added bonus of expanding our community to members and non-members across the globe.  With the return to in-person meetings BCA has continued to provide a virtual component to our club nights as it has significant benefits to our membership. This however comes at a cost for the purchase of cameras, audio equipment and the lost revenue due to a decrease of in-person attendance used to off-set venue costs.

Cost: Members—$5.00 per connected device; Non-Members, $10 per connected device. Note: Due to the small cost of virtual tickets, and an equal or greater cost to BCA of issuing refunds, no refunds will be issued unless VI Chapter is unable to deliver the Club Night via Zoom. The Zoom room opens at 7 for social time, with the meeting at 7:30 and presentation immediately to follow.

Zoom meeting invitation: Register by clicking here to purchase your virtual meeting ticket and receive the Zoom meeting invitation. Please note that you must be signed in to the BCA website to get the member price. If you have any questions, please contact Dani.