On December 12, the Calgary chapter held their final fleet gathering of the 2016 calendar year. We were joined by some new members to the fleet group, and we also welcomed back members who had just recently returned from their recent leg of cruising through Fiji.
We were extremely fortunate this month to welcome a guest speaker to our fleet meeting. Stan Homer (Homers’ Odyssey II) came to share his knowledge and experience on redundancies and what to think about when determining the right level of redundancy for our own boats when preparing to go offshore. Rather than simply outlining his own recommended options for redundancies, Stan highlighted that one of the most important questions we have to answer is how well we are prepared for the multitude of failure potential scenarios. The fleet group, with a variety of offshore experience levels, appreciated Stan’s use of his broad experience to encourage us to consider our own boat, it’s systems, our own comfort level and the skill of our crew to go through a conscious decision making process when determining which redundancy options were the right ones for us.
Topics covered included redundancy consideration and options for steering, windlasses, sails, potable water, tools and spare parts in general. It was a lively discussion with contributions and perspectives from the entire group and a great way to wrap up fleet before the holiday break.
Calgary fleet reconvenes on January 16, when Ted and Pam Simper will share with the group lessons from the recent leg of their offshore journey from New Zealand and Fiji.
Calgary Fleet represents a unique opportunity for temporarily land-locked sailors to learn from experienced peers as we prepare for the beginning or continuation of an offshore journey. If you are working towards an offshore adventure or even just starting to think about one, consider joining fleet. Send me an email [1] or connect with me at the next club night.