At the first VI Fleet meeting of 2017, members heard a presentation on Weather Routing and Offshore Weather Products by Simon Walker who has been on-board navigator for several Vic-Maui races. This was followed by the weather topic of Voyage Planning in Response to Weather conditions and Wave Heights presented by Glen and Mary Wilson.

Glen & Mary Wilson making their presentation.

On January 25th, Tony Gooch shared knowledge and experience he’s gained from sailing over 160,000 nm in his talk to Fleet members about Autopilots, Windvanes and Heavy Weather Sailing. Afterwards, Stefa Katamay presented information about 3D weather – 500 mb charts to the weather group.

The following Saturday, 20 members attended a Rigging Seminar by Brent Jacobi at Blackline Marine in Sidney that was organized specifically for VI Fleet.

Rigging seminar at Blackline Marine.

This was very interesting and informative, and we are indebted to Blackline Marine for their generosity in sharing this knowledge.

Topics for upcoming VI Fleet sessions include:

• Feb 8 – Electrical Systems (Brian Short)
• Feb 22 – Alternate Energy Sources & Watermakers (Trotac)