Calgary Fleet Report – January 2017

by Christine McGregor on 1 Feb 2017 Calgary chapter fleet kicked off the new year on January 16 and we happily welcomed our largest group of the year, with some returned members as well as a few fleet members joining us for the first time. Sharing our introductions allowed all members to reacquaint the rest of fleet with their latest offshore plans, as well as offering encouragement and mentoring while we reaffirmed our goals and spoke to the twists and turns commonly encountered while preparing for an offshore journey.

The main presenters for the evening were Ted and Pam Simper, recently returned from the Fiji-New Zealand leg of their trip and they facilitated a boisterous discussion on offshore voyage preparation. With such significant offshore experience under their belt, the Simper’s divided their presentation into the key topics of preparation for the boat, the crew, provisioning and weather. We allowed ourselves the time to go deep into topics such as electrical power requirements and considerations, the critical importance of rig inspection, learning sail repair, jack lines and tethers, preventing fuel quality issues among others.

The Simpers had such extensive pre-departure preparation considerations for the group to review that we unanimously agreed to stretch the presentation to two sessions, making sure that we give adequate time to all the important topics they have identified. We are looking forward to the Simper’s continuing their presentation at our next fleet meeting on February 13th, where the conversation will resume with provisioning and weather preparations.

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.

This article has been provided courtesy of the Bluewater Cruising Association.