We only mustered enough interest in the autumn rally weekend to charter one boat, so the planned ‘Points Makes Prizes’ challenge was postposed until next year. But the nine on board were up for a last sail of the season and we met up at Hamble Point marina on the evening of Friday 6 October and boarded Reunion, a very spacious 46ft Bavaria cruiser. Our crew comprised Jeremy and Catherine, Stuart and Mags, Richard Aust, Kevin Ludbrook, Jeanne Frazer plus Fran and myself.
Here in lies the story of the intrepid adventures of Oxted Offshore in Turkey September 2017.
Arrived in Gocek, Thursday 14th September 2017 to be informed that our Yacht will not be delivered to Gocek due to some problem, however the charter company has offered to send a minibus to pick us up on Saturday and take us to Bodrum, a trip that takes 3 hours. This upsets our plans somewhat as we were due to meet up with two other OXO yachts; on the upside our new passage plan sailing from Bodrum back to Gocek will be very interesting.
On Friday 18 August 15 members of Oxted Offshore Sailing Club visited the Dover Coastguard Operations Centre. We were given an incredibly interesting insight to the work undertaken at Dover, not just in co-ordinating search and rescue services for vessels in trouble but also in monitoring our coastline and some 170 commercial vessels that enter or pass through in one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world every day.
An Aerial View of Dover Coastguard, built on the site of Langdon Battery at the top of the White Cliffs
by Fran Taylor on Spirit
Four yachts and 17 club members joined the Oxted Offshore Spring Rally to Poole over the weekend of Saturday 22 and Sunday 23 April. The weather was kind with plenty of sunshine and no rain, but fickle winds of just F2 or F3 set the scene for an interesting Rose Bowl Challenge!
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2017 Annual Dinner speaker – Graham Smith
Graham Smith was introduced to Oxted Offshore as an accomplished author and stepfather to the Commodore’s wife, Sharon.
After serving in the RAF in the 1950s Graham embarked on a long and varied career in Customs and Excise, beginning in South Wales where he was born. His job took him all over the country to distilleries, breweries and ports, and eventually to Essex where he now lives.
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Happy diners at the Oxted Offshore Annual Dinner on Saturday 1 April at Tandridge Golf Club
This years Annual Dinner took place at Tandridge Golf Club (with grateful thanks to Bob Perry) on Saturday 1 April and was attended by 40 members and guests. A great time was had by all and many thanks go to Richard and Sharon for all their hard work in putting the evening together.
Bob Perry is organising a cruise around the Southern Ionian Islands in Greece at the beginning of July for one week. Dates are still to be fixed, but departure date will be sometime around 3 July.
If anybody would like to join in Bob can organise a bigger yacht or a second charter, depending on numbers.
Please contact Bob directly or via the comment box below for more details and to register your interest.
This special tour of the Dover Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre will commence at 14:00 with rendezvous in the Centre’s car park at 13:45. We will be hosted by Tony Evans, Maritime Operations Specialist, and will see the Operations Room, Rescue Coordination Centre, Area Control and Channel VTS Radar Coverage plus special surveillance. All of this is, however, dependent on any emergency or crisis management at the time of visiting!
Please join us for lunch beforehand at The Coastguard, an unpretentious waterside pub at St Margaret’s Bay beneath the White Cliffs with a British menu based on local produce. Britain’s nearest pub to France, The Coastguard was listed No 4 in The Times newspaper’s Top 20 Coastal Pubs. The table is booked for 12 noon, giving us time for a leisurely lunch before the 10 minute drive back to the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre.
The Coastguard
The Bay
St Margarets Bay
Dover, Kent CT15 6DY
Dover Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre
HM Coastguard
Langdon Battery, Swingate
Dover, Kent CT15 5NA
Göcek Gulf Cruise
Plans are now firmly in place for a week long cruise exploring the Göcek Gulf commencing September 16th 2017. It’s an interesting area and Rhodes is only 25 miles away.
Eight members of Oxted Offshore have confirmed interest and plan to team up on a Fountaine Pajot Lipari 41 catamaran however this could be altered should more members wish to join.
Itinerary for the cruise to be agreed:
Please contact the club if this is of interest to you.
Tides and weather can be problematic in the Solent in October so this year’s autumn rally is being designed to make all the options possible!
On Saturday 7 October participating vessels will be asked to score points by visiting navigation buoys and yellow racing marks within an alloted time. Some carry more points than others, so it’s all about strategy! The vessel with the most points at the end of the day wins a prize.