The 2009 inaugural Michael Doctors Memorial Lecture
featuring
Tom Cunliffe

The day of the first Michael Doctors lecture was drawing close and the participation numbers were looking really good.

It was clear that the renowned mariner Cunliffe was proving exactly the exciting attraction that the club had hoped for. Current and past members alike together with friends and family of the late Michael Doctors were due to meet for this auspicious occasion… and then…down came the SNOW********. Tons and tons of the white fluffy stuff! Very pretty; but then the reality began to slowly dawn upon me. “This is not good; this definitely doesn’t bode well for keeping up attendances”, and sure enough a few worrying calls and e-mails began to arrive.
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January 20th 2009

Withdrawal symptoms were clearly getting to members of the High Seas as more than 15 eager beavers got together at Bernays Hall, Stanmore for a workshop session on the much sought-after art of correctly manoeuvring your canvas in order to progress in a forwardly direction with appropriate momentum according to the prevailing airflow over the aerofoils! Or to put it more simply; setting your sails correctly for the prevailing wind conditions etc!

Sandy came prepared with tea, coffee, cakes and biccies, while Phil came prepared with pieces of wood, pieces of canvas and pieces of string which, when all assembled together, created a dinky little sailing rig that could be “propelled” by warm air flow from electric fan! Perfect! Read the rest…

Suddenly Alone – explained by Frank Yantin, 10 December 2007

Imagine the scene; you are sailing mid-week down the Solent beyond the Needles and on towards Poole. There is very little other shipping around. You are the novice sailor placed on the helm by the only other person on board, your experienced skipper, who has instructed you on how to keep a steady course while he goes below. Suddenly you hear a thud followed by silence. Read the rest…

Why were we there and what did we learn?  Why?  Because it was cold outside and warm inside.  What did we learn?  Phil is a dab hand at cutting and shaping MDF to look like a sailing boat and a dock. Read the rest…

The hall was full to bursting with HSCC members all eager to see and hear the first lecture of the New Year about Clipper racing. Having hacked their way through fallen trees, broken fences and undergrowth it felt like an ocean going venture just to arrive. The organisers however were almost holed below the water line when the guest speaker sank without trace, that’s when our wonderful member David Ramet came sailing over the horizon to give us the most scintillating talk (with slides) at a moment’s notice of his experience of the Arc rally over the “pond”. Read the rest…