Thats the OCC (ocean cruising club) read the letter if you have the time, it highlights some important issues.
Roy
OCC Port Officer for Hout Bay and Cape Town
The Commodores boat, Al Shaheen.
Note, membership of the OCC is rather simple, you need to have done an ocean passge of at least 1000 sea miles without stopping.
Roy
OCC Port Officer for Hout Bay and Cape Town
The Commodores boat, Al Shaheen.
Dear Roy
At the AGM last week Bill McLaren stepped down as
Commodore of the OCC, and I was elected to serve in his place. For those of you
who don’t know me, I attach some relevant information separately at http://www.oceancruisingclub.org/images/stories/documents/commodore.pdf
so as not to distract you from the more serious content
of this message.
Bill McLaren ably steered the Club through a difficult
period and succeeded in restoring the OCC to a sound financial footing. I am
honoured to be taking over from him and will do my utmost to build upon his
work to ensure the Club’s future. To that end, I have launched a strategy
review to determine how the OCC can best serve its members in this, the second
fifty years of its existence. In view of the importance of this to the Club’s
future, I am taking the liberty of contacting you directly to apprise you of
this work and, in due course, to ask you for your assistance.
As Tony Vasey’s history of the Club so eloquently
describes, membership of the OCC has always been based on sailing
accomplishments and on a willingness to share hard won knowledge with others
who hope to realise their own cruising dreams. Humphrey Barton and the other
founding members envisaged a Club without clubhouse, where dues were low, camaraderie
was high, and most members were offshore. In an age before Internet and onboard
communications, the flying fish served as the link between vessels and the
promise of an evening’s entertainment with newfound friends. Those values have
served the OCC well and helped us to grow into an international organization of
more than 1,800 members with more than half of our membership home-ported
outside the UK.
As we move into the second half of the Club’s first
century, we find ourselves in a very different world. Cruising information on
the most remote destination is often only a click away on the Internet. A
variety of other sailing clubs offer similar services to those out cruising and
to those who hope to go. Our own membership appears to have aged and many
cruise local waters or have retired from cruising altogether, but do not want
to lose touch with the cruising life and the extraordinary people who live it.
Cruising rallies and onshore gatherings have become as important as cocktails
in the cockpit under the flying fish burgee.
Many of our members are still actively “out there”
cruising, and we remain a strong and vital organization with broadly shared
values, but the original mission of the Club—“to foster and encourage ocean
cruising in small craft and the practice of seamanship and navigation in all
branches”—may no longer translate into a clear mandate to guide the Committee
in the management of the Club.
I have launched the strategy review in order to try to
understand how best the OCC can serve our existing and future members, like
you, going forward and have formed a working group consisting of Mark Holbrook,
Sally Currin, Eric Vischer, Gus Wilson, Doug Bruce, Beth Leonard and David
Blackburn. This group (including myself) represents the diversity of the OCC
membership and includes four Brits, one South African, two Americans; six men
and two women; three current or recent long-term liveaboards; one Port Officer;
one Regional Rear Commodore who also served as a Port Officer and a former Vice
Commodore.
This is very much a group effort. Mark Holbrook assisted
by Eric Vischer will look at “Trends”; Sally Currin our Treasurer will cover
“Finances”; Doug Bruce, now assisted by Daria Blackwell will look at “Members”
and Gus Wilson at “Competition”. Beth Leonard will direct strategy and compile
and collate the results.
The survey many of you completed last year will form a
starting point for our work. In the coming months, we need additional feedback
to make this project a success. The working group will be gathering data from
members through small group discussions and via email and phone contacts. For
those who feel comfortable participating electronically, we will also be
launching a strategy category on the OCC Forum
(http://www.oceancruisingclub.org/index.php/forum)
and discussions are already underway on the OCC Facebook page. You are invited
to contact any of the working group members directly if you would like to
participate in the project or have suggestions you want to share. We will be
reporting back to you through the Newsletter, the Email Bulletin, Facebook and
the website. The working group plans to submit its final report at the November
Committee meeting.
The OCC is our Club. Our members share strong values and
are proud to be part of this unique community. I hope that you will be willing
to help the Club leadership determine how best to serve you, the members, so
that the OCC’s second fifty years can be just as successful and exciting as the
first fifty.
Kind regards,
John Franklin
Commodore
Note, membership of the OCC is rather simple, you need to have done an ocean passge of at least 1000 sea miles without stopping.
How hard can this be.
Roy
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