News

The office is currently experiencing technical difficulties with the telephone system at CA House. The problem seems to be when a person calls the office, the phone rings and no one answers, however the phone in the office does not ring at all leaving staff unaware that you're trying to get through.

We are monitoring the problem and have been in contact with British Telecom to establish a solution. In the meantime, there are other ways to contact us: 

Skype: Our contact name is cruisingassociation 

facebook: The Cruising Association Page

E-mail: use the contact us link at the top of this page. 

Phone: hang up and try again, it doesn't happen to every call. 

We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause. 

Crossing the channel by ferry this summer?

Ferry company LD Lines are to terminate the Dover Bouloagne ferry service from the 5th September. If you have a booking with the company after this date they will contact you to arrange an alternative. 

HELSINKI 2010

From 5-9 July CA's Baltic Section met in Helsinki.  The venue was the home harbour of Helsingfors Segelklubb (HSK) at Lauttassaari.    HSK with whom CA formed an affiliation a few years ago welcomed our rally and gave the opportunity for many HSK members to meet with the Baltic Section members 

12 CA boats took part in the rally with a total of 32 skippers and crew members. 

Kalevi Westersund, Vice Commodore II of HSK, who is our main contact and who has done so much to promote friendship between our two organisations, helped to plan the rally and joined us for some of the events.  Here is Kalevi sailing his boat Nitouche II.

During our time in Helsinki, members took part in a number of sightseeing activities, a Helsinki City Tour, a visit to the charming old city of Porvoo (aboard a traditional archipelago boat), visits to the fortress island of Suomenlinna and the open air museum at Seurasaari.  Social evening events were the welcoming BBQ on the first evening when we were joined by many HSK members including their Commodore, Finnish HLRs Eric von Troil and Pertti Korttila as well as Kalevi Westersund and a dinner held in the HSK Restaurant on the last evening.  A great deal of socialising took place as can be seen from the photo taken at the BBQ on the rocks! 

Baltic Section Rallies have become famous for two other things - a heatwave and an obligatory thunderstorm!  We experienced both at Helsinki 2010.

Thanks to Kalevi Westersund and the members of HSK who made us feel very much at home.

Graham and Fay Cattell 

Since they (in line with most of the EEC) prohibited the use of red diesel fuel to power pleasure craft several years ago, there are concerns that the Belgian Excise Authorities are taking a keen interest in where and when you bought your fuel. 

If you are planning to visit Belgium, ensure that you have detailed receipts for the purchase of any red diesel in your tanks, showing date, name & address & VAT registration of supplier, quantity, price and an explicit statement that it is supplied in the UK Duty Paid. Do not carry any red diesel in cans. 

We already have one report of a UK yachtsman being fined 500 euros in Namur because he had tanks containing UK supplied Duty Paid red. 

The fact that the UK authorities and the yachting industry reached the agreement to allow yachts to use red in 2009 does not seem to have been communicated to each and every excise officer in the rest of the EEC, who have been enforcing its prohibition for several years. 

There is a useful explanatory document on the RYA website showing correspondence between the EEC and the RYA which sets out the legal position as seen by the RYA, with good translations into French & German, and well worth downloading and carrying with you.

Best of all, if you can fill up with white rather than red, do so.

If you do experience any difficulties on this issue whilst cruising in Belgium, please let the CA know at office @cruising.org.uk

• Stock Checking
• Volunteering
• Book Reviews
• Recent Acquisitions 

Stock Checking:                                                                                                                                               

Over recent weeks, the kind help of volunteers has enabled the library stock check to progress at a steady pace. The following members have made notable contributions to this process:

Vic  Stephens

Martin Woolacott

Sandy Duker

Mark Grimwade

Chris Moss

Since the move from the top floor of CA house, stock checking has been ongoing to establish the exact status of the collection. If you would like to become involved in volunteering, read on below!

 Volunteering

There are many opportunities for volunteers throughout the Association and the Library and Information Centre has ongoing projects of which you can be a part. Wherever your interests lie, there will be something to suit you. Help preserve our collection for the future, any time spared can make all the difference. You will gain unique access to a world class cruising library.

Book Reviews

We acquire many books from nautical publishers as we publish reviews of the books. If you are an avid reader, why not become involved. This is your chance to gain a sneak preview of upcoming nautical titles!

Recent Acquisitions & Donations 

The Association would like to thank all members who have made donations to the Cruising Association's library. We recently acquired a published collection of member Antony Graham's logs as well as the following titles:

Barbarossa's American Dream (DVD) from members Bob & Su Hart

Working Traditional Sail

Clive Garner also donated a selection of old magazines and yachting world annuals, for which we are most grateful.

"Pouncer", a Twister 28 skippered and owned by CA Member Charlotte Wilkinson is the first foreign yacht to use the newly permitted passage to St. Petersburg.  

Taking advantage of the recently announced relaxation in the Russian rules, "Pouncer" sailed direct from Santio in Finland to Vyborg across the border in Russia where her skipper was able to clear Immigration and Customs.  Charlotte was expected as the authorities had been contacted by the CA's local representative, Vladimir Ivankiv.  Charlotte reports a warm welcome with no problems - they were even permitted to stay on the Immigration Quay overnight.  Next morning "Pouncer" sailed through the sheltered waters of the Bjorke Channel to join the main shipping lane prior to arrival at St. Petersburg. 

On the return journey Charlotte chose to check out in St. Petersburg rather than return to Vyborg so as to avoid a passage against a strong headwind.  She again sailed through the Bjorke Channel.  There were no problems although "Pouncer" was escorted past Primorsk's oil terminal by two ribs.

After checking into Finland at Santio on 21st July, "Pouncer" sailed to Haapasaari and thence to Tallinn, Estonia where she was met by the Baltic Section Secretaries.  She has since crossed back to Sweden and  is currently making her way through the Gota Canal. 

Picture shows "Pouncer" arriving in Tallinn.

Photo by Graham Cattell, Joint Secretary, CA Baltic Section

A reminder to those sailing in French west coast waters covered by CROSS Etel and the Mediterranean covered by CROSSMED area Provence. 

There are continuous broadcasts in French on Ch 63 for these areas. For those whose French is limited this is a good opportunity to get used to the terminology and the names of places that are referred to.

For French weather terms, see http://weather.mailasail.com/Franks-Weather/French-Marine-Weather-Terms .  Any additions or corrections will be welcome.

Those who like to know what weather is being reported might like to see my revised and updated page  http://weather.mailasail.com/Franks-Weather/Latest-Weather-Actuals-Near-Uk-Waters.

 This deals mainly with the British isles and NW Europe but also has a link to ship observations worldwide.

At http://www.cruising.org.uk/cruising_information/weather/resources/atlantic_europe and http://www.cruising.org.uk/cruising_information/weather/resources/med_links, I have added links to meso-scale wind and sea state forecasts for Spanish waters and the western Med.

These seem a little clumsy to use and I cannot comment on their accuracy.  As ever, I am always a little cynical about small scale prediction. These do seem to have more detail than some of the commercial models.

If anyone uses them and finds them to be helpful, I would like to know. 

Last few places remaining on the upcoming RYA Dayskipper theory course. This is a semi intensive course of 9 weekday evenings with one weekend for the final exams.

The course will run as follows:

Dates: Every Wednesday from the 2^nd to the 28^th June 18.30 – 21.30 with the weekend of the 31^st June / 1^st July  09.00 – 18.00 for exams

Price: Members £250 Non-Members £290

To enrol e-mail information@cruising.org.uk or telephone: 0207 537 2828

Please pass on the course details to those who may be interested.

2010 was the year that proved that East Coast CA members are an intrepid lot. Despite forecasts of strong winds over the Bank Holiday weekend 17 boats and 51 members attended the Rally.

There were strong contingents from Kent, with home ports in Ramsgate and the Medway, Essex (Brightlingsea and the River Crouch) and, of course Suffolk. The Section Secretaries travelled zero and 0.2 miles respectively to reach the RHYC marina and thus did not qualify for Colin’s Predicted Time of Arrival competition, which was otherwise as keenly contested as usual.

Geoff Prentice, the RHYC marina manager, and Elspeth performed wonders in fitting every arrival into a suitable berth, a task made more difficult by the fact that the Yacht Club ‘Cruising in Company’ fleet had cancelled their weekend cruise due to the weather.

The rally programme began with a Pontoon Party on board John and Pat Negus’s Sweet Surrender,(right) whose list to starboard seemed to increase as the evening progressed. (That’s Sweet Surrender’s list, not John and Pat’s and nothing to do with John’s boatbuilding skills). 

Greek "Special" Tax, as at 7 May 2010

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Amended 14 May 2010

CA has been reliably informed that all port police were instructed yesterday (13 May) along the following lines: "Await further instructions from the newly appointed Ministry of Finance". Our interpretation is that gathering this tax is suspended pending change.

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If your boat was over 10m (power) or 15m (sail), and was in Greece on 1 Mar 2009, and spent more than 40 days in Greek waters between 1.1.2009 and 15.11.2009, you may be asked to pay a substantial "one off" retrospective tax as defined in law 3790/2009 143A of August 2009, part 3. Time and dates spent in Greece will be established from the data on your DEKPA.

This "one off" tax, as at 7 May 2010, was being collected by Greek authorities at Kalamata and Corfu. As provided by this law, some boat owners were told that late payments would have additional charges of 1.5% per month added. Levkas area, and some Athens area ports, are not yet asking for this tax to be paid.

K&G marinas are adamant that this "one off" (part 3) tax is under discussion by the government, and will only be charged for vessels used by Greek tax payers. They are unable, at 5 May 2009, to give any references to support this assertion. However, the assertion does match with the Greek government objectives, which were to capture a wealth tax from people tax resident in Greece.

This news item will be kept up to date until matters are resolved. If you have first hand news about requests for this tax, please email if you are not a member, or members may add a comment using the link at the bottom of this page. Apologies, but comments which cannot be substantiated will be edited.

For full details, and also details of the proposed "annual tax" (part 2), as known on 5 May 2010, see:
http://www.cruising.org.uk/cruising_information/cruising_guides/country/greece
You will need to be logged in as a member to see this page.

The April edition of the Med Section Newsletter is now available. Download as a PDF by clicking here.

Two further 2010 Pilot Updates are now available (as PDFs). Click on the areas below:- 

• Adriatic, including E. Italy & Albania
• Atlantic Spain & Portugal 

Below are the rallies planned by different sections of the Cruising Associaton this summer. In some cases these are already over-subscribed, so please check on the details using the links provided.  

Since the Crete rally is already over-subscribed, we draw your attention to the 2011 Istanbul Cruise in company which has recently been announced. 

Do you spend your summer evenings dreaming of sailing into that golden sunset? Get one step closer to that dream with the RYA qualifications provided by the CA. We will be holding a semi-intensive Dayskipper course at CA House. The duration is 9 weekday evenings with a weekend for the exams at the end.

Dates: 1st June - 27th July 18.30 - 21.30 with the weekend of the 31st July / 1st August 09.30 - 18.00.

Costs: Members £250 Non-Members: £290

Please direct your enquiries to the office: contact us.

The Cruising Association has joined Facebook! Visit our page, become a fan and spread the word to your friends. The page is available here.

In Carlisle Bay, Barbados several of the boats at anchor belonged to CA members who had independently crossed the Atlantic in December 2009 and stopped in Barbados to visit the island and break their voyage before going on to the main Caribbean island chain.

The morning dawned in true Caribbean style, gentle balmy breeze, beautiful blue sky, slight swell from the North, sea temperature about 25° C and air temperature about 29° C.   It was December and so lovely that three of the CA boat crews decided to go on a bus ride across the island to the Atlantic side to see how the wind and the breakers were  behaving in contrast to our calmer western side.  The yachts were Moonshadow Star, Spruce and Diatonic.

Having arrived at the Atlantic side beach and struggled into the local bar for a cooling beer, we wandered along the beach separately, but ended up sitting together, idly throwing stones at the sea and looking at the jetsam Sue (Spruce) had collected for her art work. The idle chat turned to discussion about the joys of being out of Britain for the winter and the fact that the CA didn’t have a section outside Europe to cater for sailors like us.  Andy took a photo of us all on the beach  and we jokingly told him to send a copy to ‘Cruising’, to demonstrate that there is life beyond Europe and the edges of the Atlantic.  (See article in July Cruising, it is amazing how long photos take to cross the Atlantic.)

From that early discussion, Sandy and I kept deliberatng whether a CA section could be run via e mail from onboard a yacht, whilst retaining a sane crew.Having decided it was too difficult; Sandy volunteered just to co-ordinate the section leaving the main work to be done by the CA Office and other member volunteers, but we soon realised that it needed a hands on approach and ended up by accepting the job we had created.

The enthusiasm and response received from members after Jill Trew promulgated the initial set up of the BW section has been tremendous. We do hope that the section will go from strength to strength and meet most of your expectations.

Our Objectives                                                                                                                                                                  

• Dissemination of information between Section members will be one of the key objectives, using email Q and A either on Blue Water Net or between individuals, sharing useful web site addresses including members own blogs etc.

• Newsletters will be posted on the webpage with a short email sent out informing members that it is available to download at their convenience.

• Members to arrange rendezvous with other boats sailing in their area – don’t forget two CA boats meeting constitutes a party!

• To visit current HLRs and to recruit new ones where possible and to arrange reciprocal agreements and discounts between CA and other Yacht Clubs.

• To try to recruit new members.