Ocean Cruising Club - worth joining?

[Tim Good]

Planning to begin a circumnavigation this year over the course of a few years. Assuming I can tick the box for membership (1000nm single voyage), is it worth joining in all seriousness?

 

[RobbieW]

Planning to begin a circumnavigation this year over the course of a few years. Assuming I can tick the box for membership (1000nm single voyage), is it worth joining in all seriousness?

imo no. Getting involved here and on cruisersforum (maybe others too, dont know what forums would help more for Asia/Pacific/Australasia) is at least as useful plus ones own ability to be self reliant and find help where needed

 

[jonic]

Yes.

The Port Officers were invaluable on our trip - especially Gary and Greta in the USA (who have just won an award for their efforts) They even gave us free dockage in Norfolk Virginia.

 

[KellysEye]

>Yes. The Port Officers were invaluable on our trip - especially Gary and Greta in the USA (who have just won an award for their efforts) They even gave us free dockage in Norfolk Virginia.

Agree definitely worth joining for the port officers and if any other yacht sees your OCC flag you will be invited over for drinks and snacks by other members.

 

[Twister_Ken]

Consider also the Cruising Association. It has a 'Blue Water' section, with boats pretty much here, there and everywhere in between.

https://www.theca.org.uk/sections/bluewater

 

[Walther]

Assuming I can tick the box for membership (1000nm single voyage), is it worth joining in all seriousness?

I don't know ... this is one of those "how long is a piece of string?" questions. It really depends upon what you want out of it, and what you're prepared to put in.

I enjoy being a member. It has not changed my life, and I have no stories of being rescued from terrible predicaments by intrepid Port Officers. But I do like receiving the Flying Fish, and have met some nice people through the club. The dues are pretty inexpensive, too.

However, from a purely economic perspective, membership in very, very few clubs is really worthwhile. If you are considering the OCC only from the viewpoint of "will I get my money's worth", you should pass: you probably won't be happy, and the club doesn't need your money. In all seriousness.

 

[KellysEye]

>However, from a purely economic perspective, membership in very, very few clubs is really worthwhile. If you are considering the OCC only from the viewpoint of "will I get my money's worth", you should pass: you probably won't be happy, and the club doesn't need your money. In all seriousness.

I don't think that's serious at all the OCC is good value for the points I and others made earlier. Long distance sailing we never saw a Cruising Association flag, only OCC, I think the majority are European sailors.

 

[Walther]

Perhaps I wasn't clear enough.

Quasi-commercial establishments like the RYA or the Cruising Association employ paid staff who provide members with various specified services. There is little real fraternal feeling amongst the members - customers, really - of those (worthy) associations; one simply pays an annual subscription, and is then entitled to receive the services.

The OCC on the other hand is a volunteer-driven club, whose benefits are primarily social. There is a list of port officers, some of whom are tremendously helpful, others less so: again they are all volunteers, doing their best. While their help and local knowledge are always appreciated, it is not IMO the primary driver for joining the club; indeed, most of them are friendly and would probably help any visiting yachtsman, OCC member or not.

I do agree that Cruising Association burgees are rarely seen, especially outside of home waters and the Med.

 

[Yngmar]

I've not seen many flying fishes around so far (UK to Algarve via Normandy), but many CA and Trans-Ocean burgees. Never seen anyone else with a YBW burgee either, to great shame ;-)

Personally I'm just a RYA member and only because it's of financial advantage due to discounts for berthing and sometimes equipment. A lot of places have overlap between RYA and CA discounts.

We're not into club stuff but never needed a burgee as an excuse to meet new people and have drinks with them

 

[KellysEye]

>I've not seen many flying fishes around so far (UK to Algarve via Normandy), but many CA and Trans-Ocean burgees. Never seen anyone else with a YBW burgee either, to great shame ;-)

You at unlikely to see and OCC flag in Europe because the qualifying passage is 1,000nms usually the Atlantic.

 

[Yngmar]

You at unlikely to see and OCC flag in Europe because the qualifying passage is 1,000nms usually the Atlantic.

They're not allowed to come back?

 

[Angele]

They're not allowed to come back?

.... And I think they are allowed to join (as Associate members) before having done their 1,000 nm passage, so could well be heading south for that purpose.

Whether being an Associate member entitles them to use the flying fish burgee I do not know. Perhaps they are only allowed to unfurl it when the log reading trips into 4 figures....

 

[KellysEye]

>Whether being an Associate member entitles them to use the flying fish burgee I do not know.

We had associate membership to make it easier to join the OCC when qualified, an associate is not allowed to fly the flag. You have to report the passage to get full membership.

 

[Walther]

I've not seen many flying fishes around so far (UK to Algarve via Normandy), but many CA and Trans-Ocean burgees.... You at unlikely to see and OCC flag in Europe because the qualifying passage is 1,000nms ...

You're correct that - unlike the CA and Trans Ocean that accept subscriptions from all comers - the OCC limits membership to people who have done a "qualifying passage". But that requirement is not onerous or very restrictive: 1,000 NM is not really much of a passage, if you're active in ocean sailing.

We had associate membership to make it easier to join the OCC when qualified, an associate is not allowed to fly the flag. You have to report the passage to get full membership.

While it's true that associate members don't fly the regular burgee, they have one of their own:



Prospective candidates for full membership may find it helpful to first join as associate members, as that will provide them with access to mentoring. However it is certainly not required, and doesn't significantly speed up the eventual application process for full membership once the qualifying passage has been completed.

 

[SimonJ]

Here in (an extremely windy!) Bequia (for example) there a number of OCC flagged boats and there were & are several in Martinique, Dominica, Antigua etc and elsewhere in the Caribbean. Usually one gets to know fellow members in every anchorage, but that is what the OCC encourages & (amongst other things) : sharing information, organizing social events, tracking others progress and helping out in any way possible. It is a very sociable, friendly club with Port Officers throughout the world. The use of SSB and partipation in nets, especially the OCC Caribbean net, is especially helpful in achieving the kind of objectives mentioned.
The club has members from Canada, USA, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, UK, Australia etc -etc - it is truly international but with a UK office.
And as an OCC member I declare an interest and bias! Membership has brought us great enjoyment and added to our cruising pleasure.
A prospective member has to decide for themselves whether it is for them.

 

[Walther]

Well said, SimonJ!

 

[jonic]

Here in (an extremely windy!) Bequia (for example) there a number of OCC flagged boats and there were & are several in Martinique, Dominica, Antigua etc and elsewhere in the Caribbean. Usually one gets to know fellow members in every anchorage, but that is what the OCC encourages & (amongst other things) : sharing information, organizing social events, tracking others progress and helping out in any way possible. It is a very sociable, friendly club with Port Officers throughout the world. The use of SSB and partipation in nets, especially the OCC Caribbean net, is especially helpful in achieving the kind of objectives mentioned.
The club has members from Canada, USA, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, UK, Australia etc -etc - it is truly international but with a UK office.
And as an OCC member I declare an interest and bias! Membership has brought us great enjoyment and added to our cruising pleasure.
A prospective member has to decide for themselves whether it is for them.

+1 :encouragement:

Flying my OCC burgee has always been a great source of pride - and a great source of unexpected impromptu sundowners in a tropical anchorage somewhere!

 

[Tradewinds]

There are a couple of us in Amsterdam Marina - not quite tropical

+1 :encouragement:

Flying my OCC burgee has always been a great source of pride - and a great source of unexpected impromptu sundowners in a tropical anchorage somewhere!

 

[KellysEye]

SimonJ is correct his post details the international camaraderie of the OCC as Jane and I experienced it.

 

[Heckler]

>I've not seen many flying fishes around so far (UK to Algarve via Normandy), but many CA and Trans-Ocean burgees. Never seen anyone else with a YBW burgee either, to great shame ;-)

You at unlikely to see and OCC flag in Europe because the qualifying passage is 1,000nms usually the Atlantic.

I keep flying my ybw burgee in vain as well, having said that, if I spot a new boat coming in to la linea I go straight across abd introduce myself with a nice business card we have had made!
Stu