The Salty Dawg Rally (SDR), which has quickly grown to be the most popular of its kind on the US East Coast, announces the Fall 2015 seminar schedule. According to Bill & Linda Knowles, co-founders of the Salty Dawg Rally, this is the largest and most comprehensive agenda of seminars offered by the SDR. Seminars will be held at the major Sailboat shows in Newport and Annapolis, and in Hampton, Virginia prior to the departure of the Salty Dawg fleet to the Caribbean. The seminar series objectives are to further sailors’ knowledge and skills for safe offshore blue water passages, and to better experience the joys of long term cruising.
These seminars are free to all participants, Salty Dawg participants as well as any other interested blue water sailors. The Newport and Annapolis seminars require reservation due to limited seating. To reserve a seat contact linda@saltydawgrally.org.
The series kicks off with a day of free seminars at The Edward King House in Newport, RI on Wednesday, September 16, 2015, the day before the start of the Newport International Boat Show. This is the first seminar program hosted by the Salty Dawg Rally in Newport. The historic Edward King House is located at 33 King Street, close to the Tennis World Hall of Fame. The Newport seminars are sponsored by Dufour Yachts and Northpoint Yacht Sales. Talks will be offered on topics valuable to cruisers, including blue water passage preparations by George Day of Blue Water Sailing Magazine and Multihulls Quarterly, bottom paint selection and characteristics by Mark Andres of Sea Hawk Paint, offshore sail repairs by Dave Flynn of Quantum Sails, selection and performance of different types of sailing lines by Skip Yale of Bainbridge, steering and pump systems by Will Keene of Edson International, and selection and care of emergency equipment by Jim Connors of LRSE.
Next in the Salty Dawg series is a full day of free seminars at Mears Pavilion in Annapolis, Maryland on Wednesday, October 7, 2015, the day before the United States Sailboat Show. The pavilion is located at Mears Marina, 519 Chester Avenue, in the Eastport neighborhood of Annapolis. As with the Newport seminars, the Annapolis seminars are sponsored by Dufour Yachts and Northpoint Yacht Sales. Talks will be offered on a broad range of topics of interest to offshore sailors, including offshore sail repairs by Dave Flynn of Quantum, bottom paint selection and characteristics by Mark Andres of Sea Hawk Paint, offshore communications including use of SSB and Sat Phone, interpreting weather routing by Chris Parker, offshore cooking with a pressure cooker by Joan Conover, steering and pump systems by Will Keene of Edson International, characteristics and uses of various lines by Skip Yale of Bainbridge, identification of rigging issues by Steve Madden of M Yachts, and offshore boat preparation and communications by Lt. Commander Eddie Lesane, USCG.
Last in the series of Salty Dawg Rally hosted seminars are the talks and demonstrations that take place over five days prior to departure of the Salty Dawgs from Hampton, Virginia to the Caribbean. These begin on October 27 and run through October 31, 2015. The talks and demonstrations will cover a range of very interesting topics, including joining the Seven Seas Cruising Association and the Ocean Cruising Club, identifying rigging issues, offshore cooking with a pressure cooker, blue water sail trim and emergency sail repairs, fitting and tuning electronics and SSB systems, experience of a freighter’s rescue of a sailing crew, offshore medical emergencies, weather briefings and Gulf Stream report by Chris Parker, offshore boat preparation and emergencies, BVI Customs and Immigration protocols, and BVI provisioning, cruising and SDR activities.
The Salty Dawg Rally, founded by cruising enthusiasts Bill & Linda Knowles of Bristol, Rhode Island, is a U.S. tax-exempt nonprofit organization 501(c)(3). It is comprised of blue water sailors who have completed at least one blue water passage. The rally leaves Hampton, Virginia and other U.S. East Coast ports in the fall, headed for the British Virgin Islands (BVI) and other ports in the Caribbean, and returns in the spring.
For more information about the seminars, joining a rally or becoming a sponsor, visit www.saltydawgrally.org .
