Gammin’

1. A social visit or friendly interchange, especially between whalers or seafarers.

2. A herd of whales or a social congregation of whalers, especially at sea.

Last weekend we enjoyed our first Seven Seas Sailing Association (SSCA) Gam.  The SSCA is an association of people who cruise on boats, live on boats or want to cruise on boats.  Given the nature of living on a boat the membership is sort of spread out and loose.  The reach is international though and there are a lot of people with common interests.  So they like to get together.

This was an interesting experience for us for a number of reasons.  Mostly it was meeting people, but we heard a number of interesting speakers and ideas as well.

Meeting People

The social part of the Gam started almost immediately.  An hour or so after we dropped anchor there was a knock on the hull, and I got to meet face to face someone I’d known for some time online but never actually met.  While we were chatting and drinking iced tea in the cockpit one of the SSCA officers dropped by to introduce himself.  And so it went on all weekend – meeting cruisers from all over as well as people that I’d known on-line only.

This event had roughly 400 people registered beforehand, and there were a number of walk-in attendees.  The anchorage had over sixty boats in it, and many people came to the Gam over land.  Many of the boats we saw in the anchorage we’d seen before.  We met several people we’d been sharing anchorages with in Maine, and others we’d “passed in the night”, boats that were in the same waters we were but we never met them.  We also caught up with our friends from Troubador, and their son and our kids were happy to catch up;  the three of them were inseparable all weekend.

The weekend started out on Thursday night with informal dinghy “raft up” for those who were headed South for the winter.  Thirty or so dinghies were all tied together behind one sailboat, and there were discussions coordinated on a number of topics as we passed around pot luck hors d’oerves from boat to boat.  Friday night had a pot luck cocktail party, there were also breakfasts and lunches and Saturday culminated with a cocktail hour followed by a BBQ dinner, with an auction and raffle followed by a speaker.

Events and Speakers

One of attractions to this sort of event is for the larger ones some decent speakers can be brought in.  The Annapolis Gam is the week before the Annapolis Boat show, and there are a lot of “luminaries” in the industry already in the area.  What the Gam brings home is that these are really just regular folks like the rest of us; cruisers that have found a voice that has gotten them some recognition.  But their just as happy to be holding a glass of wine and cruising the pot luck table chatting with everyone else.

One of my favorite marine authors has been Nigel Calder.  He’s written a number of books that are (or should be) on most conscientious boat owners bookshelves.  I’ve used his Boatowner’s Mechanical and Electrical Manual as a classroom textbook and used to keep two copies – one for the boat, and one at home as a reference. When I took a course on boat systems a few years ago I ended up with a third copy, as a new edition had come out which I just had to have.  We’ve got several other of Nigel’s books on board including his Cruising Handbook: A Compendium for Coastal and Offshore Sailors and Marine Diesel Engines: Maintenance, Troubleshooting, and Repair.

What was better that the books though was seeing him and hearing him speak.  When you look around at a table for Nigel Calder, you need to look for the most unassuming looking fellow at the table.  When you hear him talk he’s funny and engaging and quite humble about his extensive experiences.  You KNOW he’s the guy that wrote all these intimidating books, but he’s up there talking about the first time he took a boat offshore with no charts and no clue and you realize that you can do it, you can get out there and sail safely and learn the ropes if someone of his obvious depth of knowledge started out with less of a clue than you have!  Nigel gave three talks during the weekend; Kathy caught all three, unfortunately I missed one to take in a talk on storm anchors.

Another of the high profile speakers at the Gam were the Pardey’s.  Lin and Larry Pardey have been around the world and all over in every kind of sailing condition.  They sail smaller boats they’ve built themselves that don’t have engines.  One book I own in hardcover and on the Kindle is Storm Tactics Handbook: Modern Methods of Heaving-to for Survival in Extreme Conditions.  This is one of the premiere books on techniques for handling heavy weather in smaller vessels.  We’ve based our heavy weather strategies and equipment choices on the ideas put forth in this book. Lin was here to give a talk on setting your boat up to be unstoppable.  They are the authorities on defining how anyone can cruise on an unimaginably small amount of money.

Other speakers included Lee Chesneau, co-author of Heavy Weather Avoidance and Route Design to speak on weather,  Karen & Jeffry Siegel (both licensed EMT’s) to talk about marine emergency medical preparation.  In addition there were talks about storm anchors and drogues, yacht insurance, the Gulf Stream, expectations for new cruisers, radio demos and advice, and many other relevant topics.

So When is the Next One?

We had a LOT of fun at this and learned a lot; it was a worthwhile experience even if we’d only made the social contacts.  Time well spent!  I want to send a hearty thank you to the board and volunteers of the SSCA that put all this together.  It seemed like every time I looked these folk where carrying, setting up, running around and just busy.  But they all look like they were having fun as well.