THE YEAR AHEAD FOR CRUISING

There are plenty of reasons for cruising sailors to look forward to 2021. Our pursuit is by definition one that takes us away from the madding crowd and into a state of voluntary isolation. As restrictions are slowly lifted and borders reopened, the cruising sailor’s horizons should broaden considerably. However, for UK-based sailors, there is something else looming – Brexit. This could have an effect on some aspects of cruising from now on. We’ll look at the possible ramifications in this article.

RALLYING ROUND

I’m always deeply reluctant to talk about the year ahead for cruising sailors as if there is some sort of rigid framework we must stick to. Deep in the DNA of cruising sailors is a mistrust of schedules, which has been garnered by many years of carefully planning a schedule for cruising, only to find it immediately sabotaged by the weather. Despite this, the seasons do provide a certain framework for our cruising activity and it’s fair to say that November marks the first big milestone this year as the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers is scheduled to depart from Las Palmas, heading over to St Lucia. This signals the migration of blue water cruisers across to the Caribbean for the winter and it is significant that the World Cruising Club has opted