19/12/2025 Topic: Guide for cruising NE Australia rachelle.turk Administrator	https://occ-cruisingnorthernaustralia.notion.site/Welcome-to-Cruising-North-Eastern-Australia-2a6a26b3369880c594b2c6d504823ea5
9 days ago Topic: Charles Tyson (nomination for GC, 1st term) rachelle.turk Administrator	I am writing to express my interest in serving as a General Committee Member of the Ocean Cruising Club. Over the past year, I have had the privilege of serving as Port Officer for Antigua, where I have enjoyed welcoming and assisting OCC members on their arrival. This role has reinforced my belief in the importance of community involvement, reflected also in my membership with the Antigua Yacht Club and the Antigua & Barbuda Ocean Trust. Now retired, I have the time and commitment to dedicate to a broader role within the OCC. Sailing has been a lifelong passion, inspired by my late father, himself a former OCC Port Officer for Antigua. My own sailing journey has included acquiring a Rossiter Curlew 32, built in Christchurch, England, which I sailed from Antigua to Florida. I then spent eight years cruising the U.S. East Coast before professional responsibilities required me to pause my cruising life. Professionally, I have served as Chief Marketing Officer for a $9 billion company and later as CEO of a $1 billion company. These experiences have equipped me with strong marketing, communications, and public relations skills that I believe can help the OCC grow, strengthen its brand, and expand its reach. Through conversations with OCC members passing through Antigua, I see opportunities to enhance awareness of the benefits the OCC offers—guidance, resources and camaraderie. These opportunities extend to attracting new members locally and deepening engagement among existing members worldwide. I am enthusiastic about the possibility of contributing to the OCC’s continued success and partnering with fellow committee members to drive engagement and growth. It would be an honour to bring my experience, passion for sailing, and commitment to community to the General Committee.
9 days ago Topic: Steve Siguaw (nomination for GC, 2nd term) rachelle.turk Administrator	My qualifying sail for OCC membership was from Trinidad, Caribbean direct to Panama on a 38-foot Island Packet sailboat during our circumnavigation from 2009 to 2014. That voyage around the world was completed with only my wife and myself, despite significant piracy events in the Indian Ocean during our 2011 passage through the Gulf of Oman/Indian Ocean. Subsequent to the circumnavigation, I solo sailed from Puerto Rico to Easter Island in 2021 for a total of 51 days at sea, proudly flying the OCC flag the entire way. • I am currently Social Media Chairman for OCC. I have been in that position since my election in 2023. In that position I moderate 9 OCC Facebook groups, 20 WhatsApp groups, the OCC YouTube channel, OCC Instagram account, OCC BlueSky account and the OCC NoForeignLand account. • I am also currently a member of the OCC Web Development Sub-committee. My objectives by applying for the General Committee Member position with the OCC are: 1. Continue in my role as Social Media Chairman, 2. Enhance participation in social media by OCC members by continuing to moderate and add OCC social media venues that benefit the Club, 3. Contribute ideas to the OCC Web Development Sub-committee, 4. Perpetuate and accentuate OCC members’ role as stewards of the sea with an emphasis on environmental awareness for our oceans, 5. Promote the established OCC ethics standards for all OCC members, and 6. Provide a North American perspective and involvement for the OCC.
9 days ago Topic: Joerg Esdorn (nominated for GC, 2nd term) rachelle.turk Administrator	I have cruised and raced sailboats since 1968 and covered over 60,000 nautical miles in the North and South Atlantic, the Arctic Ocean, the Pacific, the Med, the North Sea and the Baltic. I’m currently embarked on a circumnavigation on my Amel 55 Kincsem with changing crews of friends and family. We started in the Caribbean and have made it to Whangarei, New Zealand so far. Check out my blog at: https://kincsem-adventures.skipperblogs.com. I have been a member of the OCC General Committee, the OCC Governance Committee and the coordinator of the OCC’s Member Support Network for the Americas since April 2023. Among other contributions, I’ve held a series of Zoom calls every year with the 130+ port officers in the Americas, getting feedback from the PO community. Further, I’ve substantially revised all port officer, regional rear commodore and roving rear commodore documentation and procedures. I’ve also made a large number of suggestions for improvements to our website and the OCC app and various policies and procedures. I’m a retired partner of a major international law firm, having practiced transactional law for more than 30 years in New York City and Los Angeles. I am past member of the Board of Trustees of the American Yacht Club in Rye, New York and a member of St Francis Yacht Club in San Francisco. I am a US Coast Guard licensed captain and live in the San Francisco Bay Area. I look forward to serving another term on the General Committee of the OCC. As a member of the GC, I intend to focus on further improving the membership experience for all OCC members, such as improvements to the website and OCC app and the member support (including port officer) network. I also plan to work on updating some of the OCC’s policies and procedures to ensure that they comply with “best practices” for a club with a worldwide membership.
9 days ago Topic: Rhys Cooke (nominated for GC, 1st term) rachelle.turk Administrator	I'm Rhys Cooke, I'm 31 and I am standing for nomination for a General Committee seat. I have been sailing from a very young age with my family, we were members of an active cruising club (Tollesbury Cruising Club) and this greatly influenced my introduction to sailing. Here my family went through several boats, each getting bigger as our trips expanded from coastal day sails to many trips across to the European mainland. At the age of 13/14 I was recruited into the RYA Recognised Junior Catamaran Squad sailing Hobie Dragoons, and then later into the Youth Squad racing Spitfire catamarans. From the age of 17 I’d take my parents boat out with friends, until I bought my own yacht Valkyrie with my partner Romy in 2022. We have since sailed approximately 9,000 nautical miles together, from the UK to the USA, and are currently in the Bahamas where we are making plans to run an OCC Cruise in Company February 2026. As part of the General Committee, I'd like to support the Club’s goals to expand the membership, particularly looking at how to bring in younger members. When we were getting ready to leave it would have been great to have known about the OCC and the different ways the Club could have supported us. So for me, helping the Club work out how to reach potential members before they have done their qualifying passage, and how to support them on their journey is in my opinion, a vital part of achieving this. An idea for this is to seek partnerships with organisations such as the Tall Ships Sailing Trust, where we can offer young sailors a pipeline through the Youth Sponsorship Programme and then on to become ocean cruisers on their own vessels. I believe my experiences as a young sailor coming through these systems will help the club in achieving these goals.
9 days ago Topic: George Ehlers (nominated for Treasurer, 1st term) rachelle.turk Administrator	Cruising: After the usual raft of racing dinghies and other family boats, I graduated towards cruising, and during my three year stay in Australia I undertook the Tasman Sea crossing from Sydney to Auckland in 1970. Back in the UK I owned a Hillyard 36, Gyngle Boy, based at Poole on the South Coast and cruising the French Canals during 1970s. The family preferred horses so after selling the Hillyard sailing was restricted to occasional weeks with friends. Sadler 34 Shepton Dancer from 1999 to 2007; cruising included London both sides of the Channel as well as Dutch inland waterways and Ireland. Extensive chartered cruising in Croatia, Tonga, USA and Canada and North East Spain. Current boat J42 Sky Hunter, with which extended cruising to Gibraltar and the Canaries, followed by participation in ARC 2005 across to St Lucia. In 2007, after two Antigua Sailing Weeks and local cruising, I cruised to Boston and Maine and then back across the Atlantic and into the Mediterranean where she has since been based. Currently in Cartagena, Spain about to return towards Turkey. Clubs: Royal Thames Yacht Club Royal Cruising Club Ocean Cruising Club Cruising Association. History, Objectives and Aspirations for OCC: I am a Chartered Accountant, now retired, but with much experience in the commercial world. I joined the OCC in January 2015. My previous Club experience includes various committee work at the Royal Thames Yacht Club over a period of ten years, including three years as Finance and Membership Rear Commodore. I was appointed Treasurer of the OCC in 2016, an appointment cut short by my becoming Vice Commodore of Royal Thames Yacht Club in 2017. The Ocean Cruising Club is a very different club, with a growing global membership whose demands will continually change as time moves forwards. I look forward to again being part of the management of this club.

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