2024 WINDWARD RENDEZVOUS 

Planning for the 2024 Dominica Rendezvous is well underway.  Please join us in Portsmouth, Dominica February 1 – 8 for hikes, tours, barbecues, beach activities, music, and dancing.  Dominica is a beautiful island and the P.A.Y.S. guys go all out for the Salty Dawgs. 

SALTY DAWG 2024 WINTER WEBINAR SERIES

Considering joining a Rendezvous?  Looking for technical advice?  Interested in tips for cruising and living aboard?

Check out our Winter Webinar Series!

THE 2023 ANTIGUA SOCIAL SEASON
From Lynn Hoenke, sv Roxy

The 2023 Social Season in Antigua was a huge success, thanks to the pre-planning of Bob Osborn and the participation of seemingly hundreds of Salty Dawgs. 

FREE UP FARM:  PERMACULTURE FARMING IN DOMINICA
From Katie Bloxham, SV Persephone

One of the highlights of our time in Dominica last season was a visit to Free Up Farm, a permaculture farm in the Syndicate Rain Forest.  Owners Aubrey and Lulu answered a few questions for Dawg Tales.

What is Free Up Farm?
Free Up Farm is a demonstration site featuring techniques adapted primarily from permaculture and natural farming methodologies.  

A VISIT TO NANNY CAY
Written By Diane Mackenzie with photos by Don Mackenzie

I spent many vacations chartering down in the British Virgin Islands as a child and teenager.  My memories of Tortola were of the Beef Island Airport and the tiny airplane we flew in, a very bumpy van ride to the Moorings, an industrial seeming Road Town Harbor with freighters and ferries, going to Fort Burt for dinner on our first night, and then leaving for the fabulous sailing and wondrous turquoise blue bays that awaited us.  Tortola was a place where you cleared customs and picked up your boat!

WHAT'S ALL THIS SAILING RESUME STUFF?

Written by Jason Burns

A sailing resume or boating resume summarizes your relevant boating experience. Your sailing resume is used by insurance companies, banks, charter companies, and others to determine your seaworthiness and overall risk on the water.

So what’s the big deal?
After all, you already have insurance for your yacht, right? Even if you already have insurance, you should be tracking and updating your experience. If you ever have had the thought of going bigger (yacht size) or jumping from a monohull to a catamaran, you are going to be asked a lot of questions and forced to jump through a lot of hoops. Even after all that, you still may find it challenging to get the insurance you need to have the freedom to cruise where you want to be.

CHRISTMAS 2023 IN THE CARIBBEAN 

VOLUNTEER SPOTLIGHT:  TIM METCALF

Boat Name and Type:  1984 C&C 41 "Insatiable"

Home Port:  We live in Lake Orion, in Southeast Michigan, near Detroit

Where are you now?:  We keep our boat in Sarnia, Ontario at the bottom of Lake Huron

Years volunteering for the Salty Dawgs:  I have been working with the Salty Dawgs since the year before we became the Salty Dawg Sailing Association.

How do you volunteer for the Dawgs?  I am the Manager of Safety, Communications, Tracking, Shoreside Coordination, and Emergency Response.  My teams and I check on our rally participants' safety equipment and ensure that they have the required communications and tracking devices.  They track the fleet from departure to arrival, and respond to any situations that arise, including emergencies.  

Why do you volunteer for the Dawgs?  I think that the SDSA approaches offshore sailing from a different perspective.  We're not just about the rally.  Instead, we offer education and mentoring to less experienced skippers and crew, to help them get prepared to go offshore.  We also help sailors find crewing opportunities, and skippers find qualified crew.  

The SDSA is a family.  Our members really care about each other, and look forward to meeting each other before, during and after the cruising season. 

Other interests?   Sailing has been my passion for the last 45 years.  In the off season I enjoy woodworking.  I own a small business selling and installing marine navigation electronics.  My wife and I have been married for almost 48 years, and we dote on our 6-year-old grandson as much as we can from half the country away.