The SSCA Gam, Day 1

Vero Beach
No LL


Back in the late 1970s, I and my friends at PTI skated on the bleeding edge of computer technology. In those circumstances it was enormously enjoyable to go to the National Computer Conference (NCC) in Chicago's McCormick Palace together with 100,000 other computer geeks. Well, today I no longer keep up with computers but, understandably, Libby and I are very much in to the technology and the culture of sailboat cruising. All this is an elaborate way of saying that we enjoyed ourselves today at the SSCA Gam.

The conference was hosted by the SSCA (Seven Seas Cruising Association) of which we are members. I don't know why they call their meetings Gams. The first thing noticeable was that almost all the roughly 200 attendees, and staff, and the speakers were also experienced cruisers. In fact, I suspect that a high percentage of them haver completed circumnavigations, which far outstrips our credentials. The impression was striking. I wish I could ow you a group photo. I wager that it would be very difficult in today's America to find a more fit, more healthy and more mentally healthy group of people for their age. It reinforces our belief that we made the right choice becoming cruisers.

Like the NCC or many trade shows, this conference had a floor with vendor exhibits. It also had a series of lectures conducted in side rooms. We started out with a lecture on docking techniques and sail trim by Captain Jack Klang that Libby and I went to. I was very impressed. His methods for getting in to and out of slips, especially with adverse winds and currents, were far superior to what we have been doing. I resolve to change our ways to his ways starting immediately.

Then Libby went off to the Women's Forum, and I went to a talk about using your laptop PC for electronic charts and navigation. It's clear that the world is moving in the direction of having PC obsolete all other chart plotter/GPS/navigation devices. Nevertheless, I'm not ready to switch yet. First I would need a waterproof PC that I can use out in the cockpit, and it would have to use less than 10% of the DC power that my current laptop uses, then it would have to be affordable.

At the women's forum, Libby heard about keeping in touch with family, VOIP, about dealing with seasickness, and dealing with Captain Bligh types, and on provisioning the boat. She said it was worthwhile.

Over lunch we went through the vendor area. I blew $110 cash on gadgets that I just couldn't live without after seeing them. That's why Libby won't let me go to boat shows. She's smart. I was only exposed to two dozen vendors here. At the Annapolis boat show, I would have walked past the booths of hundreds of vendors, and could easily bankrupt us. I also made local contacts with a sail maker and jib furlers. Replacing our foresail (AKA jib AKA yankee) and converting from old fashioned hanked on sails to roller furling is our number one project to accomplish while we are in Vero.

In the afternoon, I went of to a series of lectures on communications, while Libby went to talks on medical treatment on board, and stories about traveling off the beaten path.

Jim Corenman led the lectures on communications. He is the horse's mouth on those subjects. Jim wrote the Airmail email program that we use with the SSB. Jim was also one of the founders of Sailmail, a non-profit organization that provides global email service for cruisers. Jim is also an engineer. For me, as an electrical engineer, it was heaven. We talked about low orbit satellites, radio propagation, cell phone technology, WIFI, SSB based email, computer security, spam management, RF leakage, RF interference, grounding practices, antenna designs, electrocution, counterpoise ground planes and other things that warm the heart of true engineers. The surprising thing for me was that the other people in the audience were perhaps more knowledgeable and as quick to understand than I. I presume that most did not have an MSEE as I do, and (revealing my sexist side) almost half of them were women. I guess the moral is that people who live on board and who are forced to make these things work really do learn the things they need to know even if they are highly technical and even if they have no formal education in engineering. My hat goes off to those cruisers – their expertise and practical knowledge exceeds my expectations.

At the medical seminar Libby learned about the myriad of drugs and medical things we should have on board (but don't) for extended cruises overseas. She learned that they have malaria in Georgetown Bahamas. She got tips on dealing with sea sickness and how to make emergency splints.

All in all, we both learned a lot and we both thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. There are two more days to go on the conference. Oh boy.