Seven Seas Cruising Association (SSCA) announces SSCA 2024 Officers
by Seven Seas Cruising Association 29 Dec 2023 17:12 PST
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For 2024, Seven Seas Cruising Association is pleased to announce the election of the 2024 SSCA Officers, with President Joan Conover, Vice President Frank Smith, Treasurer Don Gillings as well as the positions supported by the Board of Directors, Members At Large. Cruiser Bill Cullen is leading the Speakers/Event for St. Petersburg as well as supporting Membership; Commodore R. Neil Davies serves as Membership Chairman, and currently is leading the Spring Bahamas Rally and 2024 Bahamas Gathering at Black Point Exumas, Bahamas. Commodore Kingsley Ross is the Chairman of our Advocacy Committee, supporting Cruisers Rights providing SSCA a representative for legislative issues. Cruiser Monty VandeMay is supporting as the Legal Point of Contact; Commodore Beth VandeGeijn is our Convention/GAM/Event Committee Chairman. These seven members plus our Treasurer, Don Gillings, form the official 2024 Board of Directors and Officers for SSCA.
This year SSCA events have been held as Conferences/GAMS as well as Gatherings. Key events included the Trinidad and Tobago GAM, Penobscot Bay Mini GAM/Potluck in Rockland Maine, 2023 Bahamas Gathering, two Annapolis Boat Show events in April 2023 and October 2023, Seattle Washington Boat Show, St Petersburg Boat Show, Chesapeake Convention/GAM Pasadena MD, the Dominican Republic Luperon Mini GAM, Melbourne Fl Conference/GAM and Annual Meeting as well as boat gatherings everywhere SSCA vessels cruise.
Our SSCA website will soon have a new look and feel, with the below programs highlighted as well as the ongoing support we offer members via our online features. Our Homebase has new features, such as VoIP service that provides immediate access to our office Membership Coordinator, Nicole Economou. And our new location is back to our roots, in Florida! The latest Seven Seas Cruising Association webinars start January 22, 2024, and continue last year's best practices with relevant topics such as North Arctic Expedition for cruisers wanting to go north for summer 2024, a presentation on Starlink, ICW Charts/routes Eastern USA, as well as a webinar on how stay connected near or offshore using current technologies.
For our key projects of Cruising Station Hosts, we have added new identification flags for hosts in the Pacific, Caribbean and Atlantic and are expanding our base and host events. At the 2023 Melbourne GAM in Florida, Bahama's Lorraine Rolle received the coveted Bateman Cruising Host of the Year Award, as recognition for her hard work as the host of the 2022 and 2023 Bahamas Gathering held at Lorraine's Cafe, Black Point. She continues this effort with the 2024 Bahamas Gathering March 14-17, 2024. And this year SSCA has added the Bahamas Rally to support Bahama passaging for boats cruising from Virginia to both coast of Florida. The small island nation of Neui, in the Pacific, our host announced opening up and expanding their port, and now welcome cruiser boats to updated facilities. A new and growing number of Cruising Station Hosts have been added to Eastern USA ports, as well as the Northern Caribbean and one in Fiji. Our hosts in Trinidad and Tobago hosted a New Year Conference/GAM in 2023, as in past years. This continues with New Years 2024! Dominican Republic hosts expanded their programs with a November 2023 Luperon event, following the April 2023 gathering at Marina Puerto Bahia in Samana. These efforts continue in 2024.
SSCA has also expanded our outreach in support of cruiser needs as advocates as well as partnered with agencies for both weather products as well as marine charts. SSCA members, led by Kingsley Ross, have participated in legislative sessions, and advocated actively to protect anchoring and cruising rights. We have supported products developed for small vessel operations, such as marine charts and marine weather. This has been accomplished by partnerships with various groups and government agencies as part of SSCA outreach. Informing governmental agencies on small boat needs for both charts and communications availability for cruisers, as well as information packaged for vessels that travel at small boats speeds has been a focus of our participation.
Our Clean Wake efforts to "leave a clean wake wherever SSCA members cruise, are providing support to the many communities we visit. SSCA identifies worthy projects and assists with both advertising and with grants via our SSCA Foundation. One 2023 Clean Wake project, Hopefleet, received the SSCA Clean Wake Award, presented to Danny Moroney; Hopefleet has provided materials and needed items to Bahamas, Dominican Republic and more areas of need, such as Haiti, have supported Pacific and Caribbean communities affected with natural disasters such as Vanuatu. Vanuatu was supported with a boat lift of small vessels lead via group coordination, SSCA lead was Captain Luc Callebaut (sv Solemouche). We are continuing our support for the Rio Dulce Guatemala and Bay Islands of Honduras lead by two key Clean Wake efforts. Most recently, this month, a Clean Wake program, International Rescue Group, is sending six tons of donated supplies to Haiti, and SSCA Cruising Station hosts in Haiti are involved. These projects can be viewed at www.ssca.org/cleanwake.
Seven Seas Cruising Association looks forward to an active 2024 season for our cruisers and welcomes the new Board of Directors as we move forward with our support for our members. For information on our programs, future events, to register for our latest Bahama Rally and Bahama Gathering or for other SSCA activities, visit www.ssca.org or contact office@ssca.org.