Ocean Cruising Club

Ocean Cruising Club Burgee

The Ocean Cruising Club is an international club administered from the UK for cruisers. Members are identified by a distinctive blue and yellow burgee with a stylized Flying Fish on the blue part of the flag.

Founded in 1954 by the late Humphrey Barton after his east-west crossing of the Atlantic in the 25 foot Vertue XXXV^[1] the club exists to promote long-distance cruising in all its forms. The club has no premises, regarding the oceans of the world as its clubhouse, although it enjoys visitors' rights with a number of major clubs world-wide. Membership is about what the applicant has done rather than who they are. Membership is open to anyone either as skipper, or certified as competent by the skipper, who has completed a continuous ocean passage of at least 1000 miles, measured along the rhumb line, in a vessel of under 70 feet.

The Ocean Cruising Club maintains a network of over 100 Port Officers world-wide to assist members in their undertakings and publishes the journal ‘Flying Fish’ twice a year and a quarterly newsletter. Much published material is available for non-members to review on the OCC website www.OceanCruisingClub.org. This material includes the archive of the journal 'Flying Fish' published since 1991 covering first hand experience of cruises over most of the naviagable waters of the globe. The club also sponsors a web site Cruising Information Community where information is presented by cruising area across the world.

The Club organizes a number of cruises in company, rallies and get-togethers in different areas of the world.

Awards

• Ocean Cruising Club gives out several annual and special awards for notable accomplishments in ocean sailing.

References

1. ^ Westward Crossing, Humphrey Barton, W.W. Norton & Co. New York 1951