THE OCEAN CRUISING CLUB
THE FIRST FIFTY YEARS
Researched and written by
Tony Vasey
Commodore 1994 – 1998
Humphrey Barton – the Founder
CONTENTS
Introduction ........................................................ vi
Foreword ............................................................... vii
Acknowledgements ........................................... viii
Preface ................................................................... ix
I –THE BEGINNING ................................................... 1
II –HUM’S CHUMS ................................................... 10
III –EARLY DAYS....................................................... 27
IV –THE NEWSLETTER ............................................. 59
V –THE CLUB MATURES ......................................... 91
VI –AREFLECTION ................................................. 115
VII –THE CLUB COMES OFAGE ............................ 118
VIII –THE PROPER YACHT ....................................... 133
IX –THE NEXT CHAPTER ....................................... 138
X –HOME IS THE SAILOR ................................... 154
XI –THE WRITINGON THE WALL ....................... 160
XII –DIFFICULTTIMES ........................................... 187
XIII –RENAISSANCE .................................................. 201
XIV –PORT OFFICERS : ATRIBUTE ...................... 225
XV –CONSOLIDATION ............................................ 228
XVI –MODERN TIMES ............................................... 251
XVII –LEGENDS ........................................................... 279
XVIII –EPILOGUE : THE CLUB .............................. 298
Appendices
I –List of Member, 1954 ........................................ 299
II –Officers of the Club ......................................... 306
III –Award winners .................................................. 309
IV –Blue Water Medal winners .............................. 313
V –Bibliography ...................................................... 314
Index .................................................................. 315
Iii
INTRODUCTION
It is important that the first 50 years of the Club’s history should be recorded,
as if it were not written now much would be lost. Our thanks go to past
Commodore and Club Archivist, Tony Vasey, for researching, collating, recording
and writing this publication, and also to Anne Hammick and her team for assisting
with the editing. Finally, I would like to say a big thank you to an anonymous
member whose generous donation has gone a long way towards covering the
cost of this publication.
Much has changed since Humphrey Barton set sail in 1952. We only need to
think of modern methods of communication, electronic navigational systems,
reliable inboard diesel engines, high-tech protective clothing, sail handling,
electronic and wind vane self-steering systems, together with the near doubling
of the average size of boats crossing the oceans.
It is interesting to speculate what the next 50 years may bring. However,
going to sea in a small boat is, in some ways, still as hazardous as it was 50
years ago, so perhaps not much has really changed during that time. Sailing is
still the challenge and adventure which it has always been and hopefully will
long remain.
I trust that there will continue to be a need for the Ocean Cruising Club to
provide worldwide friendship and support for ocean sailors, both past and
present.
Alan John Taylor
Commodore
Ocean Cruising Club
FOREWORD
My connections with the activity of ocean cruising go back some way and by
1954 fortunately included enough long distances to allow me to become a
founder member of this Club. In those long ago days amateur voyages across
stretches of ocean were considered as splendid adventures, verging sometimes
on the perilous. In some respects and in some vessels the perils and triumphs
were totally real and many adventurous ocean cruisers were properly lauded.
In fact at the early gatherings of the Club it was commonplace to hear the
remark, ‘As I said in my book ...’.
The origin of the Club rests almost entirely with the legendary Humphrey Barton,
a man of consummate seamanship and one of nature’s born leaders, and with
such a man at the helm it would have been quite unreasonable for me not to have
volunteered at once for his new club. When one reads of the many famous people
who flocked to become early members it shows that there was a real need for
such a fraternity, and I suspect a great number saw Hum Barton’s Ocean Cruising
Club as their natural home. Latterly, of course, the name Hum embraces his wife
Mary, his successor as our Commodore and our Admiral, who led the club forward
with style and panache through occasionally difficult head winds.
The establishment of the OCC has probably done more to open up the oceans to
the sailing yacht than any other process. From the start the membership conditions
suggested in themselves that ocean sailing was a practical possibility not restricted
to the supermen and women of legend with their publishers. Next one must credit
the club and its members with their influence on the design and development of the
yachts themselves – hand in hand, it has to be said, with those for offshore racing.
This development of hulls and equipment has been matched with that of
communication and navigation. Once it was not uncommon for less funded yachts
to put to sea with a piece of wood with three nails on it representing the altitude of
the pole star on the latitude of, say, Barbados. Now, with GPS, it is difficult not to
know where we are to within a few yards at all times.
It comes as a surprise to realise that the Ocean Cruising Club has been in
existence and growing healthily for some fifty years, during which it has acquired
a pleasant degree of veneration. And it is gratifying that Tony Vasey, a former
Commodore, has recorded this period so diligently. It must have been a labour
of love, with half his sources at sea at any time and the other half offering the
embellished memories of advancing years. Dare I suggest that he has ‘Volume
I’ printed on the spine, for this Club is not just to be a 50 year wonder.
Colin Mudie
Founding Rear Commodore
AUTHOR’S PREFACE
History is written between the lines whilst hopes and intentions are to be found
on the pages of formal documents. Real history is revealed in letters, minute
sheets and in conversations, but it then becomes a matter of interpretation. To
record events purely from agendas and minutes would be dull indeed, but once
one places a construction on records it is no longer objective. I have tried to
steer a course between the two in as light a vein as possible, but in doing so I do
not wish to imply any lack of the importance of certain events. I have strived to
be as impartial as possible, especially when describing controversial issues such
as events during the ‘Difficult Times’, but to gloss over these would not do
justice to the record or the Club. Inevitably I will have construed certain issues
in a way that does not please everyone; if this gives offence it was not intended,
and all I can offer is that they take advantage of Colin Mudie’s suggestion in his
Foreword and in due course write Volume II.
The development of the Club in its early days was relatively easy to follow,
since it was a small organisation and people joined because they wanted the
close association with like-minded fellows. Although it may sound trite, life was
at a much slower pace 50 years ago and expectations were more modest. Relative
costs and inflation were both low, so when initially all posts of responsibility were
voluntary, the Club could be run on a few hundred pounds a year. In many ways
it was its very success which caused problems with its organisation and running.
What worked for a few, mostly known to each other, did not necessarily work
for many hundreds and the Club found it difficult to adjust. Furthermore, the
far-flung nature of the membership creates an inevitable time lag between
decisions and results, which makes it uniquely hard to administer.
In those early days the Club was dominated by a handful of colourful
personalities whose names appeared regularly, either as part of the organisation
or out on the oceans shaping its character. It was easy then to quote those of
influence, but they are now so numerous that it is difficult to decide whom to
cite personally. The more people who are named the greater the danger of
giving offence by omission, but I cannot quote those who do not write and
those who write well tend to get priority. We have doubtless missed hearing
thrilling tales of derring-do from those too modest to commit themselves to
paper, but that silent majority have done just as much for the Club by flying its
burgee on many an adventure. If anyone whom I have left out feels neglected
I apologise, but whereas a litany of personalities might satisfy many, it would
certainly bore even more.
Tony Vasey
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Mary Barton’s encyclopaedic knowledge of the Club has been invaluable and
her encouragement throughout had been a great source of support. Rosemary
and Colin Mudie’s recall of Club activities in the early days has been of great
value and their shrewd advice on certain sensitive areas has been most useful.
Without the help of Founder Member the late Chich Thornton, who provided
the only known copies of the first two Members Lists, there would have been
serious gaps, and the very much extant Founder Ian Nicolson has been a constant
source of information on those same early years. Another Founder, Bill Wise,
recalls to our benefit the days before the Club was formed, and his records of
early events have been invaluable. I also received much useful information on
the early transatlantic races from Founder Hugh Austin. Of the several other
Founders who have been of help I must especially thank Harvey Loomis, both
for his professional advice and for much valuable information on famous early
American members. Another Founder from the States, Walter Flower, provided
invaluable details of the start of the Club over there. And also from the States I
must thank Peter Passano who, together with CCA Historian Bob Drew, was
most helpful, especially with details of the Blue Water Medal.
Mike Richey’s extensive writing has been a rich source of both inspiration
and quotations, not to mention his remarkable recollection of events 50 years
ago. I am grateful to all those whom I have been able to quote, especially Arthur
Beiser who, in Chapter VIII, has brought us up to date in his thinking on The
Proper Yacht. My thanks also to the several members and non-members who
have allowed me to use extracts from their books. Past Secretary Jeremy Knox
was most meticulous in checking on events during his tenure, and Mike Pocock,
my successor as Commodore, has given much useful advice on the accuracy
of the manuscript. John Maddox had kept me straight on events in Australia
and throughout I have had the support and backing of our present Commodore.
The archives of Yachting World and Yachting Monthly magazines have been
invaluable sources of information, and I am greatly indebted to Andrew Bray
and Paul Gelder, their respective editors, for allowing me access to them. I
must particularly thank Anne Hammick for her rigorous copy-editing, and her
band of dedicated proof-readers for helping to ensure that you are distracted by
the minimum of typographical errors. Last, and by no means least, I must
thank my wife Jill, who has borne the tedium of checking my writing throughout
and who did much of the research necessary to compile the rather tedious lists
which are required in any history.
Tony Vasey
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