Videos – Irish Cruising Club

Orcas & Rudders, an OCC Webinar

Alex Blackwell — Wed, 04 Feb 2026 16:52:12 +0000

Bob Osborne & Rui Alvez | 29/01/2026

30,000 pleasure boats transit the Gibraltar Straits every year and 130 boats a year have a close encounter with an orca along the way. About 25 boats a year suffer significant rudder damage.

Ocean Cruising Club Member and Connecticut Port Officer, Bob Osborn, was welcomed to the Gibraltar Straits by a pod of orca in the summer of ’25. Within a few minutes he lost both his hydrovane rudder and 1/3rd of his main rudder. In this Webinar Bob interviews Rui Alves who runs the Orca reporting website orcas.pt. Bob describes his orca encounter, and Rui explains the statistics, the behaviour and how best to avoid and respond to attacks.

Links and Attachments

Link to Webinar Recording

Norway TV Documentary

Alex Blackwell — Wed, 04 Feb 2026 16:44:08 +0000

An excellent documentary on Channel 4 has recently started called Lorraine Kelly’s Norwegian Odyssey. The first episode is about Lofoten and features many of the places the 2026 Norway Cruising plans to see. This can be accessed on the Channel 4 player. Alternatively, below is a link to bring you to an online version. It’s worth a watch.
https://www.channel4.com/programmes/lorraine-kellys-norwegian-odyssey

Headcase – the 5 amateur Irish sailors winning awards

Alex Blackwell — Wed, 05 Nov 2025 18:49:34 +0000

Clip • 19 Mins • 04 NOV • Oliver Callan

Headcase crew. Cillian Dixon left, Dermot (RTE), Louis Mulloy right

Cillian Dickson from Lough Ree Yacht Club and Louis Mulloy from Mayo Sailing Club, tell Dermot how five friends, one boat and 6 years of hard work has resulted in becoming world champions.

Click here to hear the clip
https://www.rte.ie/radio/radio1/clips/22556699

OCC Webinars – Updated 01-12-25

Alex Blackwell — Sat, 01 Nov 2025 17:29:25 +0000

The Ocean Cruising Club has produced a sizeable number of excellent webinars, which non-members are more than welcome to view.

These can be found on the OCC website: https://www.oceancruisingclub.org/Webinars
They can also be found on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@OceanCruisingClub

2025/26 OCC webinar series

The OCC have six wonderful speakers have lined up to share their knowledge and experiences with both the members and wider audiences.

Starting on Thursday 11th of December theyhave six webinars for you to tune in to, these will all start at 20:00 GMT/UTC and will be streamed on Zoom:

Thursday 11th December 2025: ‘Downwind blue water sailing for cruisers’ by Bojan Michiels van Kessenich
Thursday 18th December 2025: ’Caribbean in Crisis: What Cruisers Need to Know—and How We Can Help’ by Charlie Young
Thursday 8th January 2026: ‘Japan to Pacific Northwest via the Aleutian Islands’ by Anette & Anders Rhodin
Thursday 15th January 2026: ‘Cruising to Japan’ by Behan & Jamie Gifford
Thursday 22nd January 2026: ‘Emergencies at Sea’ by Will Spencer

Thursday 29th January 2026: ‘Encounters between Orcas and rudders’ by Bob Osborne

All webinars will be hosted on Zoom at 8pm GMT/UTC. Sign up here: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_1cbp4RszTzCCVORMzYTzkg#/registration

‘Favourite Scottish Anchorages’

ICC Default — Fri, 20 Oct 2023 17:12:28 +0000

by Frank Smyth

Marine Conservation and what we sailors can do to help

ICC Default — Wed, 19 Apr 2023 16:46:00 +0000

by Sarah Brown FRGS CF

Conor OBrien – Patriot, Sailor and Adventurer

ICC Default — Mon, 20 Mar 2023 16:39:00 +0000

by Jim McAdam

Cruising and racing a classic yacht in Maine in 2007

ICC Default — Thu, 20 Oct 2022 16:53:00 +0000

by Hal Sisk

The World’s oldest Cruiser/Racer class 1903-2022

ICC Default — Sun, 20 Feb 2022 16:56:00 +0000

by Hal Sisk