The nonprofit Salty Dawg Rally™ has scheduled a comprehensive series of free blue water cruising seminars to be held prior to the sailboat shows in Newport, Rhode Island and Annapolis, Maryland and in Hampton, Virginia, prior to the early November departure of the Salty Dawg fleet to the Caribbean.

The series kicks off with a day of seminars at The Edward King House in Newport, Rhode Island on Wednesday, September 14^th, the day before the start of the Newport International Boat Show.  At the seminar a drawing will be held for a McMurdo FastFind 220 PLB, donated by Life Raft and Survival Equipment – LRSE of Newport.  Talks will be offered on topics valuable to cruisers, including blue water passage preparations by George Day of Blue Water Sailing Magazine and Multihulls Quarterly, blue water cruising sail inventory and sail trim by Dave Flynn of Quantum Sails, heavy weather sailing and storm avoidance by Rick Palm, blue water boat maintenance by Josh Hodgson and preparation for blue water cruising and a life raft deployment demonstration by Liferaft and Survival Equipment Company. Get all the details at saltydawgrally.org/events.

The Seamen’s Church Institute announces the commencement of its new Speakers’ Series this fall.  The purpose of the series is to offer informative, entertaining and inspiring presentations relating to the Institute’s missiosn of service to those in need and to the maritime community.

The first presentation will be September 14, when noted offshore sailor Bill Biewenga will speak on Hurricanes At Sea:Structure, Avoidance & Outlook.  He will be followed on October 12 by CAPT Richard Alexander, USN (ret), who will address Landmarks in the Development of Navigation. Get the details at seamensnewport.org.

Pam Wall and Lee Chesneau are presenting topics of interest to blue water sailors as part of the The Newport Boat Show Seminar Series.

Pam brings expertise and her infectious enthusiam to an Outfitting for Blue Water Cruising workshop on Saturday, September 17th. This 3- plus hour workshop will give you insight into all her important information on what a well-found, safe, efficient and comfortable cruising boat should have aboard. In addition she will have a workshop on Cruising the Bahamas on Sunday, September 18th. Lee Chesneau will present two weather related seminars, Assessing Your Self Reliant Marine Weather Skills and Tropical Cyclone Basics. Details at newportboatshow.com.