Events - Past Events

Raid to Scoglitti - September 2011

Five Malta Cruising Club boats took part in a cruise to Scoglitti, Sicily over the 8th September long weekend.

Bonaire, Calista, Mon Reve, Miss Sophie and Windchaser sailed the roughly 60 nautical mile crossing to the newly constructed La Ponente Marina at Scoglitti.

Sail Care and Sail Trim at OneSails loft- May 2010

Jason Galea, of the recently opened OneSails sail loft in Marsa, gave us a very practical presentation on how one can take care of his sails by optimising their use.

Detailed explanations on a number of issues were given using a number of suggestions.

The very good crowd present ended the evening with loads of questions which were answered by the extremely competent host.

Gozo "St. Joseph" Weekend - March 2010

Beautiful weather characterized this 19th March weekend event. It was just like a summer's day with some of our group even crossing over to Comino for a quick dip in the pristine Blue Lagoon.

Morning walks were the order of the day and a lunch was organised at "Il-Furnar", Nadur, on the saturday. This also had a good turnout.

The saturday evening was spent at the Imperial Gozo Yacht Club where we were guests to our friends there and enjoyed a quiet drink at their premises whilst discussing nautical issues.

Quiz Night - March 2010

This event was organised to coincide with the day of the Annual General Meeting. With the Black Pearl as the venue, a number of teams pitted their nautical knowledge against each other just for fun, and why not, for some prizes.

Quiz master James Vassallo, dished out a series of tough (for some, impossible for others) questions, all dealing with the sea and cruising destinations.

The evening was enhanced with food and of course wine. For the recond, the winners were Paul Borg Cardona, Timmy Gambin and Aaron Podesta.

BBQ / Sleepover and Sail

This event was again a great success. We had very positive comments and have already been asked to organise something similar again in the future.

We met on Pontoon A at Grand Harbour Marina where we were assisted by the berthers there, thanks to the courtesy of Maltese Falcon. BBQ was at the Vittoriosa Regatta Club just a three minute walk away where there was an abundance of food and wine. We walked back and some of us slept on our boats with the magnificent view of the well lit bastions of our Grand Harbour, obviously after some more wine. Breakfast time was scheduled for 09:00 and most of us were there on time for a full English breakfast. At around 10:45 we sailed off to il-Hofriet (near Delimara) where we anchored our boats and had a nice swim, and relaxed for the rest of the day.

Boats in attendance were: Cathay, Journeyman, Lookfar, Miss Sophie and Scylla. Other boats like, Bonaire, who are actually berthed at Grand Harbour Marina, remained in their respective berths, but attended.

MCC would again like to thank Grand Harbour Marina for their co-operation for making this event a memorable one.

Sunset Cruise

Wednesday 11th June saw the first in a series of "Sunset Cruises" planned for 2009. Members met up and "rafted" at Balluta Bay from 630pm till late. Some cooked on board, some brought beers and light snacks whilst others buzzed around in their dinghies. It was all together a lovely evening at sea in very good company. Ad-hoc discussions on all things nautical were the order of the day with owners comparing notes, maintenance issues and plans for their forthcoming summer trips.

Fishing from your boat

Jonathan Sammut gave a very interesting talk on fishing with lures from one's boat. The talk answered many of the questions we all should have liked to have asked about why we did not catch fish ( most of the time !) such as targetting specific species at the right time of day and the right season, with the right lures, and going at the right speed. The well illustrated talk was very much appreciated. Jonathan had written a book called " Said bir-Rixa" (fishing with a lure) which is at present only available in Maltese but should there be sufficient interest an English version could soon be available; the book describes in detail the main species of fish in local waters and the tackle required to catch them.

The weather for sailing

An illustrated talk was given by the Manager of the Meteorological Office of Malta International Airport, Dr. Charles Galdies, on 6th April 2009 at the Black Pearl in Ta' Xbiex. Amongst the topics covered were cloud identification and interpretation, weather chart reading and a question and answer session. The talk was again well attended by local and visiting members and guests.

Cruising 2010

The cruising programme for 2010 is currently being planned by the Cruising Committee. Suggestions and ideas from members are welcome. Please get in touch via mikejmifsud@gmail.com as we would like to know your preferred destinations, the time you have available and your ideal dates.

The policy this year is to have fewer formal cruises and more frequent shorter trips.

Local Cruising 2010

The Club's local cruising will begin in March. This will include day cruises as well as overnight outings. These are excellent opportunities to try out your boat and systems before undertaking longer offshore voyages.

Day Cruises 2010

Mellieha or Paradise Bay (depending on wind direction). Comino

Overnight Cruises (with BBQ or dinner)

Dwejra or Marsalforn Ramla Bay or Round Malta

Cruise to the Ionian islands

A number of members have expressed an interest in cruising to the Ionian Islands. These are a fantastic destination and provide excellent and undemanding cruising conditions. Please let us know whether you might be interested, and what dates you prefer. This is intended as a rendezvous cruise, where individual boats or groups proceed in their own time and by their own prefered routes to the agreed destination on an agreed date. Individual arrangements for boats to voyage in company can of course also be arranged.

This cruise would take about a fortnight, though of course it can be done in less. However the main charm of the Ionian Islands is their variety and also the relatively tranquil nature of the cruising as the islands protect the inland sea and it is generally calm.

Round Sicily

Another possible cruise is the 'Round Sicily'. This is can take as long as you like if you visit all the possible stops along the way, even longer if you spend any time there. It is very much a headland hopping exercise: from Capo Passero to Siracusa, to Naxos/Taormina, Messina or Reggio, through the Straits of Messina, to Milazzo and/or the Eolean Islands, Cephalu, Palermo, the Egadi islands, and one or two stops round the "corner".

Each of these stops has sites of enormous archaeological and historical interest: if there is enough interest we will have a briefing session at which these will be outlined, as well as a discussion about mooring, anchorages and, of course, culinary attractions.