IPSWICH MARITIME TRUST AUTUMN TALKS 2025:
Wednesday 5th November 2025, 7.30-9.00pm:
Dave Selby – Marlin’s Mission
Dave is a passionate but useless sailor who, for years has been fumbling around the east coast without dying once. A couple of years ago the Practical Boat Owner columnist set his horizons further afield , heading off in Marlin, his 18ft Sailfish, on Marlin’s Mission to sail 340 miles up the Thames to London and then on to Southampton to exhibit his boat at the Southampton Boat Show. The aim was to demonstrate that cost is no barrier to getting afloat, that in this day and age sailing has never been more affordable. This is of course a pack of lies, but as a self-styled “budget boating guru” Dave has little choice but to promote and share the grief of boat ownership as best he can.
Dave will also be talking about the life-changing events that inspired his adventure. In 2012 he was struck down by a rare viral condition called Guillain-Barré Syndrome that temporarily paralysed him from the waist down. “Far from holding me back, it gave me the drive for what became one of the richest experiences of my life” said Dave.
Dave will be signing copies of his first sailing book, The Impractical Boat Owner, a light-hearted commentary on “the yachting condition”, chronicling his meteoric rise from total novice to complete incompetent.
The talk will be held at Museum Street Methodist Church, 17 Black Horse Lane, Ipswich. 1930hrs.
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Wed 3rd December, 7.30-9.00pm:
Andy Beharrel – The Shipping Forecast: 100 years old and counting…
Andy was brought up on England’s east coast and has sailed for nearly 60 years on more or less anything that floats, from dinghies to ocean racers. He bought his own boat, Charmary, in 2010 and sailed her round Britain before heading to the Baltic and cruising around Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Finland and Norway. He is a trustee of The Woolverstone Project, which offers sailing in specially adapted boats for people with disabilities.
Talk to be held at Museum St Methodist Church, 17 Black Horse Lane, Ipswich. 1930hrs.
Email events@ipswichmaritimetrust.org.uk for more details.