Open Awards

Founded and endowed by Mr Meredith Fitzwalker Wren in 1949 for an act or acts of outstanding seamanship. It is awarded to yachtsmen or women of any nationality by a Judge or Judges appointed by the Committee of the Royal Cruising Club for the purpose.

The Royal Cruising Club Medal for Seamanship 2021 The Medal for Seamanship was awarded to Guirec Soudée who at the age of 21 set out on a four-year 45,000 mile voyage. In the Canaries, he was joined by a chicken called Monique which became his companion for the rest of the voyage. Their journey in Yvinic, a 11.8m steel cutter took them from France to the Carribean and then to Greenland where he overwintered before continuing his voyage through the North West Passage. He then went down the Pacific, round Cape Horn before returning home to Brittany via Cape Town and the Carribean. Icebergs in the North-West Passage and massive seas encountered in his four ocean crossings provided many severe tests of seamanship. Nick Chavasse Vice Commodore

This medal is awarded in memory of Bill Tilman, an RCC member who delighted in combining cruising in high latitudes with mountaineering. It is awarded by the Committee of the Royal Cruising Club for an outstanding voyage in Arctic or Antarctic waters or in other remote places in high latitudes. The Committee takes into account objectives and achievements of exploration and of mountaineering.

This medal was founded in memory of Jocelyn Swann and can be awarded by the Committee of the Royal Cruising Club to any person, club, corporate body or company who, in the opinion of the Committee, has rendered outstanding services to yacht cruising.

The Medal for Services to Cruising was founded in memory of Jocelyn Swann for rendering outstanding services to yacht cruising. The Ocean Cruising Club provided exceptional services to cruising yachtsmen during the COVID 19 pandemic. There was early recognition of the mayhem caused by the pandemic to the cruising community around the world. Many cruising yachtsmen found themselves and their yachts trapped in places they did not expect to be, at the wrong time of the year, and with tropical storms threatening for which they were not insured. The Ocean Cruising Club rapidly became a trusted centralised source of information concerning border restrictions for recreational craft. Communications platforms were established to provide the wider cruising community, including non-members, with advice, support and practical help for hundreds of yachts, faced with challenges of unplanned ocean passages. This initiative was a major factor in helping coordinate support for two yachts which were dismasted, one hit by lightning and the rescue of a yachtsman when his yacht sank, after an unfortunate collision with a whale. The Medal for Services to Cruising is awarded to The Ocean Cruising Club.