Julian Dussek takes the helm at the Cruising Association
by Peta Stuart-Hunt 6 Dec 2018 11:08 GMT
The Cruising Association (CA) has a new President, Julian Dussek. At last month's AGM, Judith Grimwade stepped down as President after serving three years, and the CA welcomed Julian Dussek, new Vice Presidents and a new Council member. The CA has also appointed Marie Ross as its new Company Secretary.
Julian Dussek had previously served on Council and as a Vice President. In addition, and as a member of the Cruising Information Development Group (CIDG), he was heavily involved in the development of the CA's popular Cruising App, CAptain's Mate. He frequently lectures on behalf of the CA and has recently started to produce a video series for members who aren't able to attend the CA's London lectures.
He says his love of sailing was inspired by 'Swallows and Amazons'. Although he sailed a variety of boats owned by his father, he yearned for his own boat. For ten years prior to retirement Julian and his wife, Vanessa, sailed a Drascombe Longboat Cruiser, "all over the place". They then bought a Southerly 115 which they took down the French inland waterways to the Med where they spent six years, getting down to the bottom of Greece and up the Adriatic to Venice. They came back through the inland waterways to Calais, spent another year in the Channel and are now based in Holland.
Julian commented: "Before retirement I was a consultant cardiothoracic surgeon and became President of their society. I was also on various European boards and councils and consequently gained considerable experience in dealing with the government and the media. I hope that my varied sailing life combined with my professional experience will help with leading the CA into the future."
When asked if there was anything that he would particularly like to achieve, Julian responded: "In addition to everything that is already happening, I want to focus on us achieving a greater 'outreach' for the CA; maybe we can achieve this partly by holding more events and seminars outside central London. For example, our recently held North-West Roadshow at Ellesmere Port was a great success. We also want to further develop our event video capabilities."
Full list of those elected to the CA Council:
President: Julian Dussek
Vice President: Alison Hadley
Vice President: Andrew Osmond
Vice President: Derek Lumb
Council: Caroline Milmo
Council: Ken Munn
Council: Keith Pettican
Council: Ivan Andrews
Hon. Treasurer: Richard Sherwood
Hon. Solicitor: Peter Gray