Nigel Calder to headline SSCA Chesapeake Bay GAM

Chesapeake Bay GAM 2023 © SSCA

The 2025 GAM/seminar by Seven Seas Cruising Association (SSCA) is set for September 26-28, 2025 at the Maryland Yacht Club in Pasadena, MD, a week before the Annapolis Powerboat Show and two weeks before the Annapolis Sailboat Show.

The GAM keynote speaker will be Nigel Calder, wizard of boat mechanics and electronics, and author of the essential "Boatowner's Mechanical and Electrical Manual, the Guide to Fixing Everything on Your Boat." Other speakers include marine weather expert Chris Parker, boat broker Curtis Stokes, and representatives (and some principals) of Aquamap, PredictWind, and Landfall Navigation.

The three days have something for every boater, cruiser or want to be cruising boater. From the pre-Gam CCA's "Safety for Cruising Couples" and AHA CPR/AED/First Aid Courses, to the day and a half of seminars from electronics to sails to engines, there is something for everyone. Learn from the seminars and offline chatting with the speakers, find new and old cruising friends. Anchor out or get a slip, use the dinghy dock area, and MYC marina facilities. Join in with potlucks and great MYC food service, your choice! The event serves cruisers preparing for the next level of their skills and members catching up with each other.

GAM is a name to describe one whaling ship paying a social visit to another at sea. SSCA goes beyond just the social aspect at sea to address navigation, weather, medical, safety, cooking, exercise, maintenance and more cruiser concerns.

Noted marine medical expert Dr. Bill White will address preparation for concerns afloat. Commercial safety expert Eric Knott will address risk assessment in safety planning. There will be flare, life raft, DSC radio and other demos. See the full speaker list for the event at SSCA.org.

The GAM program runs from Friday evening through Sunday midday. For 2025, there will be pre-GAM options on Friday for the Safety for Cruising Couples training program from Cruising Club of America (nearly full day) and the American Heart Association CPR/AED/ First Aid certificate course separately Friday afternoon.

Maryland Yacht Club is offering a significant discount on dockage - see the SSCA.org event page. There is good anchorage and there is parking even for RV/land yachts.

There will be a special focus on opportunities for groups to gather casually to exchange experience about areas of special interest including the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway, the Bahamas, Eastern Caribbean, Panama, French Polynesia and Costa Rica. Find details and registration here.

Book dockage for Maryland Yacht Club on Dockwa. Use code SSCA2025 for 27% discounts to all of MDYC rates published on mdyc.org/transients. This brings the daily rate to $2/ft/night and $1.46/ft/night if you book 7 or more nights.

See video from 2023 GAM at Maryland Yacht Club:

View the GAM Agenda