CAMDEN — The Camden Yacht Club invites the public to five free Wednesday evening Sunset Seminars in July and August. The topics of these one-hour presentations range from local to global, and they are all related to boating and the sea. Each program will start at 7 p.m. and will include time for questions and answers:

July 10: Atlantic Circuit: A family adventure. Camden native and former CYC member Jamie Van Alstine and his wife Jill Peacock, who hails from Saint John, New Brunswick, will recount their 2023-2024 Atlantic circuit with their two children, Based in the United Kingdom, the family has sailed “home” in their Chuck Paine-designed Bowman, Cupid, to show the girls their parents’ childhood sailing grounds this summer. Having sailed over 8000 miles in the past year, the couple will chart their journey from the UK to Maine via the Canary Islands, Cape Verde, and the Caribbean.

July 17:  Measured Justice: The America’s Cup and the Ocean Race are the world's most expensive and seriously contested sailing competitions. Nick Nicholson has served as chief measurer for the America’s Cup and SailGP, and as measurer for The Ocean Race, reining in the hyper-competitive instincts of billionaires, corporate CEOs, and legions of yacht designers and professional sailors. Nick will reflect on these challenges (he’s currently involved in his 11th America’s Cup), drawing on his background as a boat builder, circumnavigator, writer, and editor.

July 24: Rozalia Project: Cleaning ocean waters in the Gulf of Maine and beyond! Rozalia Project Executive Director Ashley Sullivan and the team at this Vermont and Maine-based ocean-protection nonprofit are at the leading edge of marine debris and microplastic research, data-driven cleanups, solution development, and solution implementation. Sullivan will share Rozalia Project’s work aboard the 60-foot cutter American Promise, including removing lost, abandoned, and derelict fishing gear from remote islands along the Maine coast. She will leave the audience with actions everyone can take to protect our one big ocean in Camden and beyond.

July 31: Lighting the Way: Restoring the Curtis Island Light Station

Camden resident Michael Skaling will describe plans for the historic restoration of the Curtis Island Light Station. The Curtis Island Lighthouse Foundation and the Town of Camden aim to return the structure to its original historic design from the early 1900s when it was a fully operating Coast Guard lighthouse. Skaling will review the station’s history, share initial findings of a detailed assessment of the lighthouse, detail plans for restoration and fundraising over the next three to five years, and explain how this project will preserve Curtis Island for the next 100 years as a favorite destination for locals and visitors.

August 28: In Slocum’s Wake: 30 Favorite stops along the trans-global Coconut Milk Run 

Nat Warren-White, author of In Slocum’s Wake, will share photos and highlights of his five-year circumnavigation exploring the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans aboard his sloop, Bahati. He will take the audience from the San Blas Islands off Panama to the Galapagos, French Polynesia, the Cook Islands, Indonesia, Thailand, Mauritius, Reunion, South Africa, St Helena, and Ascension, and the Caribbean on the small island of Bequia. In Slocum’s Wake compares Warren-White’s expedition with that of Joshua Slocum, the first person to sail alone around the world.

The seminars are free and open to the public. For more details, visit https://www.camdenyachtclub.org/sunset-seminars.

The Yacht Club, at 68 Bay View Street in Camden, hosts the nonprofit Camden Area Youth Seamanship Program (CAYSP), which serves area youth regardless of their ability to pay. Donations for CAYSP scholarships will be welcomed at the seminars or on the club’s website.