THREE of Mornington Yacht Club’s four nominations won prizes at the annual Yachting Victoria Awards held at Sandringham Yacht Club, Sunday 19 June.
The awards celebrate sailing in Victoria and recognise the achievements made through various programs and regattas.
Nick Sharman and James Grogan were named Youth Sailors of the Year and selected to represent Australia at December’s World Youth Championships in Auckland.
Congratulations for Female Sailor of the Year Sophie Ciszek. Picture: Supplied
Sophie Ciszek was named Yachting Victoria’s Female Sailor of the Year. This follows her success as a competitor in the 2015-16 All Women’s team in the Volvo Around-the-World Ocean Race.
John Mills, Tanya Lawton and Jason Ettridge won Yachting Victoria’s President’s Award for rescuing three fishermen off Mornington on Saturday 19 March before the day’s racing had begun.
Tanya Lawton, Jason Ettridge and John Mills won Yachting Victoria’s President’s Award for rescuing three fishermen off Mornington. Picture: Supplied
The trio, on the club’s start boat, Retriever, spotted a flare and reached the disabled boat which had sunk to the point where only the tip of the bow was showing and the men were in the water.
Despite a cold southerly wind and big swell, Mills, Lawton and Ettridge managed to haul the fisherman aboard and tie a rope to the stricken boat’s bow. While trained nurse Lawton attended the rescued men, Mills skippered the boat at a walking pace, with the sunken boat in tow, back towards the harbour.
The Coast Guard soon arrived to take over the tow while the cold fishermen were taken to shore.
Mornington CEO Rod Austin said the fishermen’s warm clothes were weighing them down in the water. They could hardly keep their heads above water, and were shocked and exhausted.
While their new boat had all the necessary safety gear, its fibreglass transom had been pulled away by the weight of the outboard and water was rushing in over the stern.
“It could have been a whole lot worse if they [the rescuers] were not there and able to react as they did”, Mr Austin said. “And, when the fishermen were taken care of, the race team, although late, was able to go back out and run the races for that day.”
First published in the Mornington News – 26 July 2016

PARKS Victoria says it has “full confidence in the structural integrity and longevity of Mornington pier” despite losing nine wave screen panels, top deck planking, handrails and a seat in a storm two weeks ago.
The 15 tonne concrete panels were torn from the pier during the Tuesday 12 July storm when 60 knot winds were recorded.
Port Phillip and Westernport chief ranger Reece Taranto said damage was restricted to the wave panels attached to the $18 million pier – not the structure itself.
He said a marine contractor made an early morning assessment the day after the storm and arranged for a barge and crane to be floated in to lift the panels out.
Divers working down below in a “weather window” on Wednesday and Thursday last week hitched the damaged panels to a crane which hoisted them onto semi-trailers to be taken to a Mornington warehouse to be assessed.
“The outer section of the pier is now closed, but members of the public can access the inner section, including the lower landing, as these areas were not damaged, “Mr Taranto said.
“Once the pier has been properly assessed, we will reopen the areas that are safe to use.
“But, until marine engineers have had a chance to assess the damage and determine the best approach to repairs, it will be difficult to put a timeframe on when repairs will be completed.”
Mr Taranto said marine engineers were determining the best approach to strengthening the panels’ structure before the next big blow.
The pier has wave screens on both sides to protect the harbour from storms that have damaged or destroyed moored boats several times since the 1980s.
Despite the high cost of the pier works, the harbour still remains unprotected from storms coming from the north to northeast.
Successive state governments, through Parks Victoria, have spent about $18.5 million on Mornington pier since 2010. The Labor government spent $3.5 million on the middle, 53-metre section in 2010-11.
Repairs to the outer section – closed in August 2010 after a series of storms damaged pylons and dislodged top deck planks – remained unfunded.
In June 2011, The News reported the outer section was in danger of collapsing after engineers found 20 per cent of the old pylons had failed or were about to fail and were not supporting the top deck. About half of the others were in “average condition” and the outer section was “one big storm away” from becoming irreparably damaged.
In May 2012 the Liberal government announced it would spend up to $15 million to replace the outer section. This was the lion’s share of $23 million in local port infrastructure upgrades that year with Mornington MP David Morris garnering plaudits for his lobbying efforts.
Work to replace the outer section started in early 2014 and was supposed to be finished in time for Christmas, but was delayed due to a combination of bad weather (three big storms) and technical problems.
These included reattaching the concrete wave screens using a different, stronger system by divers who could not work in rough weather.
More than 250,000 people visit the pier every year.

Peter Bland presented a talk on his Antarctic and other adventures to about 60 interested members last night.  The slide behind Peter is a powerful picture  of the forces  surrounding the North and South Poles and the ways and means they connect and disperse. The picture portrays the leadership qualities that Peter is seeking in people that are also looking for life's challenges.  

Please excuse the works at the entrance to Mornington Yacht Club.

1. The construction of the Quartermaster Store and Back deck has commenced today. Due to be completed early October.
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2. The Front fence has blown down and needs new and stronger posts.

Apologies for any inconvenience.

All dinghies in the club storage racks and yard need to be identified. Please ensure that yours has your boat name or “Tender to”. Failure to do this may have the dinghy moved to the car park.

This also applies for the engine outboard storage shed.

Thanking you
​MYC Management

​The article that appeared on the MP news 28th June 2016.A shame about the spelling of Sheryl's name but it is a celebratory occasion for Mornington Yacht Club.
Click on link here.

Last week 9 Sections of the pier wall have been dislodged and another 10 will be removed for repairs tomorrow 20 July 2017. Parks Victoria and MYC strongly suggest owners of boats in the Harbour seek safer moorings during the time of these repairs. The next strong front coming through is expected on Friday 22 July.

If you would like to get more involved in your club and be part of the MYC volunteer team during the 2016 - 2017 sailing season  

 MYC is seeking interested members to volunteer in the following areas;

On The Water

• Start Boat and Patrol Boat Duties either as driver, laying race marks or starting/finishing races. (Saturdays and some Sundays )

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At the Clubhouse   Thursday, Saturday and some Sundays

• Race Tower -  Race observations , Start and Finishing Club starts
• Race Results - Learning to process results through our software system.
• Race Radio - communications to those on water. Radio Licence required

• BBQ - A wonderful fundraiser for the club feeding the hungry sailors.
• Sailability assistance - Wed, Fri or Sun.

No Experience necessary on all of the above as the club would assist in you obtaining the necessary qualification and licences.

 Please contact Rod on ceo@morningtonyc.net.au or by phone 59757001 or 0477522750 to register

Peter is the first Australian to have adventured to both the North and South Magnetic Poles.
He completed his expedition to the North Magnetic Pole, hauling a sled 700km across the frozen Arctic Sea, 12 months after undergoing his second bout of major heart surgery.
He has survived being taken by an avalanche in Antarctica and falling the equivalent of 14 storeys of an office building where he lay for 3 days.
Following his trips to the wilderness, Peter went on to raise more than $14million for Australian Charities and produced 3 TV documentaries. His biography "A Step Too Far" when released by Pan Macmillan became an instant best seller.
Peter founded The Leadership Group in 2002 to teach others the lessons he had learned from his expeditions to the poles and years of skippering yachts leading both novices and experienced sailors to cross the Pacific, Atlantic & Southern Oceans, South China, Mediterranean, Japanese and Irish Seas. 
In 2014, Peter led the world's first philanthropic Indigenous expedition to  Antarctica, 'Outback to Icecap.’
 
See Channel 7 Today show story here

This year is the centenary of the famed Endurance Expedition of Sir Ernest Shackleton 1913-1916

Peter is heading back down to Antarctica in March 2017 and is taking others from his yacht club QCYC and others who are keen to learn about Shackleton’s style of leadership and are open to being taught how to repeat the actions Shackleton took to survive including ice climbing, snow shoeing, kayaking and sleeping in an igloo in Antarctica.

Peter will be speaking of his journeys to the North and South Magnetic poles
Crossing the Antarctic Peninsula and the forth coming expedition to Antarctica of which Mornington Yacht Club members are welcome to apply

More details at www.leadershipgroup.com.au   

RSVP sarah@morningtonyc.net.au or 5975 7001

Hi folks,  

My name is Pam Jones, many of you may know me already, for those that don't, I have been a Mornington Yacht club member for over 10yrs.  I sail on a Thursday and Saturday with Keith Ross.  I am a nurse at Frankston Hospital and have worked there for over 25yrs and grew up on the Peninsula.

Today I'd like to ask for your help.  In October, I will be heading to Yogyakarta, Indonesia to take part in something called Rock the House.  This is a collaboration between the 80's rock band, The Baby Animals, specifically their lead singer, Suze DeMarchi, and Habitat for Humanity.

The task is to build 25 houses for a local village, in 1 week,  300 volunteers are being recruited.   Each volunteer needs to fund raise a minimum of $1500 to contribute to the build.  All other costs, airfare and land content are paid for by the volunteers themselves.

Each volunteer has their own fund raising web page, and the link to mine is below.  Any donations are tax deductible.  

I'd be very grateful for any donations to this worthy cause.

Very Kind Regards
Pam Jones
http://support.habitat.org.au/Pamjones

To the MYC,
We leave tomorrow to Italy for the 420 World Championships in San Remo. We just wish to say thank you for all the support and good wishes to date. We are also proud to announce we have formed a relationship with Hart Marine, Australia's leading boat building company. We look forward to building our partnership with them (see photos below).

We are excited to be off to our first big International Regatta, we hope this will be the first of many and that we come home to have learnt a lot.
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To follow our journey in Italy like LOL Yachting on facebook!
Sophie & Ella

​We are currently working on the new season's Yearbook & Diary - if you have changed your contact or boat details in the last year please can you let the office know if you haven't already - thank you!

Dear Boat Owners,

Below are a couple of links to the forms which are required to be lodged with the office ASAP to ensure that your boat is registered with the club.   Both forms apply to all boat owners, specifically those that store boat's in the yard.  

Thank you very much for your co-operation.

Boast Registration Form 2016/17 season
Insurance Declaration Form 2016/17 season

Hi to all at MYC,  

We have been out of contact at Litchfield National Park in Northern Territory....... heavenly!
Congratulations to Sheryl Schumacher on being elected as our first female commodore, we wish her and the elected committee all the best and look forward to  a great year of sailing and social activities for the club.
We are currently at Kununurra and about to head off on a cruise down the famous Ord River -  then top it off with sunset on Lake Argyle.
Best wishes to everyone,
Di and Russ Kemp       (photo included of sunset on Darwin Harbour)