Saturday Racing Report Xmas and New Year 2020

Its been a few weeks since the last Saturday racing report. Tuesday tattler has been in recess and I have been on a break with Lisa. During that time, we have had 3 weekends of sailing scheduled around Christmas, New Year and the 420 Nationals. So, I think to kick the year off I will combine all my observations over that time into a single report and get back on schedule next week.

Saturday 21  December
 It seems a while ago now, but we did have racing scheduled on the last shopping weekend before Christmas. Lisa reminded me that clearly men are responsible for putting  the sailing calendar together, as no woman has time to sail at this time of year. My response was that as men we don’t need to start Christmas shopping until Christmas eve at the earliest ! Thankfully for everyone’s sake another Saturday gale stopped any racing plans, and all those desperate for a sail retired to the deck. Just as we were all about to pass on our final Christmas wishes to each other, Ant Creed noticed something in the water out past the pier. We all put our beers down and concentrated our attention and then it became clear there were 2 swimmers out near the start line in large seas whipped up by the southerly and they were in trouble! Fortunately, a duck was in the water and Lisa  was quick to get to Graeme Alexander and Cam McKenzie out on the water and into rescue mode. The 2 swimmers were rescued just in time as a few minutes longer and it could well have been a different situation entirely.


Saturday 28 December
A good fleet of 13 boats turned out for an aggregate series race, in what turned out to be great sailing conditions. 15 knots at the start built quickly to 20 knots of breeze. The smaller boats in the fleet were on the limit of their large sails and looking to de-power. Our fill in crew member was feeling the strain after the race from winching the No.1 in all day. Some shifty ESE winds on the way home made the beat to the finish challenging, seeing a few positional changes in Division 3.
Well done to Obsession in Division 1 taking line and handicap honors. YT2 doing the same in Division 2. Division 3 saw Dark Side of the Moon get line honors and Mixed Nuts picking up handicap honors.


Saturday 11 January
After the 420s had moved on from MYC it was back to some club racing in the combined series with SBSC and MCYS.  25 knots of breeze and big seas greeted those planning the trip south to the middle course.  Unfortunately, the trip down took its toll before racing even started with several boats deciding the conditions in the harbour were far more preferable to those on the way to the Mt Martha.  Well done to the 7 determined boats and crews that made it to the start line. The MYC boats were joined by 6 MCYS / SBSC boats and racing got underway in what tuned out to be a very quick days racing with most boats completing the course in under 1 ½ hours.  Grant Chipperfield in Joker on Tour from MCYS took the handicap honors in the combined series with MYC boat Morticia coming home in 2nd position on handicap. Whilst those out racing had their hands full, those that had retired to the deck were also kept busy with, yet another rescue required. This time a club RIB had run out of fuel.  Hysport was quickly launched by Geoff Heard, Ant Creed , John Underwood and Tim O’Grady. The rescue was completed much to the excitement of the students who thought it was all part of the tackers program.

Just goes to show that my mother was wrong. She always said nothing good could possibly come from hanging around on the club deck drinking beer. 2 rescues completed and barely a drop of beer spilt.

Dear Members,

The members lounge and function room will be closed from 3pm onwards on Sunday 5th January 2020 due to a private event. You are still more than welcome to come down as there will be a marquee set up in the yard with a bar in place of the usual club room for members.

Thank you for your understanding for this one off event,
MYC Office

The Sailing Instructions for the 2020 420 National and Open Championships have now been released.

Click here for the link to the Sailing Instructions or head over to Regatta HQ.

The MYC board, after much consideration, has made a decision to repair our Slipway to become operational again and to establish an ongoing maintenance program within our budget restraints.

The establishment of the Slipway sub-committee, some 12 months ago, was to investigate and review all options and also to consider the member submissions.   70% of the 21 submissions received favoured exploration of all viable repair options. This task was completed by the sub-committee and recommendations were put to the board on 15th October 2019 and the following motion passed;
 
"To undertake sufficient works that will enable the slipway to become operational and maintained for safe use with feasible funding.
The design and plan for these repairs have been endorsed by a structural engineer providing the posts are free from excessive deterioration.
Works to be undertaken by a qualified contractor following a report on the condition of the posts by the diver and acceptance by engineer.
The operation of the slipway will follow strict protocols to ensure the safety of people in proximity to the slipway.
The maintenance of the slipway is a legal condition of our lease and is considered a requirement for the club to maintain its rights to that seabed section of our lease. This is to ensure any future strategy vision proposed for this area, for development by the club, is possible."
 
All posts have been inspected and reported on by AEG Divers and Industrial Divers and both teams have confirmed the posts that require immediate repair.

Advice has also been obtained from Bryan Clague structural engineer (retired) and diver. A  MYC member from 2000 to 2016, involved in previous maintenance of slipway.  His advice will be incorporated in the repair process.

The repair method has been approved by JV Consulting Engineers for the use of galvanized steel and epoxy painted beams in place of timber crossheads to avoid "Teredo Worm" attack. The cost of initial repair work estimate $10K-$12K. The estimated loss of annual revenue attributable to Slipway closure is approximately $32K.

Unfortunately large amounts of funding this year has been taken up with essential building repairs and a lift replacement which is essential for the use of people with disabilities in order to access our club rooms and patronise the Rocks Restaurant.

At the forum we held in regards to the state of the slipway a number of members pledged $1,000 to underwrite the necessary repairs. We now ask for donations of $750 in accordance with the pledges expressed at that meeting.

Please find attached a document asking members in particular keel boat owners to lodge a donation to assist in this essential work and help our club meet our slipway maintenance obligations.

All donations paid to the MYC Foundation for this project are tax deductable.

There are 3 ways that donation's can be made:

• Directly on the ASF website- Mornington Yacht Club Slipway Maintenance Project (see link below)
  
• By mail to the ASF (see donation form link below)
  
• By having the office submit the donation to the ASF (pls complete donation form)
  

Regards
Greg Martin
Commodore

BEING A CLUB MEMBER
Firstly, what is a Club?   The dictionary definition of a Club is:
 
“An association dedicated to a particular interest or activity whose members participate in the activity but also contribute to the running of the activities”
 
Mornington Yacht Club has as its main objective sailing in a variety of forms - from Learn to Sail, through to racing in the iconic Sydney to Hobart Race.
 
Our Club is organised into many areas, some requiring staff, others relying totally on members to volunteer their time to make things happen. Our staff, from the cleaner to the Club Manager ensure the important day to day routine tasks of running our Organisation are successfully undertaken.
 
The Board of Directors and the Finance Committee - who are all volunteers - plan and execute what has to be done to ensure our Club is well managed on a day to day basis and is structured to enable survival into the future.
 
There are several volunteer groups within the Club, but one such group is the ‘TAG’ team who carry out minor maintenance around the Club every Thursday morning - with their number one job being to empty the wheelie bins.
 
So, who manages all the sailing activities?

• The Sailing Committee, the Race Committee and the Training and Development Committee, all of whom are volunteers who plan and ensure that all sailing, racing and training take place in a safe and friendly manner.

But who does the week to week running of these sailing activities?

• Volunteers, Race Officers, the Race Crew, on the water and in the Tower.
•  On Saturdays there are currently just two dedicated volunteers who conduct racing on the water.
• There are 10 dedicated volunteers rostered to man the Tower and the Race Office every Thursday and Saturday to do a variety of jobs from Race Management, competitor safety (both on and off the water) through to race results.
• Sunday racing sees a few more volunteers ensuring racing takes place - some of whom are parents of the juniors just starting out in our sport. 
• To lay courses on the water, there are people required to take out boats, position and move buoys as required.

For Saturday races, help from the membership is required as it is just not possible for the two dedicated Race Officers on board Retriever to lay buoys to setup a course. This help is once again derived from our volunteer base and they become known as the ‘Duty Boat Crew’ – a crew that becomes part of the Race Management team and is rostered on each week to help on the water.
 
Have you been rostered to participate as the Duty Boat Crew?

• So far this season there have been 7 Saturdays requiring a Duty Boat Crew but only 3 boats have provided a crew and showed up to help out.

Being a Club member at MYC means volunteering when duty calls. You are usually only required once every two years, but our Club needs you to help keep the place working.
 
We hear a lot of members giving the excuse “but I only sail on Thursdays so why should I have to help on Saturdays?  Remember, the Tower is run by dedicated VOLUNTEERS on Thursday as well.
 
Our Club has been very soft on volunteering. Unfortunately, there is too much left to too few. It’s not hard to give up a few hours every two years to be part of the running of our Club.
 
Our Club is not just the Board or the sub Committees….
 
….it’s ALL OF US!!
 
Greg Martin, Commodore and Bill Bennett, Rear Commodore