MYC Member Kris Oakley is looking for a 1st Year Apprentice Marine Mechanic/Technician.
Please click here for Job Description and contact details if you are interested or know someone who is.

The General Committee has approved concreting the hardstand area at the back of the yard. This task will replace current gravel areas and remove broken up concrete. Drainage will substantially be improved.  Works will commence from Thursday the 16th of November and are expected to take 10 days to complete. We will need to move specific trailer sailor yachts and we will be in contact with respective owners as required. The works are an important precursor to making better utilization of the space available ensuring the yard works more efficiently in the future.   

We are also making good progress on providing a more secure undercover area  for kayaks with many of these craft in future being stored between the rib and Sailability area with separate access. 

On completion of the kayak storage area works will commence on expanding the female change room. 

We had a very creative and fun afternoon on Friday doing the first abstract painting workshop at the club.   Everyone was able to take home their own painting to display with pride .
 Another session is scheduled for Friday 25 November, book now to enjoy this time to explore and express your creativity with Catherine Lawlor. 👩‍🎨👩‍🎨👩‍🎨

We are pleased to advise that “Sail Peninsula 2023” is now open for entry - just click on the link below.
Make sure you clear your weekend over February 24-26 next year & let’s get ready for some more great sailing, delicious food and an awesome entertainment line-up.
Here is a little reminder of what to expect - https://vimeo.com/673016325
 
To Enter please  CLICK HERE and the Notice of Race is available HERE 
 
As more information please check out the SP2023 website  or the Sail Peninsula Facebook Page
 
Sail Peninsula has “something for everyone” and we look forward to seeing you there.

Join an Abstract Painting Workshop held over 2 weeks with popular Peninsula Artist and MYC member Catherine Lawlor. 
Immerse yourself in creating that abstract painting for your home using bold vibrant colours.
A fun workshop enjoying the freedom of creativity and expression . 
All materials supplied .
A great artistic experience to be had with this highly experienced tutor and exhibiting artist .
Catherine also won Best Contemporary Painting at the most recent Rotary Exhibition in Mornington! 
Dates - Friday November 11
Friday November 25
2-30pm -4-30 pm
Cost $100 per class or $150 for 2 classes 
Book here: catherine.lawlor@hotmail.com

CELEBRATE WITH US AT FOS2023

We are excited to celebrate the major milestone of our 180th iconic Melbourne to Geelong Passage Race during the Festival of Sails 2023.

The Passage Race attracts boats and yachts of all classes, taking to the waters of Port Phillip Bay for the opening challenge of the four-day regatta, which will run from Thursday, January 26 to Sunday, January 29, 2023.

According to incoming Festival of Sails Chairman Paul Buchholz, the proudly Geelong-based event is a firm favourite with sailors from all over Australia, and he expects the opportunity to be part of the 180th anniversary celebrations will be even more of a reason to head to Corio Bay this January. 

“You can’t deny the importance of any event hitting such a momentous milestone and we are incredibly proud of how the Festival of Sails showcases not only the best of competitive sailing, but also the very best of Geelong and our region,” Paul said. 

“After more than two years of waves of Covid-related restrictions and interruptions to businesses and events, we think the 180th anniversary is a pretty good reason to celebrate, and we’ll be inviting everyone to join us!"


READ MORE ON THE BLOG!
ENTER FOS2023 HERE

Like most of us Simon and Amy are pretty emotionally invested in their yacht and had been looking forward to racing and cruising with their friends this season.

I don’t think we have ended up with a yacht so far beyond Shire Beach along the rocks. The retrieval was a difficult operation not only from an lifting perspective but also with getting authorization to travel over the rocks given environmental and heritage concerns. We learnt a few handy methods to expedite this if we need to in the future. 

As it emerged fortunately Goldfinger is in relatively good shape and we are particularly pleased that Hart Marine will be undertaking the repair work. 

Many of our members including marine contractors dropped their plans for Friday and Sunday to help. A sincere thankyou to all. 

We look forward to the return of Goldfinger to Mornington and wish Simon and Amy some restful nights ahead and great sailing adventures later in the season.  

Andrew Young, Commodore

A light hearted report by Peter Green, Remedy M2

This year’s race has been run and won by Zippier, but not after considerable drama and Race Rule Protests.

The Confusion Cup Race:   Mornington to Williamstown started at 6am.
The lead into the Williamstown to Mornington Race at 10am.

Remedy M2 and Zippier the only starters.

30 knot Westerly winds , large breaking seas, allowed cracked sheets and a wet and sometimes wild trip.

Remedy taking around 3 hours and Zippier an incredible 1 hour 10 minutes the new and never to be broken race record.

Subsequent Protests in confusion after the finish at Williamstown, Zippier lodged several protests against themselves and are as follows:

• Rule 28.1 Sailing a Proper Course:   Failed to keep the West Gate Bridge to Starboard and in fact rounded to Port.
  
• Rule 48.2 Limits on Equipment and Crew: Safety of boat and crew safety issue. No Boom. always Exceeding a safe speed.
  
• Rule 41 Outside Help:  That Boom issue not on the boat at start time and sailed entire race with no boom only set on the boat after finishing.
  
• Rule 42.1 Propulsion : Used motorised power.
  

All protests were dismissed and considered out of hand.  The race results stand.

Well done Zippier up and back line honours.

Zippier finish time of one hour ten minutes a record, will never be broken.

Peter Green, Remedy M2

It was Tuesday afternoon, and the ORCV had just announced that the Melbourne to Devonport race we had entered, was cancelled. We were shattered!  All our hard work preparing boats, watching weather models and preparing for a ripper reach/run to Devenpoprt was in vain.

I jumped onto the computer to see what the upcoming race at MYC would be;  Williamstown to Mornington. Okay, this could be good if the predicted weather prevailed. It was a similar bearing to the finish as the Devonport. Yes, we are on!  I entered the race and started to put the crew together; myself, Dad (Tony Donnellan), Mick Daddo, Shaun Miles, Tristan Batey and Samual Savage.

Next step, lock in a driver to bring the car and trailer back from Williamstown. It was all starting to fall into place by Wednesday afternoon and with 20-25 knots from the west it was going to be a ripper ride.
I studied the weather models and course bearings, made my notes and was ready for the ride to come. We had a crew meeting at the yacht club post Thursday night race, we had been two minutes late to the start of that race, so I had to get my A game on!

We decided if the weather was going to be fair Friday morning we would sail to Williamstown.
Friday morning at MYC, it was blowing 35 knots from the North West and the seaway rolling into Mornington Harbour was straight out of the Northwest. ‘Goldfinger’ was on the rocks. This was a bad idea…Feeling sad for Simon, I offered as much help  as I could.

The decision was quickly made to drop the rig and drive the boat to Williamstown. We got halfway through the process – boom and sheets were taken off and put aside in the yard. The boat was packed and now all we needed to do was to lower the rig. It was still blowing 30knots. It didn't feel like a good idea, so called Dad for his help and thoughts on how to lower the rig safely  – after all, we didn’t need to damage another boat today.  The silence on the phone answered my question, it wasn’t going to happen today.

We changed plans and started doing a few maintenance jobs, then the rain came down; heavier and heavier by the minute. We conceded to the weather thinking it's just not going to happen. Do we pull the pin on the race? We just haven't had a thing go our way this week. Maybe it was a sign, the question was, do I listen?  So on that thought we went to the bar. It was Friday afternoon and what better place to watch the weather roll in than the MYC bar.

We decided to meet at the club at 5 am and have another crack at lowering the mast. After all, the rest of the boat was packed up.  But the battle to get to the start line was far from over! That night, Dad wanted to pull the pin, Mick wasn't sure he could sail – it was all seeming too difficult. I  was shattered. All I wanted to do was sail a fast yacht race. It seemed to be over until Mick confirmed his crew position. Dad then committed and we were on!  Happy days!  I went to bed early. I wanted to be prepared.

At 4 am Saturday morning I jumped out of bed, determined to make it to the start line. I didn’t even care how we went in the race, I just wanted to go fast.  We arrived at the yacht club at 5 am. Dad was still in bed, it was Shaun, Sam, myself and 22 knots from the west. This is going to be risky, we moved the boat into the lee of the club room and took our care to lower the rig. Success! No damage. We can still go sailing. We loaded the rest of the gear into the boat and picked up Dad.  We were Williamstown bound. 

Arriving slightly before seven, we had re-rigged and run sheets. We were almost ready to go…until Shaun asked ‘Tim, where is the boom?’  I thought it was all over…again! My heart sank, I knew exactly where it was. The same place it was taken off the boat before the rain – in the yard near the etchells.
I couldn’t bear the thought of Dad's disappointment, so I unhitched the trailer and headed for MYC as fast as I could.

I called friends, yacht club members, anyone that could help. Laurie to the rescue! He dropped everything he was doing and went straight to the club. He found our misplaced boom and organised a boom delivery man aka Pieter Vermeer.  I was to meet them halfway at Dandenong Rd and had 40 minutes to get back to the boat and make the start line. We were back on again. I love it when a plan comes together.

The boys put the boat in the water with another car. Teamwork makes the dream work. By the time I got back it was boom on and off to the start line. We hoisted the sails and started on a reach!  Dad said ‘this is going to be a slow ride, we were doing 12 knots out of the channel and hadn't pulled the sails on yet! The joy was just starting to set in.  After two postponed starts we were off. A great decision by Mick and Dad to start at the pin end away from the rest of the fleet had us in control.

With each gust, we accelerated away from the competition, boat length by boat length. I couldn’t believe how fast this boat was! It was completely unexpected given the size of the other boats. We were in the lead, headed for R2 with 20 knots of wind still building, thinking ‘this is going to be a good ride’!

As we rounded R2, headed for the Spoil Ground mark we were nearly beating upwind. I thought ‘this is going to be uncomfortable’.  As we composed ourselves and prepared the boat for some upwind work, the rest of the fleet kept sailing on towards Mornington. Tristan piped up and asked if I knew about the new change of course in the sailing instructions, to which I replied ‘What new mark?!!’ So we beared away and started navigating from the front, trying to maintain the lead while figuring out where the next mark was based on the angle of the boats behind us.

Navionics and a quick check of the sailing instructions gave us  a new bearing.  Time to send it again! As the squalls came through and the seaway built we started surfing wave after wave, planing all the way to Mornington. We were averaging 13-14 knots of boat speed, even hitting 16.7 knots, and jumping off the back of waves.

The boat was a beast! Dad was reading out speed numbers and I was chasing the next wave but the boat was comfortable and in control. We had Mornington in our sights and in no time we were there.
We had done it! Line honours and a handicap win – I was ecstatic! The boys couldn't wait to get to the bar and start the stories. Adrenaline still pumping, I sat on the boat for a moment to reflect. It was worth all the hard work and tears. It was our determination to get to the start line that won us the race.
 
Thanks to Mornington Yacht Club and Royal Yacht Club of Victoria race officials,  Laurie, boom delivery man Pieter Vemeer, Dad, Mick, Shaun and Sam.

Tim Donnellan
Zippier Skipper

MYC member Craig Poynder is current in Aswan in Egypt and got the chance to sail on an Egyptian Felucca yacht at sunset on the Nile River and wanted to share some beautiful photo's with the club!

GRAEME LYELL LIFE MEMBERSHIP
 
Graeme joined MYC in the early 2002 and crewed aboard “Gilt Edge” for 4 years, a Nolex 25 owned and skippered by well-known member Geoff Hancock.

Following his retirement from business in 2006, Graeme joined MYC Sailability as a volunteer under the leadership Colin Smith, a well-known sailing identity in Victoria and club member.  He quickly slotted in to the Wednesday volunteer group and assisted in the Sunday sailing program.

In 2009 Graeme took over MicK Daddo’s  co-ordinator role and Mick’s position as representative for MYC Sailability on the Sailability Victoria committee and served on that committee for 4years.  Graeme developed the co-ordinator’s role into a full blown administrative position. His working life was in IT and with the help of Noel Heyes who took on the day leadership role for all our programs, he enthusiastically moved to bring MYC-S into a far more controlled environment by creating a Sailability Manual comprising every working facet of our programs. This is a serious body of work and includes State government disability requirements, OHS requirements for our clients and volunteers. It was followed with detailed day sheets covering everything that happens in our daily programs, running sheets for safety control our clients on water and ashore, to roster sheets for each of our 40+ volunteers.

Graeme's diligence and attention to detail is second to none and has now built MYC-S into arguably the best program in the State and in the top echelon on the National stage.

Now due to health reasons, he needs to take on a less onerous role resulting in moving our administration into the MYC office rather than have Graeme carrying the full load.  Graeme has always been actively involved over the last decade in our not-for-profit and corporate fund raising and has a significant amount of money in the process.

In recognition of all he has done to make MYC-S the force it is today, the Sailability committee last year created the GRAEME LYELL PERPETUAL TROPHY to be awarded to “The Volunteer of the Year” across all our programs. We have also named one of Hansa yachts “Graeme Lyell” in recognition of his service to MYC-S.

It is impossible to imagine MYC-S without thinking of Graeme and the incredible work he has done over the last seventeen years in Sailability. His work ethic and care for all who are in our organisation and for all our clients who come sailing with us, now numbering over 100 people who have enjoyed at least one program of sailing with us, has set the standard for us all to follow.