April 2013 Bilge

March 2013 Bilge

Wet Wet Wet

I thought this might be worth circulating from our Vice Commodore..  He does put things in perspective, especially the second consideation:

"Too many variables and no obvious solutions so my feeling is we err on the side of prudence. Racing should be canceled today and the Sprints postponed to another day if possible.
Considerations:
Bill doesn't have to put out the caravan in a gale.
John doesn't have to put out marks in a gale.
Silly buggers who's mothers didn't teach em to stay in out of a Gale are saved from themselves.
We can wait for a better day and try again.
And finally, it will give everyone something to talk and complain about in the bar this arvo, and I won't be there to cop it!
Cheers,
R"

Certaily has been inclement both today and last Saturday, fortunately the Wednesdays have been pretty good.

We are still looking for volunteers for the Bar.   Please get in touch with Debbie or Bill if you would like some more information.

Iin the meantime, visit our sponsors and tell then that you heard about them here!!!

February 'Bilge

HERE IT IS

Board Meeting held 21st of January

We reluctantly received the resignation of Mike Wheatley, our Honarary Treasurer from our Board and welcome Ann Evans who will pick up the reins from him.  Ann is a practicing accountant and is keen to get cracking right away.

On the subject of accounts, we are reliant on the income from our Social gatherings to keep the money flowing in and to this end we would like to see more members, especially sailors at our Friday night BBQ's.   These are good fun, bring your own something to cook on the BBQ or the microwave, salad or sweets to share and come along and enjoy the sunset and good company from our Spinnaker Room.    All over by 9.30 or so and good times are had by all.

I have sent out a copy of an email received from Peter Chappelow regarding another proposed extension to the Soldiers Point Marina so that all members are aware of what is going on in that regard.

Jack Holman Day

Bob brandishing his trophy, A very popular win!Was a great success  by all accounts. Around 26 yachts took part with a fleet of Bic Trainers from the Sailing Club contested several short races in front ot the Caravan   the popular winner on the day was Bob Naftel, no doubt spurred on by the support of a large number of his pupils from the Sailing Club cheering him on from the starters Carava.   Bob's health has not been the best lately and it was really good to see him succeed.

He has been a great supporter of the Juniors in the Acquatic Club and has been a wonderful mentor for people like Ollie Reardon who he has coached to attain quite high levels in State rankings.

October Report

Had a great Oktoberfest evening organised by Dieter and Helga.. Both attired in the right gear as evidenced in the photo below!  A great night with OOM PAH PAH music and a great slide show on the new screen that Dieter has organised for the Spinnaker Room.

The food was great, plenty of saurkraut and potatoes etc.   

The next big event is the JACK HOLMAN DAY which will be held on the 3rd of November.   Visit the Jack Holman page HERE for the background to this day.

Matters discussed at the board meeting held on the 15th of October were as follows:

Bob Naftel has been granted an Honarary Membership in recognition to his services to the Club and to possibly ease some of the pain of his current illness.   Spoke with him yesterday and he is holding up well with some recent modification to his medication.

The Newcastle CYC and LMYC visit to our Club on the 13th of October was a great success, especially as far as bar sales were concerned.  The "Hoods" cooked a great BBQ and thanks go to Gavin, Lindsay, Frank and others for a job well done.   By all reports it will be even bigger and better next year.  

As usual, our visitors really enjoy our friendly and laid back atmosphere and the lack of poker machines and other glitz.

Debbie, our new Bar Manager and Assistant Secretary thanked Dierdre Roberts and Jane Lockhart for a magnificent job behind the bar.

Commodore Bill has organised some new bar runners advertising a local business and hopes that members will avail themselves of its services.

Dieter has updated the bar TV programmes with new photos and announcements.   Keep and eye on it!

I have started a new page on this website featuring cruising and other stories from members.   None on it yet but if you would like to put an account of a recent cruise or other yachting related stories on it, please email them to me on mailto:realway@nelsonbay.com.  Word format is best.

Not a lot more to report, now that we have daylight saving and warmer weather, there are few better places to have a beer than our Clubhouse outdoor areas on a Wednesday or Saturday Afternoon from 4 pm or on one of our Friday Night BBQ's on the 1st or 3rd Friday evening.

Dont forget our Christmas Party on Saturday December 8th 6.30 for 7.00 pm.   Seats are limited and the cost is a mere $30 for a really good meal, fully catered with pudding of course.   Dierdre will be selling tickets soon.

The sailing pages have been updated to include all the information that you need for the Spring Summer season.  The link is under the heading of each page.

See you on the water

John Way   

Ex Commodore.   0412 493586

The Annual General Meeting

Held last night, Bill Haskell is our new Commodore and Secretary, taking over from John Way who has had four years as Commodore   John will stay on the Board as "Ex Commodore and Sponsorship Director" and will assist Bill and administer our sponsor accounts for the next year.

Bill accepts his Life Membership Certificate from outgoing Commodore John Way

Bill was elected as our newest Life Member in recognition of his services to our Club as Chairman of the Pacrim Challenge and as our Secretary for the past three or so years.

 Debbie Simm, our new Bar Manager and Assistant Secretary.

Debbie Simm has been elected to the Board as Bar Manager and Assistant Secretary to Bill.

Secretary's Report for 2011-12

It has been another very busy year for the Club with a number of activities taking place.

The big one for the year was the running of the 12th Pacific Rim Yachting Challenge in conjunction with the Port Stephens Council and the Port Stephens Sister Cities Committee. Planning for this event started back in January 2011 and an unbelievable amount of work was put in by a very enthusiastic committee. The committee consisted Bill Haskell, John Way Deirdre Roberts and Marie James from the Club, Ted Tindall, John Smith, Arthur Heiler, Ken Buckingham, Jeanine Wilson and  Bill Armstrong from Sister Cities. The biggest challenge was finding people to home host 94 visitors from Russia, Japan, Canada, United States of America and New Zealand. This was achieved thanks to the generosity of the members of the Port Stephens Yacht and Sister Cities Members and residents of the Port Stephens Community. The whole event off extremely well mainly because of the time and efforts from the Members of the Club who volunteered their time to cover such things as Support Boat Crews, Owners Representatives, Official Presentation Bag packers,  Lunch Packers, Bar Staff, BBQ Staff, Cool Room Re Stockers, Early Morning Tea and Coffee makers, Extra Bar supplies, General Cleaners and Glass Washers, Printing of Race Results, Flag Attendants, Suppling of Weather Reports. 

To John Way for organising the Pac Rim website and the printing of Identification cards etc, Deirdre Roberts for getting all the ID cards and function tickets organised and placed into the name tag holders Jim Quinn the Race Officer for the regatta, Heather Atkins the Starter, Jenny Way and Taffy as assistant starters and result recorders and Pauline McCarthy for producing the Official Programme a very big thank to you for your efforts. Graeme Tinkler deserves a special mention for his efforts with driving the Sightseeing Bus to various places of interest. Once again thank you Graeme.

A big vote of thanks to The Hood owners Bob Naftel, Poul Jensen, Keith Albury, Allen Atkins, Tony Williams, Steve Woodley,Robert and Anne Rottenbury and the Etchell owners John Way, Rob Quinn, Dom Grundy, Geoff Campbell, John Herrick and Robert Chapman from the Lake Macquarie Yacht Club who supplied their Yachts for the visiting crews.

Also a big vote of thanks to Ray and Chris Dean who supplied the Start Boat “Ruby Tuesday”  Greg Cumberland, Laurie Hughes and Chris Bowden who supplied the Support Boats, Peter and Julie Long, Doug and Irene Curtis and Bill King who supplied the Spectator Boats. John Way, Peter Ballard who arranged the transport of the Etchell from Lake Macquarie Yacht Club and Guy and Clark Holbert who assisted with the rigging and launching of the borrowed Etchell. The Port Stephens Yacht Club was represented by Craig Tucker, Peter Ballard and Stuart Manley in the Hoods, John Way, Dennis Spruce and Tim Murray in the Etchells.The New Zealand Team from Tauranga won the series. Our Club finished third overall.

As it can be seen it was a very “BIG” event and the efforts from all who supplied their time and support can be proud of the end result.   

Our Club has become more involved with the Port Stephens Sailing and Aquatic Club. The PSSA Club has taken on a new lease of life and is really supporting Junior Sailing in the Bay. Our Club has been able to supply Two BIC Sailing Dinghies to the PSSAC to assist with the development of Junior Sailing. These two yachts were purchased using funds from the Max and Edna Berman and Jack Hollman Trust Funds.

One of the BICS was named “Jack Hollman”, Kerry Hollman and family presented this yacht to  Karen Nye from the PSSAC at the after race function of the Jack Hollman Memorial Trophy Race. The other BIC was named “Max and Edna” and it was handed over to the PSSAC at the after race function of the Max and Edna Berman Memorial Trophy Race. Both yachts are being fully utilized by the Junior members of the PSSAC Club.

Another big job that was taken on once again by volunteers was the painting of the ground floor room of the Clubhouse. It was a major task but the end result is a credit to all who assisted. Additional sound proofing panels have also been placed in the Spinnaker Room. Once again thanks to all who assisted with the fitting of these panels. 

The planned improvements to the lower bar area have also been completed, it looks great and now meets current OH&S standards. Many thanks to Craig Tucker for organising it and Brian Pont for doing the electrical and plumbing modifications.

The next big project that has been completed is concreting of the of the Car Parking area. It has been in the planning stage for a long time with the PS Council and work started before the PAC RIM Regatta but due to many weeks of wet weather it was not completed on time for the big event. Anyway it’s all done now. Many thanks to Craig Tucker and Peter Ballard for their efforts in getting the job organised to be done. Also many thanks to all the volunteers who assisted with the moving of soil and the laying of turf and pavers to complete this job.

As you know the Club relies on a lot of volunteers to carry out many tasks so a big vote of thanks goes out to all of the members who give their time freely to cover the Safety Audits, Sailing Committee, Starters Caravan staff, Bar Staff, Stock Taking,  Cooking of BBQ’s, Sun Set Social Hostess and Bar Staff, Social Events, Rubbish and Recycling Bins Roster and of course all the current Board members, Peter Johnson and Debbie Simm who have organised the Bar stock ordering and accounting, it all goes a long way to the successful operation of your Club.

Bill Haskell

Secretary 

Commodore's Report 2011-12

This last 4 years have gone past very quickly.   I must say that I have enjoyed serving our club immensely.   You would have to go a long way to find a  better collection of people.

Your board have worked tirelessly, harmoniously and very effectively to run both the social and the sailing sides of our year.   

The outgoing Committee.    Have been a great bunch of people to work with.   Bill Haskell in particular has, in addition to his secretarial duties, chaired the very successful Pacrim Series held here in March.    As recognition for this magnificent effort, and his services to us as our Secretary, our Board is recommending that he be made a Life Member of this Club

Another Director who has done a magnificent job is Craig Tucker as our Rear Commodore.   Craig has been a great asset to us ensuring that our Clubhouse maintenance is up to scratch and has also been in charge of the upgrading of our car parking area as well as making sure that our coolroom and refrigerant assets are working efficiently.  He is also in the process of finalising some much needed upgrades to our bar area now that the dishwasher has been installed..

Bob Fitzhenry is not standing for re election this year.   He has been a Director of our Club, off an on for many years and was instrumental in obtaining our Liquor License some years ago.   

Peter Collins also has contributed greatly to our sailing scene with his input into the Birthday Regatta and other sailing matters as has Alan Atkins with his weekly updates to our results and handicaps.

Allen Atkins, Peter Collins and Greg Lane greatly assisted our new Vice Commodore, Roger Yeo with the running of our racing programme.   This was very well planned but the weather managed to make a mess of many of the series.   Maybe this year we may get a few North Easters like we used to!

Mike Wheatley, kept the books up to date and has now instituted Internet Banking which makes the accounting easier for everybody.

Peter Ballard, whilst not having a defined portfolio has been of great assistance to the Board.  His wise counsel to us all is most valuable.

Of course we must not forget our starters, Heather, David, Bryan, Jim and Jenny who have braved heat and cold over the last twelve months to make sure that our racing is run extremely efficiently.    We do need more volunteers for the Caravan as everyone needs a day off occasionally.   

Debbie Sim has been a recent appointment as our Bar Manager.  She has had considerable retail experience and her enthusiastic approach to the job bodes well for the future of our Bar  

Peter Johnson also, whilst not a board member has taken over the Bar accounts and done a great job.   Craig, Doug, Bill, Gary, Max and others have been a great asset in helping with the stocking of the bar.   It really is working well and we all must do everything that we can to lighten the load especially when it comes to carrying stock upstairs.   

Dieter Greiter has been a great asset with the Audio Visual systems.   The sound system upstairs and down and the bar TV have improved immensely with his skills.   Helga also must be commended for her help with such things as Oktoberfest and the Swiss Fondue Night as well as for her time behind the bar.

Our Social Committee, headed by Deirdre Roberts have had a great year, Oktoberfest, Swiss Fondue night, Christmas in July, Italian night and many other great events.  

Our Volunteers.   Too numerous to mention individually, but they are the life blood of our great Club.   We do have a unique situation here.   No poker machines, no Keno and a great venue for us to  enjoy each other and the great sport of sailing from.  This would not be possible if it was not for your efforts.

Whilst on the subject of volunteers, this year has been the most demanding of our membership that I can remember.  Running the Pacrim Series really stretched us all.  Bill Haskell did a wonderful job in chairing our committee, even traveling to Canada to research the event before we commenced our intensive planning.  Anyway it all went off swimmingly, everyone had a great time.   We had to then front up for Sail Port Stephens which just about finished us off!

The Webpage.    Has been completely re-vamped at last and I am working on it constantly.   Some of the newer pages include a lot of links to other Club websites, weather reports and forecasts, and I am currently making big improvements to our sponsors advertisements.   There is also a page dealing with recent activity which should be one of the first ports of call when you log onto the site.   I would urge those of you who have not joined the 21st century and connected to email to do so as soon as possible as it is a the best possible way to keep in touch with this Club and so many other happenings in our society.

Another highlight of this past year was the conversion of the Edna Berman Trust monies and the income of the Jack Holman Trust into two Bic Dinghies which were presented to the Port Stephens Sailing and Aquatic Club to use as part of their junior training fleet programme.  We hope to work closely with the PSAAC in future years to ensure that Juniors remain engaged in the magnificent sport of Sailing.

We do value your input whether you are a social member, crew or skipper, this is your club and we want it to be as good as we can all make it.  So if you have any ideas for us, don’t be backward in coming forward.

I will not be standing for re-election as Commodore this year, four years with the one person at the helm is long enough for any club.   I will stand for re-election to the Board and will do all that I can to assist our new Commodore.

John Way 

Commodore

Latest from Rougue Wave

Hi John,

Thought you may like to know Rogue Wave and her crew will be flying the PSYC Burgee (if there are any left) in the NCYC Forgacs Inner Spring Regatta 08-09 Sep.

This will be our first dabble in IRC racing with a view to doing longer coastal races if the RAAF stop posting my crew!

 

There are seventeen yachts entered to date, with Rogue Wave the oldest, lowest rated (0.933) and no doubt the slowest; so my game plan is distraction using my good looking deckies, and to make it back to the bar before the winners start talking-in-tongues!!

Should be a hoot.

 

Regards,

Kev

Fondue Night

A really good night, great Fondue thanks to Helga and Dieter who did a great job in preparing and serving it to us.  Kay ready to get into the Fondue!!!
Dieter's Chocolate Fountain!

We had a good crowd, about 40 attended and all put on about 4 kilos!   Thanks Dieter and Helga for a really memorable evening.

Laying the turf

One of the finishing touches to the newly re-furbished car parking area was the laying of the turf.   Craig has the quantities right and a working bee consisting of the usual suspects put it into place this morning

June Happenings

Board meeting just concluded.   Not a lot to report other than we are going to have a couple of theme nights to introduce some variety into our Friday Night BBQ's, details on the "Coming Events" sidebar at the right.

Attendance on Friday nights has been down a bit, due no doubt to the cold and rain, but, don't forget, we have heating and even a concreted parking area and entry which has made a huge difference to the whole scene.

Craig Tucker, our Rear Commodore has now laid out parking bays and is installing bumper strips to slow vehicles down before they descend into the Marina.

We will need another working bee to lay the turf when it arrives, this should be in the next few days now that the rain has stopped for a while.

Craig is also finalising plans for the final upgrade of our downstairs bar with a new stainless steel counter and new sinks  which will make a huge difference to the running of this facility.

Deirdre is working on another Christmas in July function sheduled for Sunday 22nd, this will be fully catered, subsidised by the Club and great value at $30 per head.   Santa hats and Carols are compulsory!

Secretary Bill Haskell now has a good stock of the new Club Tee Shirts at a very reasonable $32 each, all sizes are available, also Club Caps for $15 per head!

We seem to be amassing a reasonable fleet of yachts on both Wednesdays and Saturdays despite the cold, quite a few seem to start but few seem to finish!   

The recent southerly storm combined with a couple of super high tides saw damage occur to Jim and Deirdre Robert's Rainbow when she broke her mooring and ended up on Middle Island.   Took a fair bit of water on board and we hope that she is repaired soon and back in the fleet.

Our Club did quite well from assisting in running Sail Port Stephens, our share of entry fees and takings over the bar and from the Thursday Night BBQ function made the whole event very worth while for us.   

Debbie Simm has been doing a great job as Bar Manager, assisted by Peter Johnson and our many volunteer bar staff.  

We really do have a great Club 

We have a Facebook Site

For those of you who are on Facebook, have a look at this, if you are not, seriously consider joining it.   It is a great communication rescource for us.  Link is HERE

I am at the learner stage on this, scroll down to read it properly.

Presentation Lunch

A very enjoyable interlude to wet and cold day.   The meal was magnificent, supplied by Amanda Douglass and her team.   Roger Yeo, our Vice Commodore did a great job as MC and the usual team headed by Deirdre Roberts and assisted by  Allen and Heather Atkins, Peter Collins, Bill Haskell, Dieter Greiter, Greg Lane and Roger Dunwell (official Photographer) 

A full list of prize winners appears HERE, and, finally we have a collection of photos taken by Roger Dunwell HERE

Working Bee Thursday 24th June

A great group of volunteers turned up at 9am yesterday armed with shovels, rakes and wheelbarrows and moved about 6 cubic meters of sand and old fill from the side of our new entranceway and placed it around the edge of our socialising area as well as at the edge of the new parking area.   Not an easy job as there were a lot of stones mixed with it.

The entrance has been vastly improved with the concreting, the main thing now is to park efficiently so that we can fit the maximum number of cars on it.   The two spaces nearest to the clubhouse can take two cars, one behind the other.    If you are going to stay for the afternoon, park as far forward as you can on these two so that we can double up.

With all of the spaces, park as near to the edge of the slab as you can so that manouevering is easy.

Good works at our Clubhouse

All done, all we need now is some turf around the edges and some low barriers to stop anyone driving over the edge

No more mud, no more sinking into the sand for the ladies...took these this morning as the blokes from the Council were hard at it.

Board Meeting Report 23rd April 2012

Pacrim Windup

The financial results of the Pacrim Yachting Challenge series are now to hand and were discussed.  Our Club did very well out of it.   Not only were the bar takings excellent but we also ended up quite well financially.   This was due to a very tight rein being kept on expenditure and a considerable amount raised through sponsorship.   Many thanks once again to all who were involved.   I think we learned a lot both on and off the water and thoroughly enjoyed our visitors and a week of great competition.

Sail Port Stephens

Just concluded.  We were involved in hosting the Elliot 7’s Australian Titles.   Won by Aaron Terry from the Canberra Sailing Club with four straight wins.   I am sure that the very light winds would have been a factor in this as it either blows the branches off the trees or is a flat calm most of the time on Lake Burley Griffen.    A fantastic effort though and well deserved.   Our Matt Bonser finished 5th having had to carry a DSQ due to a protest.

Pity about the weather, the overall turnup was great with several very large and famous yachts turning up from the Lake and Sydney.

 Once again, we did well in our bar trading, with several large yachts and crews being moored at the Marina.   The evening sausage sizzles were well patronised and we held a Steak and Oyster night on the Thursday which was very successful.    Congratulations once again to Bill Haskell for masterminding this and many thanks to all who assisted in the Clubhouse, on the BBQ’s and on the water.

The Marina DA

We discussed the  proposed extensions to the Soldiers Point Marina and after considerable discussion the following motion was carried:

 It was resolved that the Club will not lodge any submissions regarding the current Marina Development Application, however, it is suggested that Club Members act individually if they so desire.

My Last Year

 I informed my fellow Directors that this will be my last year as Commodore of our Club and the position will be vacant at our AGM in early September.   I must say that I have really enjoyed the last four years and the support from the Board and members has been wonderful.

 If there is a boat owner member who would like to discuss the position with me, please do not hesitate to give me a ring.   Quite a few of the very time consuming jobs that I have been doing will not pass on to the new Commodore, such as the establishment of the database and the new webpage.   If required, I am willing to serve another year on the Board to assist. 

Sailing Stuff

The summer season finishes next Saturday.   Has been rather unusual as we have had 10 races unsailed and only one Gale Warning!   The rain and cold over the summer made our cosy clubhouse very attractive, especially on Wednesday afternoons.

 Roger Yeo has pretty well finalised the winter programme and there are a couple of minor changes to courses.   These will be notified to all as soon as possible.

 This is not really my turf, and I certainly do not want to steal any of Roger Yeo’s thunder, but I would like to make a couple of pleas to our sailors.   Firstly, any yachts not finished by official sunset time record a DNF.   So, if you are at Wedding Cake and it is about 20 minutes before sunset, pull the sails down and motor home.   Secondly, the caravan is a very cold place in the winter and if there are a couple of boats still left out there and our starters are shivering, THEY CAN GO HOME!   

 There is provision in the Sailing Instructions for finishing without the caravan.   Take your own finishing time and either call into the Clubhouse or ring it through.

 We must remember that our Starters volunteer their time right through the year and do not have the option of not turning up if the weather is unpleasant.

 Naturally, the caravan radio will ceased to be manned if they do go home but Marine Rescue monitor both Analogue and VHF frequencies.

 To ease the load on the Starters, Winter Sternchasers will be self started and the Iceberg Series will also be self started sternchasers.    This will give the caravan and its haulers and inhabitants a few days off.   Ocean races also will be self-started.

 We had a sailing committee meeting on Monday also and the above points were discussed at length.

 The other matter, resolved previously,  is that the results and prize giving will be held no later than one hour after the last yacht finishes.   

Dieter would like some feedback on the Crew Placement service that he has implemented.   Please let either Dieter or myself know any comments or suggestions.

Website

Seems to be well accepted with an average of around 400 visitors each month.   Any suggestions will be appreciated.   I am working on a facility for members to post their sailing stories on and also perhaps, a forum.  Dont hold your breath though, this is a cold rainy day job!!

Social Stuff

On the social scene.  Our Friday BBQ’s will resume on the first and third Fridays each month as from 4th of May.   Bill and myself will think about having a guest speaker or two over the winter but will restrict them to be (a.) Very interesting and (b)  Brief!!

The next major event is our prizegiving which will be held as a Sunday Lunch on the 27th of May.   Fully catered and will be a very reasonable $30 per head.   Tickets will be available shortly.

PACRIM REPORT AND OTHER STUFF!

Well, what a week.   Pacrim 2012 was, I believe, the biggest project or event that our Club has been involved in since 1971!    It was certainly a wonderful event both on and off the water and full marks to all of you that were involved in it.

I have published a copy of my address to the Closing Ceremony on our Pacrim website which you can access from the PSYC one and rather than repeat it here, click on THIS LINK to view it.

There are a some omissions on it.    One, most important one, was the involvement of Clarke and Guy Holbert in making their hardstand and crane available for us to load and unload the borrowed Etchells, we could not have done without this.     

Secondly, the RAAF and our own Doug Cross who arranged the Thursday Flypast.   Would have ruined the Russians’ concentration!!!   Well done Doug.

Thirdly, the Rotary Club of Nelson Bay for the loan of their shelter cover which enabled us to utilise the grass area adjacent to our northern entrance for some of the evening events.   This made a huge difference especially on the Friday night when we had the “Potluck” BBQ.   They have indicated that they will let us have it for the Sail Port Stephens events as well.

Also, our thanks to Grahme Tinkler who kept buses rolling and passengers happy for the whole week.

I have compiled a DVD of over 750 photos taken during Pacrim which will be suitable for the downloading of individual photos for printing or keeping for future viewing on your computer or DVD player.   These will be available on order from the Clubhouse for $5.00 each.   Copies will be sent to all of our overseas visitors.  Many thanks to Pauline McCarthy, Julie Long, Roger Dunwell, Henk Tobbe and Kay Barnes for their contributions.   I had to reduce them to some degree to fit on the disk. let me know if you would like larger individual files for printing of large photos.

Our Board will recommend to our AGM in September that Bill Haskell be appointed a Life Member of our Club in recognition of his mammoth efforts in contributing to the success of Pacrim 2012.

Talking of Sail Port Stephens.   This will take place in the week commencing 16th of April and will involve our Club on the Thursday 19th, Friday and Saturday when we will have a Steak and Oyster Night on the Thursday and will be involved in starting and administering races over the three days.   Once again we will have to call on our volunteers both in the Club and on the water. We will be manning the Starters Boat, laying the courses in Salamander Bay and will need Bar Staff and BBQ cooks.

There will be a number of large yachts on the Marina for the week and we will be opening our Bar to them from Monday onwards.   The Thursday night will be quite a big event as competitors will be bussed to our Club from Nelson Bay and the Anchorage.   More to come on this but we will be putting the usual sheets on the bar for volunteers to volunteer on!

On more general matters from our Board Meeting held last Monday 26th March:

There has been some rationalisation of our Bar prices.   Some increases and some staying the same.      Not a great impact financially, but the changes will make matters a lot easier for our Bar staff and will maintain our intent of providing the cheapest club refreshment prices in our area.

This year, we will be conducting our Presentation Night on Sunday the 27th of May as a catered 12.00 pm lunch on the lines of last year’s Christmas in July event, rather than the evening event as it has been previously.    Your Board felt that a more informal approach might be a welcome change.   Details shortly.

We understand that there will be a public meeting to discuss the proposed extensions to the Soldiers Point Marina at the Soldiers Point Bowling Club next Monday, 2nd of April at 7.30 pm.   Confirmation should be in the Examiner today.

Due to Easter we will be resheduling the Friday Night BBQ’s to the 2nd and 4th Fridays in April, these will be on the 13th and the 27th.   Debbie Sim has suggested that we wear any foreign shirts that we may have acquired during Pacrim!

          There has been some discussion regarding 27 meg radios as their frequencies will no longer be officially recognised.    The local Marine Rescue will still monitor channel 88.
Whitworths recently had a special on Uniden hand held VHF radios at 2 for $199.00, the only disadvantage of this deal is that they only had the one charger for each two radios in the pack.

Dieter Greiter, our well known and widely acclaimed expert on computer matters has tracked down a deal on eBay which offers single units, with charger for $99.00.   Contact him at the Clubhouse or myself, If you would like more information.

That is about it, I am pleased that Pacrim only lasted one week, my body will need the next three weeks to fully recover for Sail Port Stephens!