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Commodore's Report (Nautical News November)
By the time you read this report Santa will be on his way. This year just seems to be flying by and Xmas is upon us, and it was only yesterday we had Opening Day.
I would like to open by wishing all the members of East Fremantle Yacht Club a Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year.
So much has happened and is still happening it is hard to keep track of the many activities.
The ISAF World Sailing Championships will now be over and I would like to thank all of the members who put in their time, effort and resources to make this event successful. Many days of leave along with after hours planning, training and practising, add up to a lot of support put in from this Club. In particular I would like to thank Mark Purser who along with running a business has managed the team coordination and communication in an often frustrating flux of schedules as well as his boat ‘Quo Vadis’ during the two year course of action.
To the members who supplied vessels and equipment, and often at short notice to help fill the gaps, I thank you for your generous support.
Events like this demonstrate to many onlookers in our wider community, that we as an organisation, can put back quality service to the community. In this case to show that Western Australia is a capable sailing community on a world stage. Our members can be proud, that East Fremantle Yacht Club stood up to the challenge and provided service equal to the best in the world.
The new kitchen has been up and running for some time now and has been a big improvement on the old one. The old bbq area has certainly scrubbed up well as part of the renovation and provides a fresh atmosphere when entering the Club. It has proven much more efficient in handling our catering needs for both members and function guests. There are however some times when the kitchen struggles to keep up the ability to deliver at a 100%. This is when we have an influx of members who do not book on a Friday evening particularly. The Club tries to keep its overheads (staff) in check by managing when it needs them. It is somewhat of a ‘roll the dice’ on a Friday when a large number of members roll up without making a booking. Conversely it is expensive to run the service when it is only the bookings but you have staffed for the unexpected extra’s. The Club Management will always try to provide for our members even when they just feel like a Friday night dinner with some friends, as we expect and ask them to do, but we also ask them to be savvy about costs and overheads. In short, please book ahead if you can for an evening meal and/or please be patient when it is a busy evening. If you are not sure when you turn up is, please ask one of the staff. Thankyou for supporting your Club.
With some savings made on the Kitchen renovation we have opted to refurbish the toilets servicing the function area. This will keep the paying customers happy with the surrounds and hopefully keep them contained in the function area. The toilets in that area have not been of capacity to adequately service the function area and this has caused a flow over effect to the toilets in the members bar (no pun intended). Much of the work done here has been done by members at a very reasonable rate so we can stay on budget forecast.
Sailing fleets seem to be going strong and it is encouraging to see new fleets emerging from centreboards in the Sabre and O'Pen BIC classes. Some of our BIC sailors got to take part in a demonstration sail in Bathers Bay on the 3rd of December as part of the ISAF event. Well done to our young sailors.
Congratulations to Mark Nagle and Louis Suriano who recently finished 5th in a fleet of 29 starters in the Fremantle Harbour Race. The event was quite a spectacle and not without incident. With the tight racing between boats up to 70 feet long and in good winds unfortunately two boats collided. As a result of the incident the Sydney to Hobart contender ‘Limit’ had to withdraw. Well done Louis and Mark for getting through.
I look forward to seeing many of you around the Club over the Xmas and New Year.
