Westernport Yacht Club

ITS HISTORY and

CONTRIBUTION to RECREATIONAL and SOCIAL LIFE

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DEDICATIONThis book is dedicated to those who by enterprise, foresight, effort, debate, argument, pressure and inspira-tion, and much perspiration, came together and conceived, promoted, organised, formed and constructed Westernport Yacht Club.

It was the combination of many of such human activities which produced not only the building and the boat-ing facilities, but also that spirit and atmosphere which regularly draw so many people to Balnarring Beach each weekend and during the holiday periods.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

PagePreface

Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION Locality

Chapter 2 FOUNDATION, FORMATION AND FIRST CONSTRUCTION Beginnings Foundation Formation First Construction

Chapter 3 THEe CHANGING SCENE The Village The Beach The Club Area Land and Buildings Concrete Shelter Other Land Shelter Clubhouse Further Land and Shelters Clubhouse Condition The Beach and the Bay Launching and Recovery Jetty Moorings Reefs Overall

Chapter 4 THE CLUB AND ITS ORGANISATION Membership Constitution Management and Organisation Financial Computers at WYC Staffing of Operations Radio Communications Club Journal Liaison with Other Organisations Westernport Safety Council WAYC VYC Overall

Chapter 5 SAILING Why Go Sailing? The Founders and Their Boats Sailing Calendar Off-the-Beach Boats

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Gwen 12s International Cadets Other Early Classes Herons and Sparrows Further Designs Keelboats and Trailable Yachts Racing Cruising Championship Events State and National Titleholders Other Successes Westernport Challenge Training Sailing Organisation Computers The Future?

Chapter 6 POWER BOATING AND PATROL BOATING Early Boats Powerboating Patrol Boating Balnarring Patrol Further Patrol Boats Training Search and Rescue Reef Marking Powerboat Experience

Chapter 7 SOCIAL AND YOUNGER SET ACTIVITIES Club Spirit Social Social Events General Catering Younger Set Social Success

Chapter 8 A Dangerous Mix Learning Pains Launching and Recovery The Weather and Tides Sailing and Racing Genuine Fish Stories Those So-and-so Engines! Up the Creek Meanwhile Back on Shore The Good NewsChapter 9 Members’ Reflections DIY Boating Variety Changes Financial Committees

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Permanent Friendship The Local Environment ObjectivesAppendix

List of Club Officers List of Trophy Holders List of Life Members

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PREFACE

The Aim of this BookIn 1988 the then Club Commodore, Jack Guthrie, realized that the records and memories of Westernport Yacht Club’s (WYC’s) past should be collected together and put on permanent record before memories fail and documents are lost.

After over a year of appeals, telephoning, mailing, meetings, etc., a considerable amount of information was progressively gathered.

As a result this book has been produced as a record of the first thirty years of the club, ie, from 1960 to 1990. That is, as far as the availability of records and members’ memories has permitted.

As well as being the history of the club over that period, it is hoped that this book will also provide a link between the founders, the present members, and those members of the community who are interested in boating or in local community matters. The book may also provide a useful reference in the future regard-ing an era of sporting and social activity arising from great enthusiasm for small boats and fishing. This era particularly made a great impact on the lives of two thousand or more persons, namely the past and present members of the Club and their families and friends.

Also, it is hoped that this book reveals the contributory atmosphere in which the club was formed, and the continuing do-it-youself (DIY) principle which has been followed in the construction, running and mainte-nance of buildings and facilities, and in the operation of boating and social events.

The fact that the enthusiasm for boat building, boat handling and competitive sailing has waned somewhat in the ‘90s remains a subject for debate and regret to those who derived such great pleasure from these activities. Recent Committees, however, are addressing this problem.

Club Purpose

The Constitution of WYC in 1960 states the following in its Objects of the Club:

1.1 To promote and encourage yacht building and the sport of yacht sailing generally by amateurs; to encourage yacht racing by all acceptable and usual proper means.

1.2 To promote and encourage the building, ownership, sailing and operation of boats and water craft of all kinds, whether powered or not, by amateurs.

1.3 To promote and encourage the sport of angling and fishing.

1.4 To acquire and maintain suitable Club premises to provide facilities for members of the Club and their guests.

1.5 To supply refreshments to members and to apply for, hold and renew from time to time, any neces sary certificates of registration as a Club and any licences or permits for the sale and disposal of liquor within the meaning of the licensing acts of the State of Victoria.

In 1975 the following Purpose of was added:1.6 To promote and encourage the personal development of youth and to encourage the participation of

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all members in boating activities for pleasure and for the development of physical fitness.’

The Club Constitution was written with an accent on the promotion of a variety of boating activities and a pleasant social scene for the members. From our description herein of the atmosphere and activities which developed over the first thirty years, the reader may be able to judge the success of WYC in achieving its stat-ed Purpose.

This book aims to record the efforts, mainly pleasurable, but sometimes painful, which went into the foun-dation, construction, development and organisation of the club; as well as to record some of the boating and social activities which were its expressed Purpose for existence.

Acknowledgements

This record of Club history mentions the names of many who contributed to foundation, formation, con-struction, development and operation. It will be understood that it is impossible to give credit to all of those who gave physical, financial and other personal assistance in the past, and those who are still doing so. In many such cases, no records are available of their efforts. Lady Associates, for example, behind the scenes provide the many essential services on which Club activities depend. Current WYC members owe a debt of gratitude to all of those who contributed in so many ways.

Sources

Regarding the preparation of this Club history, many details of Club formation and development have been obtained from available Club and Foreshore Committee records. Club General Committee minutes and the Club journal ‘West Port Bound’ provided most of the printed and written information. Unfortunately, official records of some periods however have not been found. These official sources however do not reveal the human activities which went on behind the scenes. Personal anecdotes were relied on for this aspect of the history.

Many members, particularly those who were active in the foundation era, have contributed greatly to the compilation of this club history. Many members including Past Commodores provided anecdotes, photo-graphs, cuttings and details from their memories of later periods. Their assistance is greatly appreciated.

Issue

It was originally anticipated that this history published in a premium qualty book form shortly after 1990, ie at the end of the ‘first thirty years’. It was thought that sponsorship would assist the cost. However the Com-mittee at that later time did not consider it wise spend funds on such an item with the uncertainty of returns (from the sale of books). In 1995 the Committee decided that in view of the large amount of time spent in the collecting, collating and writing the history, that an investigation should be made into producing copies at a modest cost, for sale to members. This Issue is the result of that decision.

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CHAPTER ONEINTRODUCTION

Locality

For those readers who are not familiar with the location of the Westernport Yacht Club (WYC), a short intro-duction to the area may be of interest.

Balnarring Beach is on the northern shore of the western entrance to Western Port Bay, Victoria. It is ap-proximately 70 kilometres from Melbourne.

The natural geography of the land and shore provides a perfect site for the boating activities which arose. Balnarring Bight is a shallow bay, ringed with a series of reefs which are partly exposed at low tide. It is this ring of reefs which protects the beach from extremes of south to south-easterly weather which can (and do) come in regularly from Bass Strait.

The reefs are probably responsible for the fact that the bay gradually shallows to the sandy shore. Hence the beach is suitable for family swimming and off-the-beach boating. The near waters are suitable for mooring larger boats. The sea contains much fish life, which naturally attracted early settlers, and weekend visitors. Consequently fishing and boating became a part of the local scene. Periodically the seas wash up dead sea-grass onto the beach, which temporarily detracts somewhat from the scene. However the locals do not find it distasteful, and they jokingly say that ‘it keeps the masses of visitors away’.

The land onshore was originally inhabited by the Bunerong tribe of aborigines, who substantially disap-peared at the turn of the century, with the pressure of settlement. They undoubtedly fished along the shores, as evidenced by the middens which may be seen today. Western Port Bay was visited and named by George Bass in 1798 ‘from its relative position to every other known harbour on the coast’. Soon after, French boats visited and inspected the coast. Sealers also came and established their gruesome industry along the shores. No doubt some part of these activities occurred at Balnarring. In time, the adjacent land was taken up for grazing. The neighbouring ‘Coolart’ property was established in 1840.

Merricks Creek runs somewhat parallel to the beach and empties into the sea further to the east. The early French visitors described it as teaming with ducks and fish life. The local village, Balnarring Beach, is mainly situated between the creek and the beach. Early residents say that the area contained substantial tracts of vir-gin bush with orchids, yellow robins, blue wrens, striated thornbills, golden whistlers, grey thrushes, walla-bies, bandicoots and possums. It is not quite so today, but efforts are being made to restore some of the flora (and hopefully, fauna) to the Foreshore Reserve. Koalas still live throughout the foreshore and village.

Balnarring Beach village is at the end of Balnarring Beach Road, which leads down from the township of Balnarring, one and a half kilometer away. In the ‘50s the permanent population was very small, some half-a-dozen houses. In those earlier days there existed a public shelter, a general store, a guest house and a house with tea rooms. Of these, the store and public shelter remain today. Spread through the two halves of the Beach village is a camping and caravanning park, which is under the control of the Balnarring Foreshore and Parks Reserve Committee (known as the Foreshore Committee). The park is open from November until April. Many yacht club members have made this camping area their base for summer holidays. The Beach village is substantially within and around the Foreshore Reserve area. It is divided by the entrance road into the main residential portion to the west (on the west beach), and the smaller residential portion to the east. The latter residences are close to Balnarring Bight, the beach of which was known earlier as Tulum Sands. This is the site of the Yacht Cclub.

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CHAPTER TWOFOUNDATION, FORMATION AND FIRST CONSTRUCTION

Beginnings

Since the early part of this century Balnarring had attracted fishermen, fisherwomen and their families. Some fished from the shore, and still do, but went to sea for better catches. Others came to enjoy weekends on the beach. Some also launched yachts and sailed the waters of Western Port Bay.

From the beginning the two areas of the village each had their own boating activities and launching arrange-ments. There were mainly fishing activities at the west, and various boat-launching methods were tried. At the eastern beach there was a boat shed from which heavy clinker-built rowing boats could be hired. Several families sailed from this beach, and operated an unofficial yacht club. They had been enjoying casual cruis-ing events at the eastern beach (otherwise known as Tulum Sands). Some families including the Wilkinsons, Brains, Fethers, and Williams had been part time residents for up to twenty years. They sailed a variety of boats, which are described in chapter 5 of this book. These sailors too felt the need for launching aids, as well as a venue for social activites. Among them was Jim Williams, who was instrumental in the formation of the club.

Some boat storage sheds were built, and inevitably the boating people felt the need for means of assisting the launching of their boats. Wooden ramps and wooden rails were tried. A lifesaving club was also proposed, and a concrete block for the clubrooms was poured at the western beach, but was subsequently abandoned.

The following are notes provided by Tom Haselgrove, who regularly fished in the local waters:

My first visit to Balnarring Beach was in 1923. There were then two boatsheds on the foreshore. The one owned by Mr. George Murray was situated where the front entry gate of the yacht club stands. Outside the west boundary was the one owned by Gus Hansen and Jim Cashen, and from them could be hired one of their four 14 ft. clinker rowing boats. Boats were man-handled from shed to sea on a four-wheeled cradle which ran on wooden rails placed on the sand.

Tom had considered that a launching crane, similar to that used at railway sidings and stone masons, would function satisfactorily for launching. He was given permission to ‘prepare Plan and Specifications for an appliance to launch boats from the end of Goverment Rd. (now Mason-Smith Rd.), these plans to be submit-ted through the Secretary to the Public Works, Port and Harbours for approval for erection.’ He placed five notices about the area, convening, in the foreshore shelter shed, a meeting of interested people. This proved a ‘slip’, as next morning an inspection of the location found that a big sea had washed away the proposed site’.

Much discussion then occurred in Foreshore Committee meetings and amongst the local community, regard-ing the best means of obtaining an effective launching facility.

The need for a boat handling facility undoubtedly provided the essential pressure for the formation of a club. It was the formation of the yacht club which largely brought the efforts of the two areas together for common purpose and benefit.

Meanwhile, a group of six boating people, including powerboaters Alf Flatman, Tom Warwick, Bill Orgill, Fred Collins, Vin Mason and Bert Black had offered to back yachtsman Jim Williams if he would organise the formation and construction of a club.

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Foundation

It was decided to organise a ‘run around’ throughout the neighbourhood, promoting support for a boat club with a launching facility. Tom Haselgrove posted notices around the village announcing a meeting at the ‘rotunda’, ie, the public shelter next to the local store. At this meeting, on New Year’s Day 1960, addressed by Jim Williams, it was proposed to form a ‘Ways and Means’ Committee, to establish a club.

The Ways and Means Committee was duly elected, and consisted of Messrs. J.E. Williams, A.J. Black, W. Farnes, T.F. Haselgrove, Martin (Mark) Mudford (who acted as Secretary), and A. Patching. The meeting minutes state that ‘It was moved by J.E. Williams and seconded by T.F. Haselgrove that a boat landing facility similar to that constructed at Cowes be built at Balnarring.’

As a result, during and from the January 1960 holiday period onwards much activity occurred, including a succession of meetings. Tom Haselgrove was elected as President of the provisional or launching committee, S.L. (Lennie) Smith replaced Mark Mudford, and Jim Douglas (Snr) was co-opted. Bryant Weber (later a club Commodore) also joined the committee at later meeting.

Between the 4th and 18th of January further ‘run-arounds’ occurred, to raise funds for the anticipated con-struction. Jim Williams reports that the atmosphere of the village was enthusiastic, and as a result these visits became successful social events and very convivial occasions in themselves. A total of 203 pounds cash (sometimes referred to loosely as debentures) was collected and banked, and the following 31 members were noted in the first cash book:

T.S. Welsh, T.F. Haselgrove, A.J. Black, O. Smith, J.E. Williams, J. Cashen, M. Mudford, F. Caple, Dr.ÿBuxton, E. Hilman, S.L. Smith, L.N. Mace, W.ÿFarnes, A.J. Buchanan, B. Allen, J.H. Bolton, J.H.ÿFurzer, A. Russell, J.H. Smith, M.A. Muir, G.ÿWright, S.C. Hancock, A.K. Kline, H. Reilly, J.ÿWrout, A. Sampson, R. Jillard, G. Roberts, D. Hughes, P. Harrison, A.R. Shannon.

There are two sets of meeting notes (or minutes) covering the first few weeks of provisional club’s existence. They represent general meetings and committee meetings, many of which were held on the club site at the beach and some at the Williams’ home. On some points, such as the title of the club, these records differ.

Meeting notes dated 3rd January, 1960 list the following business and activities during January:

It was moved by J.E.W. seconded by T.F.H. that the name ‘Balnarring Yacht and Boat Club’ be adopted.

A money collecting scheme on a loan basis was discussed and agreed upon. The following loans were prom-ised and subsequently paid:

A.J. Black 20 poundsJ.Douglas 20 poundsT.F. Haselgrove 5 poundsW. Farnes 5 pounds

The business of meeting was summed up in two special announcements read at the Balnarring Film Show on 9th January 1960, prepared by A.J.B. (Bert Black), T.F.H. (Tom Haselgrove) and J.E.W. (Jim Williams). Mon-ey was to be raised by collecting 5 pound loans or more.

Mr. Farnes agreed to donate his cable and to make a ‘Hysler’ type trolley for handling boats from the water.

The motion (by Mr. Patching) to charge an annual boat fee of 10 shillings per ft. per boat was lost as this fee was considered prohibitive by the majority.

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J.E.W. was elected Sec./Treasurer.

Sleepers (31), value three pounds purchased from V.R. (Vic Rail) at Crib Point.

A notice of activities was posted at Balnarring Beach Store.

A notice of progress and appeal for more members was posted at Balnarring Milk Store.

A Bank Account in the name of Trustees, Black, Haselgrove and Williams, was opened at the National, Hast-ings.

Constitution for the club is being prepared by Mr. A.J. Black.

The tender of R.E.A. Brown, Dromana, to supply and spread Salamander - 40 pounds for 60 yard track. 153 pounds for boatyard area - 29 yards x 35 yards was accepted.

Total collections to 18/1/60 were 203 pounds 8 shillings of which 190 pounds has been banked. An estimate of 65 pounds represents promises of money not yet collected. By 22/1/60 a further 25 pounds had been col-lected making it possible for the club to meet all financial commitments to date.

24/1/60: Proceed with safety fence, if not exceeding 160 - 170 pounds.’

The above collections represent the first Club subscriptions. 26 more then joined, namely:

J. Douglas, T. Bowman, J. Leask, A. Bruce, R. Harvison, C.C. Zahara, J. Hart, M. Nugent, P. Brockwell, N.ÿHoughton, J. Allan, N. Larritt, P. McDermott, G.D.ÿRay, O.Tyler, R. Haselgrove, N. Bull, ?. Monteith, R.G. Berryman, C.D. Fethers, W.A. Hester, W. Grevis, B. Weber, L.N. Miller, H. Crighton, L.K. Hughes, A.ÿFlatman.

These were the foundation members of the provisional club , making 57 in all. There were others, however, who gave much hard work or served on the first committee who deserve recognition, but their names are not recorded. A number of supporters also gave substantial ‘loans’.

Of the various meetings which settled the above matters, some were held somewhat impromptu on the beach, and some at the Williams’ home. Further fund-raising visits were made in the January-February holiday period.

Although not formalised, the provisional Club was now obviously well and truly launched, but it took much stirring to retain the momentum. Interested boating people from neighbourhoods had joined in, together with many others who were purely week-end or day visitors from Melbourne.

Mark Mudford, as a member of the Foreshore Committee for many years did not always agree with the Club developments and methods. Nevertheless he retained membership of WYC, and stated later:

Jim Williams was certainly the main force in getting the Club off the ground. Tom Haselgrove convened the meeting in the shelter shed, with the intention of forming a boat Club, not a yacht club. The purpose of the Club was to erect an enclosed hard standing area and a ramp from which to launch boats, and to be known as Balnarring Boat Club.

Most of the initial activity and growth from thereon can be credited to Jim Williams. Bert Black and Tom Haselgrove who badgered, inspired, bullied, lobbied, coaxed and generally hornswoggled all foundation

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members and wives into hard work, finance, illicit tappings, donations of materials, enthusiasm and, above all, loyalty. Nor did they stop at members - goodness knows how many Government and State Public offi-cials, local residents and Committees had their minds made up for them and were convinced they should back the cause.

Like all pioneers their road was hard; they spared no effort, difficulties were there to be overcome, and their object was never lost sight of.’

A.J. (Bert) Black, a lawyer, was physically disadvantaged, but offered to look after paper work. He had a deep concern for the younger people, and was keen to provide a focal point for their weekend activities. He subse-quently took on the secretarial work of formation, as well as compiling the first Club Constitution.

Jim Williams believes that ‘the idea of a yacht club evolved from the activities of a group of enthusiastic yachties residing in the area who used the bay near the site of the present Club. Without a doubt the east bay is the best anchorage for small boats. In fact it is a world class venue for boating’. He also says that ‘the for-mation of the yacht club did much to unite the Balnarring village, which up to the 1950s was divided between the east and the west. Few people in one area knew people in the other, but the yacht club changed all that’

Jim also gives credit to ‘quite a few people of substance who gave encouragement and tangible support to WYC, and who preferred to remain very much in the background because they were prominent in society, with more than their share of publicity in work-day activities. Balnarring was their place for relaxation as we all appreciate. Club subscriptions of several hundred local people were absolutely essential for the successful launching and long-term development of the Club, but it was the contributions of less than a score of people, large contributions in cash, kind and time which led to firm establishment in the initial years of construction and operation’.

From then on he was ‘jumping over people and getting things done’. He was accustomed to making such projects proceed efficiently in his week-day responsibility as a construction engineer/trouble-shooter in the metals and minerals industries. From this position he also had ‘powerful and influential friends’, whom he pressed into assisting when and where there was a need, such as obtaining approvals or other urgent action. Jim kept things continually moving, even though he was travelling overseas at the time, by telegraphing instructions as needed. Just prior to Easter he sent instructions for cement, sand, etc, and equipment to be delivered to the site. Over the Easter break he and Jim Black and Ken Hughes had a back-breaking long weekend pouring the 14-inch thick (35 cm) concrete block for the winch house. This was the beginning of the Club, in the physical sense. The club building grew up around it.

Formation

The minutes of the meeting of the provisional ‘Westernport Boat and Yacht Club’ on 16th April 1960, held at the J.E.Wrout & Company’s hall, Hansen’s Lane, Balnarring Beach state:

‘The purpose of this meeting was to adopt the Constitution and Rules of the Club with or without amend-ment and to discuss special clauses likely to be in any way controversial.

Lively discussion took place with regard to several contentious points and detailed notes recorded as far as possible.’

After much discussion ‘it was moved by Mr. Caple and seconded by Mr. J. Hart that the Constitution as amended be adopted. The motion was carried.’

(Wrout’s steel Quonset igloo shaped hut is still at its original location).

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The minutes of the First Annual General Meeting of the Westernport Yacht and Boat Club (held on 3rd Sep-tember 1960) under the Constitution adopted on the 16th of April, 1960 state:

Mr. T.F. Haselgrove, the President of the Provisional Committee was in the chair.

The Minutes of the previous meeting of members of the Club were read by Mr. J.E. Williams the Provisional Secretary, and confirmed.

A Report of the last Meeting of the Provisional Committee was read by Mr. Williams and received.

The Provisional Secretary was authorised to request an alteration to the plan attached to the proposed per-missive occupancy agreement received from the Balnarring Foreshore Committee.

Mr. J.E. Williams acting as Provisional Treasurer read a statement of receipts and expenditure of the Provi-sional Committee and the same was adopted on the motion of Mr. B. Weber and seconded by Mr. L.N. Mace.

The Chairman announced that nominations as follows had already been received for the following positions:-

Commodore - Mr. J.E. Williams Vice-Commodore - Mr. G.S. Roberts Rear Commodore - Mr. N. Larritt Hon. Secretary - Mr. A.J. Black Hon. Treasurer - Mr. J. Douglas Hon. Race Secretary - Mr. L.N. Mace Hon. Social Sec. - Mr. L.K. Hughes Four additional members of General Committee Mr. T.F. Haselgrove Mr. L.K. Hughes Mr. B. Weber Mr. W. Hester.

The Chairman called for further nominations and there being no further nominations, the foregoing persons were declared elected.’

Messrs. Frank Ray and James Douglas, Junior were appointed Auditors of the Club.’

Thus the Club itself was fully established, and the first official Club Committee was appointed. The first full-member subscriptions were set at 3 Guineas ($6.30) and Lady Associates and Juniors 1 Guinea ($2.10), due from that date. A number of new members joined at the meeting.

It should be noted that during this period there was considerable concern on the part of those who valued the local environment, namely the foreshore area and the beach. The establishment of buildings, as well as increased vehicle, boating and other activity undoubtedly could be expected to threaten the flora and fauna. This objection at times even produced strong argument, during meetings and at other times. However those planning the Club stated that they also had a great affection for the local scene, and would take care not to extend disturbances beyond the proposed site. Gradually the objections were settled by negotiation, with reassurances that the members were most sympathetic to the preservation of the environment. No doubt however, the developments did cause some influence upon the bushland and beach adjacent to the Club.

Jim Williams states that the Club was fortunate in having a broad spectrum of expertise available behind the scenes during this period. Its foundation member-sponsors provided technical, legal, financial, medical ad-vice and there was no lack of trades and suppliers of materials. Altogether an excellent melt of know-how to

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start a Club and its facilities. To this, Jim Williams added skill as an organiser, and a zest for “getting things going”.

First Construction

As mentioned earlier, the winch block was poured during Easter, 1960. It was typical of the urgency placed on development that this event anticipated the official permit. In fact, permissive occupancy was granted officially on 25/6/60. This timing of the progress in the work, ahead of the official written approval, was a further point of frustration to the Foreshore Committee, who felt they had the official responsibility to act as the go-between, between the Lands Department and its tenant, the Yacht Club.

The first Permissive Occupancy Agreement, issued for ten years commencing from 1st January 1960, was for the use of land 150 feet by 150 feet (45.75 metres square) 66 yards (60.35 metres) off the track (now Foreshore Road) leading from the store, at a ‘lenient fee’ (rental) of 2 pounds ($4) per year. This was soon raised to $200 per year, after the building appeared.

Regarding the construction period, the records of a meeting of 11th June 1960 state:

The main object of the meeting was to report building progress and submit further plans.

The Secretary reported building progress to date and stressed the great contributions made by many mem-bers including Messrs. Roberts, Moss, Flatman, Orgill, Hughes and several others active with building oper-ations.

Donation of material. Received from:Wunderlich Ltd. (Durawall)Alf Flatman (Timber - Motor)Knox Schlapp Pty. Ltd.(Steel)A.J.Black (Iron)H.Ball (Bolts)

The winch house frame and floor was completed at this stage.

Plans: Blue prints of the proposed Club house (dated 22/5/60) were presented at this stage.

Mr. Harrison moved and Mr. Roberts seconded the motion that the plans be adopted and the work be pro-ceeded with. The motion was carried.

Discussion followed regarding the proposed work and acquisition of building materials.’

About 25 members were present - 14 paid their subscriptions on the night.

A working bee was arranged for Sunday 3rd July, 1960 for: Excavations, Setting out, Footings.’

A winch was obtained second-hand at South Melbourne. Subsequently the winch house was construct-ed around it by Geoff Roberts and his father-in-law. The levels for the construction were taken by David Hughes, then a student and subsequently Club Sailing Secretary, during his school holidays.

The main building then followed, during 1960. This is the main part of the building which stood thirty years later.

WYC’s remarkable do-it-yourself tradition really began during that year (1960). The timber and ce-ment-sheet building design required substantial posts, beams, bearers and frames, etc. This requirement was

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met by using telegraph poles, which were organised by Alf Flatman and Bill Orgill, and obtained from the S.E.C. at Kooweerup, and collected on a large trailer provided by Bill Orgill. Other large timbers as well as timber-machining requirements were provided by Alf Flatman from his mill at Syndal. Steel was obtained from yards of the completed King Street Bridge. (As a result, for example, the hand rails of the entrance stairways were made from solid steel rod). Welding was provided by Alf Flatman, Tom Warwick and Norton Miller. Cyclone Company provided old fencing, and by this means the Club yard became fenced.

Geoff Roberts, the first Vice Commodore, and Norton Miller (a professional builder) supervised the building projects, and were said to have made a ‘magnificent contribution to building construction’. Jim Williams says they ‘worked like madmen every weekend’. Tom Warwick acted as Foreman. Ken Hughes (later Commo-dore) and many others provided the effort.

By now a larger number of supporters had arrived, more members joined, and the project proceeded apace. At subsequent working bees the frames of the building were erected. The piles were set into concrete which was poured into holes three feet deep in the sand. It is said that a ‘time capsule’ (describing events of the time) was placed under one of the piles, but this has not been confirmed. The septic tank hole was dug on an extremely hot day by Ken Hughes and Owen Tyler, with plenty of advisers around, but no other assistance.

About this time the Shire President arrived, apparently to personally investigate reported destruction of the environment. He was met by Jim Williams who showed him around, assured him of intentions to minimize damage and to replace any surrounding flora as needed. They evidently parted friends.

With further typical urgency, power was obtained from ‘outside the area’, via a temporary pole. Im some sim-ilar unofficial way, water was obtained. More formally-approved services were obtained later.

Financial pressure arose again, and a further ‘run-around’ netted sufficient money to proceed. The tight monetary situation persisted over some months, until a member (the late Noel Larritt of Somers, the then Rear Commodore), gave very generously and at the time anonymously, a sum which solved the Club’s needs for quite some time.

As a result of progressive changes to the design of the building during construction, as well as requests for extensions to the land grant and other matters, the Club committee often made direct representations to the Lands Department for consultations, approvals, etc. This ran against the formal request-processing func-tions of the Foreshore Committee, which the Club saw as producing unacceptable delays. This produced understandable friction, which in turn caused some quite wild meetings, with much shouting. Also, power struggles resulted at Foreshore Comittee elections, with the foreshore supporters convinced that the yacht club was ruining the foreshore. It should be said, however, that a number of people were sincere members of both organisations, and as such had difficulty in coming to grips with the points of conflict, but did their best to resolve those matters. In addition, the speed of design and construction caused some heartburn to some members of the yacht Club, who wanted different priorities to prevail. In fact, more than once the Club committee faced motions of ‘no confidence’, the members stating that the committee should have consulted the members before making important decisions.

The challenges, urgency and the level of activity during this early period was evidently such that some com-mittee members regularly raised their suggestions and opinions very strongly. In fact, it is reported that at General Committee meetings (which were held at Royal St. Kilda Yacht Club - now R.M.Y.S.- where there was a bar) there were some very vigorous arguments. (It is reported that some even lead to fisticuffs after-wards). The subjects of contention varied from the construction methods, financial policies, lack of consul-tation with members, the Club’s effect on the environment, and so forth. One such subject was that of an anchor. Those who desired an impressive formal entrance to the Club planned to buy a large old anchor from the Royal Australian Navy, at a cost of 50 pounds or more. The Club treasury at the time had little more than that in hand. Much argument followed.....

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Against this background, Club building construction proceeded to an advanced stage during 1960. Alter-ations and additions continued.

As late as April 1963 it was proposed to construct a ‘Sailing Committee Box, 9 foot by 9 foot’, on top of the building. According to the then Commodore Jim Williams, after some work had been done he ordered the workers to ‘pull down that bloody pidgeon coop’. A more roomy version was then erected. Norton Miller, the Club’s building supervisor and committee member at the time must have suffered some sleepless nights during that period. The Commo-dore later very politely suggested on aesthetic grounds that the roof of the ‘Box’ would look better as a gable rather than a flat roof. This was remedied.

In fact, at the end, despite the above problems, it was felt by Jim Williams that the building had been complet-ed with an atmosphere of ‘enthusiasm, zest and fun’.

At least it can be said that a foundation of purpose, committment and fellowship was established in this era, which hopefully would be a pattern for the future.

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CHAPTER THREE

THE CHANGING SCENE

The Village

As one of the officially-recognized coastal villages, Balnarring Beach cannot be subject to large developments of the kind which have affected beach areas elsewhere. Furthermore the village is virtually integral with the protected foreshore area, and as such there has not been any large waterfront development. The only obvious changes are in the construction of new residences throughout the village.

A yacht club such as WYC necessarily makes some impression upon its immediate area. Access to the club, a yard, a building, and launching facilities are the essentials of boating. Details of these changes are described in this chapter.

The club quite naturally needed an access road, and use of the end of the road for parking. This fact was recognized by the Foreshore Committee from the beginning. Foreshore Road, as it is known, is still an un-gazetted track, and is strictly speaking not a legal access for any of the properties along it. It is shared with the local residents and with the Foreshore, for public usage. It has been improved over the years. WYC has contributed to its upkeep at various times. At one stage a plan was submitted for the joining of Foreshore Road to Fethers Road (along the Creek), and thereby create a through-passage, coupled with more provision for parking. This was not accepted, because it intruded into the camping and natural area, and offered an unacceptable speed-track route.

Parking was a subject of regular consultation with the Foreshore Committee as vehicle numbers increased. Modifications to the road end for this purpose have been made several times, the subject is still regularly under discussion.

The Beach

Together with the public, WYC makes use of the good sandy beach adjacent to the clubhouse. The beach provides space for launching of boats, and provides members and their families and friends a place to sit, rest, suntan, swim, observe the boating scene and is a play-ground for their youngsters.

Over the years the natural extent of the beach has changed. Around 1963, at times of high tide, heavy seas reached the club fence. A rock and timber seawall was therefore constructed by members just outside and along the fence. However the threat did not arise, and within a year or two the sand level on the beach increased. In fact, the high tide line retreated by some thirty metres during the ensuing years. This change was either brought about by natural movements in the coastline, or by dredging of the shipping channel and placing the deposits in other parts of the bay, or other causes. But it caused major changes to club launching arrangements. The outcome of these changes is described later in this chapter.

The construction of a railway and trolley launching facility made the first impact on the immediate part of the beach next to the club. It caused some obstruction to walking along the beach, and in particular required care to be taken when boats were launched and retrieved. The story of the development of these facilities is also described later in this chapter.

The construction of a jetty by the club (see later in this chapter for description of its construction), changed the local beach scene somewhat. It has provided berthing and boarding services for boats and crew over the years, and useful service as a fishing spot for the public. However despite being extended out to sea at one stage, it has been overtaken by the shifting sand which has covered a large part of its landwards end, and ren-

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dered most of it unusable.

The Club Area

Over the years the club area has changed due to various influences. Membership increases, changes in boat-ing trends and the changes brought about by nature have caused the succeeding committees to plan addition-al facilities. These factors called for additional space.

Land and Buildings

As described in chapter 2, the original piece of club land (150 feet by 150 feet) was soon seen to be inadequate to accommodate a club building, boat shelter, parking area for boats, and space for vehicles to load, unload and launch boats. In fact, requests for additional land were already being made whilst the first building was proceeding.

The land area was progressively increased in stages. Each stage meant discussions with the Foreshore Com-mittee, and the State Lands Department, generally with some obstruction and/or debate on each occasion. Naturally those who were responsible for care of the foreshore felt that further intrusions into land would en-danger the natural scene. Nevertheless, by negotation, the club obtained approvals for extensions to its area.

As described in chapter 2, the initial club building which developed around and above the winch house was substantially completed during 1960. Alterations were being made progressively. Balcony and toilets fol-lowed in 1961. In April 1963 it was proposed to construct a ‘Sailing Committee Box, 9 foot by 9 foot’. After some friction over the construction, the race box was built larger.

The original square piece of land was obviously merely adequate to accommodate the main building, plus a small yard. In 1965 this area was extended eastwards into a large rectangle. This solved the requirement for boat unloading, loading and sheltering. The boat shelters followed the main building construction. .

The Concrete Shelter

In 1965/6 the club was deeply involved with matters concerning a jetty and improvements in launching facil-ities (see later). In addition, however, the off-the-beach sailors were requesting boat shelter and storage. Not surprisingly therefore, there were differing opinions regarding priorities, from different members. A consid-erablenumber of members were unable to see the need for a new building when the existing clubhouse was merely six years old.

In 19666 the then Commodore Alan Ramsay and some of the original members felt that a long term view was needed in regard to buildings, and hence they proposed a more permanent structure, ie a new building constructed from concrete. However a set of plans was drawn up by Terry Edwards, a sailor and architect, for a two-stage building. From the start it was described as a boat shelter, and was to have a light roof construc-tion but with the capability of supporting a second storey.

The project went ahead, but the size of the building was increased during the planning period. Also the whole building (single storey) was constructed by pouring concrete piers and roof, and then filling the spaces between the piers with concrete blocks. This certainly ensured that it had adequate strength for a future top storey. As a result, the cost of the shelter exceeded the budget ($8000 instead of $6000), but nevertheless it went on to completion, and the Committee were subsequently complimented for their action. The concrete was poured late in 1967.

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A further set of plans was drawn up by Terry Edwards for additions to the top of the concrete building. These plans were put on display and were accepted and praised by the Committee, but the project did not eventuate. Other priorities including a jetty, launching improvements, etc, which had been under discussion for some time, had evidently intervened.

Alan Ramsay’s comments in retrospect are as follows:

The concrete boat shelter and its ultimate purpose was the great disappointment of my period of membership in the club. It was decided that the need for boat shelters was priority one, and after much Committee discus-sion it was suggested that we call an Extraordinary General Meeting and put up two proposals to the mem-bers to vote on; one to build a concrete structure suitably designed to form the basis of a new Club House for the near future, and the other alternative, if the members did not wish to spend so much, was to build a timber and iron structure of a suitable design and adequate for the immediate needs of the Club. We were pleased that the former was approved by the large number of members present, for it was felt by many of the older members that a new area for the non-sailors was desirable, and this would be the foundation for such a structure where these members and visitors could sit, play cards, have a ‘cuppa’, etc. away from the noise and activities of the sailors in the old Club House. At the same time the Club would have a larger area for the members to enjoy, run functions and cater for the needs of an expanding membership’.

The Committee called tenders for the structure which at that time had been suitably designed to cater for 1 or 2 extensions. One quote was submitted at a substantially lower price than the others and we considered the fact that perhaps the person concerned had made an error in his calculation, so I phoned him on the spot and asked if his quote would stand and explained the doubts of the Committee as to his ability, at that price, to carry out the job to the specification outlined. He informed me it was correct and that he had a special plan to carry out the form work and the concrete pour which would save us a lot of money.

It was confirmed, the job was done at the low price, and very well done too - a very professional effort; for me a sigh of relief. I might add that we did construct the other (wooden) shelter a short time after anyway.

‘I have no idea why the project of the new top floor building above the boat shelter was forgotten, but I rather expect it was due to lack of funds, or lack of foresight, or both. It is rather sad that it did not eventuate as it would have been a very worthwhile and practical extension to the Club.’ Alan further explains that following the completion of the concrete building Jim Williams and Terry Edwards put together the design requirements for the upstairs club room which would include a large open fireplace, kitchen area, toilets and an entry stairway from the north, etc. This design became the plan mentioned above, and which was abandonned.

Alan’s regrets may also be viewed in the light of the limited life of the existing wooden clubhouse, and the subsequent cost of repairs to that building in 1989 and onwards (see later).

The concrete shelter served for the storage of a large number of Sparrows in their heyday, and later as a trac-tor and patrol boat shelter. It has been accepted in 1991 by the authorities as suitable for development into a two-storey building. However, permission for further new building construction on foreshore land is uncer-tain. Finance may also be another limiting factor.

Other Land

At the end of 1966 the General Committee considered the purchase of three blocks of land opposite the club, thought to be available for $12000. These were seen to be of future value for parking, boat storage, buildings, etc. The club later offered $9000 total (to be paid over 10 years), but did not succeed in the purchase. The price being asked was $5000 per block, which was felt by the Committee to be ‘beyond the resources of the club’.

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Also in 1980 it was learnt that some neighbouring residential land was to be offered for sale. However on submitting the motion to members for its purchase at the expected price of $40,000, the motion was lost.

Shelter

In May 1968 it was decided to build a timber boat rack along the then east boundary (just beyond the con-crete shelter). Permit was obtained in August, and the rack was finished shortly afterwards.

Clubhouse

In May 1969 at a Special General Meeting the General Committee submitted a major plan to members to cost $7000, for construction of a western stairway, hot water service, extensions to locker and storeroom, construction of a lounge (with an extended locker room underneath), widening of the verandah, as well as improvements to kitchen, toilets, and other maintenance to the existing club house. This was to be funded by a debenture issue to members. A plan was drawn up by a member, Pam Phillips, which also included exten-sions to the race box including a radio room. All of this was approved at the Meeting. The debenture issue was fully subscribed.

A quote was received for $10,000, and a contract was let after some negotiation for $7480, on the basis of reduced requrements. Building operations commenced mid-1970, subsequently slowed down as the builder ran into financial problems, and stopped when the builder packed his tools and went off the job in November 1970. Through the assistance of Tom Robinson, John Holland Constructions provided a carpenter team and made the building fit for Opening Day, and then returned and completed the deck and kitchen, and hence made the building usable for the holiday period. Other aspects remained to be completed.

Legal action was later threatened against the club by the original contractor, and this was settled without court action. The Committee action was ratified by members at a Special General Meeting. The contractor returned, and after more assistance from the club and special agreements negotiated to extend the price to cover additional work remaining, the work was completed in March 1971.

The lounge, extended kitchen and extended verandah areas have been well used and appreciated by members since then. A fire escape stairway was added during 1973/4. These projects ultimately brought the building to the condition in which it substantially remained until 1989.

Further Land and Shelters

Storage space for boats, including the patrol boats, was still a requirement. In 1973 the club made application and obtained further extensions to the land to the east and to the north. The northerly extension, beyond the entrance gate, created an L-shaped block overall. A new permissive occupancy agreement was signed. Mem-ber Bob Kelly provided a grader, which levelled and compacted the entire extended area.

The easterly extension caused a special requirement for the club, that is, to guarantee to the Foreshore Com-mittee that the local flora would not suffer. Hence the club offered to undertake planting just outside the fence. Later, club members Don Burns, Bill Smith and Jean Robinson and others held a working bee and planted native trees along the new north and east extensions. Despite some vandalism, most of the trees grew and remained until 1990.

At the end of 1974 a further boat rack was planned, to be built along the easterly fence. Approval was sought and obtained, and it was completed in 1975, with Ralph Lloyd as ‘project manager’, Surveyor Bryan Hill set-ting out the job, and professional builder Eric McGee as ‘working foreman’ with twenty four member-labour-ers.

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The new area to the north was put into use for the parking of keel boats and the newly-growing fleet of trail-er-sailers.

During this period the club Rear Commodore Keith Davenport, a builder, contributed much towards the planning and construction of the various shelters and club additions. However he had to retire from his posi-tion in June 1973, owing to ill health. He regrettably passed away in December 1974.

The club area remained fairly unchanged during the ensuing years. Buildings were regularly maintained, mainly by volunteer labour at annual working bees. Builders Eric McGee, Ron Miller, Andy Mulholland, Greg Cleaver, and others provided supervision and much of the construction effort.

An area for social events had been the subject of discussions for some years, but generally boat storage took precedence over temporary seating areas. However in 1983 a reversal of priorities enabled a more permanent barbeque area to be constructed at the south-west corner of the club. This has proven an on-going success. A shelter constructed over the ‘kitchen’ was given the title ‘Opera House’.

Clubhouse Condition

In 1989 the Forward Planning Sub-committee was mainly considering the refurbishment of the clubhouse or its replacement, as their investigations found necessary. Fortunately the committee included a number of building-related experts, including Engineers, Architects, Builders, Quantity Surveyor, etc. Under architect Errol Phelan, the team inspected and tested the framework of the clubhouse. During their investigation, the original telegraph poles which were the main supports were examined. Eight of these were found to be seri-ously rotting at or below ground level, and other problems were evident also. The Committee was faced with a potentially hazardous situation, especially as it was just prior to the forthcoming season. It would be expect-ed that the building would be fully occupied on Opening Day and thereafter by members and their families.

An urgent decision was made to replace the deteriorated poles with substantial brick piers filled with con-crete. This method was decided upon after discussions with the State and Shire building authorities, who nat-urally pointed out the public risk aspect of the state of the building. Furthermore, other parts of the building had become inadequate to meet the various laws related to public buildings which have arisen over the years, for example the hot water service and the rear escape stairway.

The members were presented with a budget for a temporary stage of reconstruction, to make the building comply with ‘immediate safety requirements’, amounting to $27,000. At Special General Meeting in October, 1989 a levy on senior members of $130 was approved. So that the clubhouse could be used on opening day, several members of the general committee pledged $15,000, to enable restoration work to begin immediately.

Under the club Buildings Sub-Committee, and a working team led by builder Tony Sinclair, the repairs went ahead urgently before and after the meeting. The work included the brick and concrete work, insertion of new steel beams (alongside the original telegraph poles), construction of an outside escape stairway, replace-ment of the old wood-fired hot water service, re-building walls as a result of these changes, etc., etc. The work effort was largely voluntary, with outstanding supervision and hard work by Tony Sinclair. Retired builder Ray Zani provided bricklaying, Bryan Clague provided steelwork, builders Eric McGee, Ron Miller and Greg Cleaver and also Vice Commodore Geoff Spencer, Andy Mulholland other members attended to many other repairs at weekends. Tony gave credit to Steve Bradbury and apprentice electricians Ben Lazzar and Andrew McAllister for electrical work, and also to Liz and Stuart Sarrailhe for general assistance. This large do-it-yourself contribution has saved the club considerable money. Many other repairs were made by members at weekends.

The Shire Buildings Surveyor was a source of advice which was appreciated throughout. Despite these contin-ued efforts, the future viability of the old clubhouse cannot be predicted. Future re-building requirements are

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not able to be predicted, as many changing legal requirements for public buildings are likely to be encoun-tered.

As Commodore Jack Guthrie said in 1989: ‘This is not a time for recrimination or accusations of blame. Simply put, we have, as a club, for may years left alone the question of rebuilding, and have simply carried out maintenance and beautification on a self help basis. We have used the results of earlier members’ efforts with a minimum of concern for the fact that these facilities will nor last forever, and we are now faced with the reality that a major repair is necessary.’

The Beach and the Bay

Launching and Recovery

The boat launching and recovery facilities of a yacht club are obviously a major requirement, and, as men-tioned in the story of WYC’s early days, were the initial reason for its foundation.

Timber corduroy and rubber mat surfaces were tried from the beginning. Railway sleepers linked with cables were tried, but these caused a hazard to people walking to the beach. Heavy rubber mats tended to float around when strong seas arose. With the arrival of heavy boats (some of planked timber construction) a high capacity slipway was needed, which would include the means of cradling various hulls and transporting them to and from the water.

As soon as the first winch house was constructed in 1960, its temporary winch and cable were used to pull boats up the tracks or mats. The minds of the experts then went to work, and soon during 1960 a design for a railway and trolley were drawn up.

The steel-framed timber-decked trolley (‘flat-top’) was constructed at Alf Flatman’s timber yard at Syndal by Tom Warwick and eight or so members. Alf apparently had the knack of locating parts, including wheels, ‘in the bush’, and carting them home in the boot of his car. He also located the required rails at a Vic. Rail dump at Hastings. Bill Orgill located and transported poles for the railway piers.

A slipway Sub-committee was formed consisting of Alf Flatman, Jim Williams, Ken Hughes, Fred Collins. Various suggestions for improvement in the slipway were discussed, and ‘the one generally favoured being a slipway constructed on piles with rails and no decking’. Alf Flatman’s technique for setting the piers was to ‘jet’ them into the sand by forcing water under the piers, using fire hoses and nozzles. Evidently this caused much fun, as the piers floated about before being located into the desired position.

By December, 1962 a railway had been laid, the first trolley was in position. John Brehaut rebuilt and in-stalled a secondhand winch which was installed with the cable running underground to the trolley starting position. This operated until 1964/5, when the trolley was refurbished by Alf Flatman. John Brehaut again rebuilt the winch and motor.

The safe operation of the winch and trolley became a matter of concern to members. It was soon found that without care it could roll out of control or be operated dangerously fast. The Committee produced a set of By-Laws for the purpose, limiting use to authorized senior members. A set of winch-operators’ hand signals was displayed on the club wall, in order that boat owners down at the sea end could indicate when ready for towing, or when the trolley was needed to ‘stop’ urgently. These however were often misunderstood. An amplifier was installed, to allow the winch operator to call and warn people on the beach that the trolley was about to be lowered. Accidents still happened, but fortunately not to people. Large boats even fell off the trolley, particularly when the trolley came to a too-sudden stop. The club had to upgrade the winching equipment on occasions in order to comply with requirements of the State Cranes and Hoists Division. The winch house was required to be completely enclosed and locked.

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The trolley was again overhauled by Alf Flatman in 1971 and again by John McPherson, Ken Robinson and Vic Wheatland in 1973. A ‘noiseless’ gearbox for the winch was designed and built by Ken Jackson in 1976, and installed by Ken and also Vic Wheatland. In 1983 Ken also rebuilt the trolley, which suffered from regu-lar immersion in the sea. Safety electrical controls were installed by Vic Wheatland.

The story of the jetty follows in this chapter. With the progressive build-up of sand over the years both rail-way and jetty suffered, and there were three obvious recourses, namely:

To remove the sand each time, by shovel, sand-pump or otherwise, To occupy a working bee with a front-end loader, removing large quantities of sand, To lift the rails clear of the sand.

All three methods were adopted over the years, with little satisfaction. The seas quickly returned the sand to its previous level, and then progressively higher.

Jack Guthrie, in his capacity as Launching Facilities Officer during 1979 to 1986, together with Ken Jackson, Vic Wheatland and others maintained the launching equipment. He reported to the General Committee in 1980:

‘We have considered several methods of making the launching facilities functionable. They include:

I. Lifting the tracks approx. 12 inches. This would entail using 12 inch crossheads, double bolted to the existing crossheads, etc. (The upper and lower ends were by this time deep in sand). Cost approx. $2800.

II. Extend the jetty an additional 50 feet.... Cost approx. $4000.

III. Reconstruct the flat top (trolley) so that its wheels are outside and above the level of the deck. (To lower the deck). Cost approx. $1200.

IV. Completely re-lay the tracks utilizing the existing jetty piles on one side and a new row on the eastern side.... Cost $8000, (plus)’

Methods I and II were recommended, and subsequently adopted. (Construction of the jetty is described later). The rails were lifted in October, 1980. However, they required lifting again in 1983.

The following Launching Facilities Report of 1985/6 by Jack Guthrie sums up the club’s dilemma over the railway:

Getting our boats into the water and out again when the race, cruise or season is over, even at the best of times, is a time-consuming and sometimes frustrating operation.

Our present L & R Facilities have been progressively developed over the years to accommodate our ev-er-changing conditions and requirements. However, decisions concerning these facilities are not only based on what we would like and how much it will cost, they are also made with regard for what Mother Nature allows us to have.

We have learnt over the years that solutions to our problems can only be ‘short term’ solutions. If Nature does not like what we are doing, it will be changed and not always when or how we would like it. This is perhaps the most important observation I have made during my seven years as the club’s launching facilities officer.

At the beginning of this period to keep ahead of the sand built up on our beach, we lengthened the jetty an

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additional 50 ft. Next we extended the rails, on which the flat top runs, down to the end of the extended jetty. The following year the rails were lifted 12 inches by removing the existing rails from the crosshead supports, connecting additional 12 inch high crossheads, and replacing the rails. The following year the rails were again lifted 12 inches, this time by raising the piles and crossheads as well.

The sand kept coming, so the next seasonwe tried a short cut. Hundreds of tonnes of sand were removed from around the rails and jetty by a large four-wheel drive machine with an eight-yard bucket attached.

This method was much less expensive, but the benefits only lasted for about two tide changes, so again the rails were lifted. This time by inserting a 12 inch high steel spacer between the raIls aand crossheads. To keep our flat top in operation we had, over a period of three years, raised the level of the rails a total of 36 inches.

Two years ago we constructed a wooden ramp beside the rails down to the high water line, and during the same year a winch for the O.B. (off-the-beach) boats was made up and mounted opposite the O.B. gate. This ramp was so popular with O.B. and T.Y. (trailable yacht) sailors alike, that a similar ramp was built last season from the O.B. gate to high water line.

At about this time the club purchased a tractor and this ramp-tractor combination of launching and retriev-ing has proved very successful. So successful in fact that it has created another problem. The flat top and rail system which has been regarded as our main launching and retrieving facility, was used last season only on rare occasions. What can we do now with the flat top? Do we need to do anything with the flat top? There are still several members whose only means of launching and retrieving their boats is via the flat top! Can we still justify this facility which has over the years accounted for the major part of our launching facilities budget?

Getting our boats into the water and out again when the race, cruise or season is over can be a problem.’

The following season finally changed the pattern of launching. Nearly all power boats and trailer-sailers used the tractor for launching. Several owners of keel boats and large power boats left the club. Day-launching and day-sailing became the norm. The moorings became less used as a result. The railway and its flat-top trolley are now at rest under the sand.

The other ‘off-the-beach yachties’ winch at the eastern gate, installed in 1966 by Ken Jackson, proved very useful. A new winch with its controls were designed and built by Ken, and installed by Ken and Vic Wheat-land in 1983. This facility continues to provide good service.

Later the club purchased a second tractor. It was made mandatory that users be given training in the han-dling of the tractors. A club ‘licence’ was issued to those who were given the training. Provided users can avoid immersing the tractors in sea water, the tractor launching system may provide good service for some time.

Jetty

As early as 1963 a plan for a jetty alongside the slipway was submitted to the Foreshore Committee, but this was shelved ‘until such time as finances are available’. In 1964 design and specifications of a jetty and the cost thereof were discussed with the Ports and Harbours Dept. A Jetty Fund was launched, and once again the subject was raised with the Foreshore Committee in December 1964.

Also in 1963 the Committee were discussing the advantages and disadvantages of a seawall or breakwater. Presumably this would have run seawards from a point west of the club, and would possibily provide a pro-tected moorings and launching area. However there were opposing opinions, as to its viability, and effect on the shoreline, and financing. There was a possibility that Balnarring Bight may silt up as a result. The scheme

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fell through.

Commodore Lyle Williams and committee members visited, argued with, and entertained staff members of various government departments on the matter of the jetty. The details of the jetty were further discussed with the Ports and Harbours Dept. One result was that soundings were taken around the Bight, and a chart of depths was received. The result was that in the opinion of the experts, the jetty should be located 800 feet (244 metres) to the east of the club, in order to ensure permanent availability of deep water. (This may have been prophetic). However the Ports and Harbours Dept. would not commit itself until agreement had been reached between the other authorities.

One aspect which gave a problem was that such a location would have required an access road and public parking facilities, and hence damage to the foreshore, which was not acceptable to the Foreshore Committee. Furthermore, it would be of little value to the main users, WYC, in that location. Finance was not available from the Shire. However finance for such a jetty was known to be available from the state government on a 4-to-1 basis, provided that agreement could be reached between the various authorities.

In 1965 the Commodore (Lyle Williams) and Fred Collins attended a Hastings Shire Meeting. There were objections from within the Foreshore Committee and the Shire which involved one Councillor who, although also a WYC member, made his objections known strongly at the Shire meeting, and hence the Shire refused permission for the jetty. This caused considerable reaction and argument within the WYC committee regard-ing the member, who believed he was voicing the opinion of the Foreshore committee and others.

As a result, the matter of the jetty was held back, while many more visits were made to the various author-ities. In May, 1965 a special informal meeting was held between the club Committee and members of the Shire, at which ‘the Councillors were invited to ask questions on any points they were not clear on, and finally an inspection by all the members present, of the particular areas concerned’. The Foreshore committee were invited, but declined to attend.

One outcome of these discussions with the Foreshore Committee and the Hastings Shire was that the above-mentioned Councillor was ‘summoned to appear before the WYC Committee.....to explain his actions regarding the proposed jetty’. A decision was made to request his resignation, but this was reconsidered and rescinded. A number of WYC members felt thatt the Councillor had considerable support within the club. The Commodore (Lyle Williams) realised that such a decision would ‘split the club’.

There were many members who questioned the spending of club funds on a jetty. One member even went into verse, part of which follows. (His full poem is included in chapter 9.)

Its a fact I’m not in favour of the jettyFor the reasons which I now express belowAnd it’s not ‘cos I’m a yachtmanThat I’m flogging this flotsamI’m against all kinds of prejudice - goodness knows.

For the tides will do their damage that’s for sure And to fix it up they’ll raise the fees some moreWhile the yacht club looks a shamblesAll covered up with bramblesThey’ll be levying for a marina - goodness knows

And the moral of this ditty none too clearIs that the price we pay is far too dearIt’s for fun and friends and boating Not for social climb and gloating

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That the yacht club’s been established - goodness knows.

Arguments at the Shire meeting on the subject were reported at length in the local newspapers. The Shire however reversed its decision, and gave approval for the jetty.

Committee minutes of 13th January 1967 state: ‘The Commodore (Alan Ramsay) reported in detail on the progress of the Jetty Project. He said that the Committee had to change its thinking, if a jetty was to be pro-ceeded with. The only position available which has the sanction of all three bodies concerned (Foreshore, Council and Ports and Harbours) and overcomes all the difficulties encountered with the other site, is im-mediately outside our occupancy, beside the slipway on the south side. He then gave details of the jetty to be constructed as worked out by the committee and others who would be involved in its construction.’

Approval for a jetty at the club location beside the railway was finally agreed upon and obtained, and the decision to proceed was announced in November 1966. As it was not to be a public jetty, no subsidy was be provided by the government. The decision to proceed was announced in November 1966. $6500 was allocat-ed by the WYC Committee.

At a special meeting, it was reported that ‘member Tom Robinson who works for John Holland Ltd., will be able to assist the club in building a jetty outside the club, some 200 foot long, on the Flinders side of the slip-way. He can supply a suitable barge and pile-driver. Tom explained how he could arrange for John Holland Ltd. to construct the jetty on the basis of WYC paying for the use of their barge and pile-driving equipment, and for the assistance of certain staff. WYC would also provide labour, and pay for all materials. At that par-ticular time these equipments were being used for reconstructiion of the San Remo bridge.

The jetty was constructed by firstly water-jetting the posts into position. At this stage it was found that the hard shale bottom beneath the sand at the outer end of the jetty would not permit jetting as deep as desired. Therefore it was decided to widen the sea end of the structure in order to provide adequate rigidity. The jetty was finished satisfactorily in February, 1968.

In 1977 the jetty required repairs. Various timbers had rotted and were attended to. Meanwhile the com-mittee considered one of the the solutions to the silting problem, namely to extend the jetty. In June 1978 a contract for $2300 was let for the extensions. It consisted of a lighter and narrower construction, into water which was only slightly deeper, but nevertheless gave some improvement to landing and loading to and from boats.

Undoubtedly the future of the jetty lies with the state of the sand. Gradually a large portion has become fur-ther inundated with sand and is of no value. Nature will dictate any action which is practicable in the future.

Moorings

The near waters have provided very useful service for the mooring of boats. In 1962, by arrangement with the Harbourmaster, Westernport (Ports and Harbours Dept.), WYC was delegated the responsibility for allocation and administration of the moorings area and water skiing area adjacent to the yacht club and along the local bay. There was a great demand for moorings, particularly around 1981/2, influenced by the num-bers, the draught and weight of keelboats and powerboats, and because it was impossible to store all power and trailable boats in the confines of the club yard. At times there have been around 50 boats moored here, particularly in the summer holiday season. This number declined in later years, due to falling membership, and to the change of launching method to the use of tractors, the railway and trolley having ceased operation. Launching by tractor has encouraged day-launching and day-sailing, rather than long-term mooring. (See later).

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Reefs

WYC committees recognized quite early the dangers of the reefs which circle Balnarring Bight. Although they provide protection from strong seas from the southerly direction, they include several reef heads which are near or above waterlevel at high tide, and which are near the passages used by boats going outside and returning.

Earlier, after consultation with the Harbourmaster, steel pipes with markers on the top were cemented onto the most dangerous of the heads. These corroded after some years. In 1976 the general committee was re-minded of the danger, and subsequently the commitee met with the Harbourmaster and discussed the possi-bility of more permanent markers being installed. As an outcome, in 1978 the reefs were fitted with markers (designated according to international practice) on their extremities, and further markers to indicate the preferred safe passages through the reefs. These markers are now shown on official charts for the area. Also a pile was placed in position in line between the clubhouse and the south-east passage through the reefs into Balnarring Bight. In conjunction with a light which was fitted on the clubhouse, these facilities provided a lead during daytime and nighttime for boats returning to the club.

Overall

Westernport Yacht Club’s buildings and facilities have provided the basis for a great deal of boating activity over the first 30 years. Developments are on-going. Nature, as well as the boatimg habits of members, will undoubtedly dictate more changes to the club scene in the future.

The various construction efforts made over the first thirty years demonstrate that an enthusiastic do-it-your-self club spirit can achieve a great deal.

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CHAPTER FOURTHE CLUB AND ITS ORGANISATION

The story of WYC’s organisation may not provide interesting reading for everyone. However it represents the hard work of hundreds of Club members who over the years served on Committees and Sub-commit-tees. Early members such as lawyer Bert Black and stockbroker Noel Larritt put together the constitution, rules and by-laws of the Club, and together with later changes these provided the framework and rules for the many activities associated with boating at WYC.

Membership

Eligibility for membership of WYC is expressed in the Club Constitution as: ‘All amateur yachtsmen or persons actively interested in furthering the Objects of the Club’. The Objects of the Club are to promote and encourage a variety of boating activities (see rule 3, later).

The Club Committees conduct interviews with prospective members and their partners and families. In general the interviews make known the Club’s need for maximum participation in boating and in Club organisation and maintenance. In this respect the interviews have generally been frank. One member, John Harvey, says that he was favourably impressed when the Committee put this firm approach, together with the definite statement that there was no storage for boats available for two years. In spite of (or because of) this approach, and because of the friendly club atmosphere, membership grew fast over the first twenty years and then declined somewhat.

As mentioned in Chapter Two, the original 37 subscribers in 1960 quickly grew to 57. From then on the presence of an operating club with its facilities attracted many more members. In 1967 there were 152 full members, 12 associate members and 92 junior members, a total of 256. In 1970 there was a total of 400 members, (including Full Members, Associates, Juniors, Students, Life members and Provisionals). In 1980 the maximum total of 1069 members was reached. During this period Club Committees seriously expected to limit membership, as some of the Club facilities were thought to be inadequate to provide all of the re-quired services. Subsequently however the numbers stabilized, and then dropped. In 1985 there were 859 members, and in 1990 710 members. In 1988, in order to boost membership, the Committee introduced a temporary ‘reduced entry fees’ scheme, which resulted in 50 new members. In 1990 the Club, conscious of its position in the local community, made an offer to local schools to introduce students to sailing by providing talks, and then taking groups out on the water. This was partly with the intention of attracting more younger members, particularly those who would be interested in competitive sailing.

Constitution

Westernport Yacht Club’s organisation and operations are governed by its Constitution and By-laws. These were formulated originally in 1960 largely by the efforts of foundation member A. J.(Bert) Black, who used the constitutions of other clubs, for example Cowes and Royal St. Kilda (RMYS), as models.

A slightly revised issue of the Constitution and By-Laws was issued in 1966. The Constitution was changed on a number of matters at various times subsequently at Special General Meetings. During 1973 the Com-modore Andrew Adair, John McPherson and Rob Hart revised fourteen of the Rules. One particular change removed the title of ‘Lady Associate Member’ which was interpreted as the only category of membership in which ladies could join. Thereafter it became a free choice for ladies and partners to decide whether to become Full Members or Associates. In May 1975 under Commodore Tom Robinson the development of youth and development of physical fitness was added to the Club objects. Also the role of the Vice Commo-dore and the role of Rear Commodore were extended (see later). In 1986 certain rules were changed and

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added in order to comply with the requirements for the Club to become an incorporated body. A further issue of the Constitution was produced in 1987 ‘incorporating all revisions to January 1987, including those of 1973, May 1975, June 1978, June 1986, and January 1987.’

Rule 1 in the Constitution states the official title of the Club. The word Westernport was evidently chosen by the founders as being suitable for what was expected to become a leading club in the bay, rather than adopt-ing the name of the locality. (The title of the bay, however, is officially two words, Western Port). The name of the Club has had several changes. As revealed in the story of foundation (Chapter Two of this book), the original name was Westernport Yacht and Boat Club. This is confirmed by the early minutes, although some early members often referred to it as the ‘Balnarring Boat Club’. In 1963 the name was changed to Western-port Yacht Club. Some early members had contacts with persons in the right places who were in a position to inquire into the possibility of the title ‘Royal’ as a prefix to the Club title. This was looked into, but the Club evidently did not meet the conditions, and this possibility failed to eventuate. In 1986 the Club became an incorporated body, and the name became Westernport Yacht Club Incorporated.

The designs of the official Club burgees (rule 2) were and adopted at the beginning of the Club. They were chosen by the first Commodore, Jim Williams and the first Rear Commodore, Noel Larritt, who looked at various other club designs and decided to adopt a pattern similar to that of the Royal St. Kilda Yacht Club (now Royal Melbourne Yacht Squadron) on a red background, with a ‘W’ superimposed.

The Club’s statement of Purpose of Association or Objects are expressed in the Constitution in Rule 3. These objects are as follows:

A. To promote and encourage yacht building, the sport of yacht sailing generally by amateurs and to encour age yacht racing by all acceptable and usual proper means. B. To promote and encourage the building and ownership, sailing and operation of boats and water craft of all kinds (whether powered or not) by amateursC. To promote and encourage the sport of angling and fishing. D. To acquire and maintain suitable club premises to provide facilities for the members of the club and their guests. E. To supply refreshments for members and to apply for, hold and renew from time to time any necessary certificates of registration as a club and any licences or permits for the sale and disposal of liquor within the meaning of the licensing acts of the State of Victoria.

These Objects obviously encourage a wide variety of boating activities. In 1975 when Tom Robinson was Commodore a further Purpose was added: ‘To promote and encourage the personal development of youth and to encourage the participation of all members in boating activities for pleasure and for the development of physical fitness’.

In its other Rules the Constitution specifies the procedures for Annual General Meetings, Special General Meetings and the election of Club officers and Commitees. It also defines other matters such as types of membership and other membership matters, etc.

As an adjunct to the Constitution, for the day-to-day running of the Club and its operations, a set of Club By-Laws exist. These contain rules for boating activities, launching facilities, trailers, boat parking, care of buildings, etc. These by-laws have had additions and amendments made over the years, particularly when Club facilities have been changed or new ones introduced.

Management and Organisation

The Club has employed basically the same type of organisation since its foundation. The management of the Club is in the hands of the General Committee. The following Club officers are appointed by a vote of senior members at the Annual General Meeting (AGM) each year:

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Flag Officers: Commodore, Vice Commodore, Rear Commodore.

Officers: Hon. Secretary, Hon. Treasurer.

In addition to the above officers, the General Committee comprises the Hon.ÿSailing Secretary, Hon. Pow-er Boat Captain, Hon. Patrol Boat Captain, Hon. Social Secretary, Hon. Assistant Secretary and three other members of the Club.

It has become traditional that the Vice Commodore serves for two seasons and then progresses to the posi-tion of Commodore. The Commodore, in turn, serves for two seasons.

The Constitution defines the duties of the General Committee and its members. In particular, the duty of the Commodore is to ‘lead the Club in the furtherance of the Club’s objectives, to ensure that all the affairs of the Club are conducted within the Rules of the Constitution and By-Laws, to preside at all meetings and to take command of the fleet.’ The Commodore has nominal overall supervision of all functions within the Club, and is directly responsible for Secretarial matters, which are carried out by the Hon. Secretary, as well as for Treasury matters, which are carried out by the Treasurer.

In 1974/75 a plan was submitted to the General Committee by Commodore Tom Robinson, which shared most of the organisational responsibilities for Club functions (except Secretarial and Treasury) between the Vice Commodore and the Rear Commodore. In 1975 when the Constitution was amended, the duties of the various sub-committees were included. The Vice Commodore’s duties were stated to ‘chair the Finance Sub-committee’. The Rear Commodore’s duties were stated to ‘act as the chairman of the Sailing Subcommittee and to lead the Sailing Subcommittee in the running of the Club’s sailing activities’. Each of these duties were in addition to assisting the Commodore.

This plan has been followed in general since then. However some variations have been adopted by General Committees under different Commodores over the years. Later Commodores adopted a flexible approach to delegation of duties, ie, according to individual capabilities in terms of knowledge, time available, and inter-est.

The original title of Race Secretary was changed in 1968 to Sailing Captain. In the 1975 changes the function of Sailing Captain was discontinued and Sailing Secretary was re-introduced, with the duty of ‘assisting the Rear Commodore in the running of the Club’s sailing activities’.

The position of Secretary requires a great amount of effort, knowledge and time. In 1988/89 the Secretary’s (Joe Waxman’s) duties were defined. Basically he was to handle all outgoing and incoming correspondence, be the custodian of the Constitution and By-laws, be watch-dog of the Committee and ‘man friday’ to the Commodore, and was to acquaint Club and Committee members of their responsibilities and deadlines. However, in addition, he maintained the duty officer’s log book noting reports and action therefrom, attend-ed to opening day invitations and responses, monitored fuel stocks, attended meetings with the Commodore and others, arranged printing of sailing program and co-ordinating other printing, prepared, typed and distributed minutes of all Committees, liaised with the Foreshore Committee and other authorities, oversaw clubhouse cleaning, replenished the first aid kit, and organised septic tank clean-out. A varied list!

One past Commodore, Lyle Williams, has commented that his years as Commodore were largely made possi-ble because of the Secretarial assistance received by him from Bill Simon. This no doubt reflects the feeling of many past Commodores.

Most Secretaries have served for four years. A list of Hon. Secretaries is included in the Appendix at the rear of this history. In 1986 the Secretary, Lynne Cox, became the first lady Club Officer. Joe Waxman took over Secretaryship in 1987 and is still serving beyond the period of this history.

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It should be said that the Commodore and the Club officers spend an enormous amount of their private, business and professional time in the organising of the Club’s affairs, including attending many club meetings and with external organisations.

The Club year is set by the Constitution. It originally ended at 30th June, and the annual general meeting was held during August each year. In 1968 it was realised that this arrangement did not provide sufficient time for the various Committees to be appointed, and for the various programs to be put together and published in time for the ensuing season. The Club year was therefore changed to end at 31st March, and the Annual General meeting (AGM) is currently held around the end of May each year.

Financial

As described in Chapter Two, the financial needs of the Club for construction during the foundation era were met by donations (sometimes loosely at the time referred to as loans), as and when needed. First Com-modore Jim Williams states that ‘the organisation had no capital and no borrowed money, surely a situation which in retrospect was rather odd and perhaps unique.’

The Constitution states in paragraph 18A:‘The funds of the Club shall be derived from entrance fees and annual subscriptions as determined by the Members at a General Meeting, from donations, and from levies, other fees and other sources all as deter-mined by the General Committee from time-to-time.’

Measures of Club growth may be by its membership numbers and by its income (with allowances for infla-tion). Membership growth is described above, under ‘Membership’. Total income grew according to Club needs; ie full membership fees were adjusted from three guineas ($6.30) (lady associates paid one guinea!) in 1960, to $20 in 1970 and to $100 in 1990. Subscriptions and members fees were usually 75% to 80% of total income. Income grew as shown by the table below. The policy regarding fees was changed during the 1980s to gradually introduce charges for boat registration and for services, for example boat storage. The policy was based on the ‘user pays’ principle, which was felt to be fairer than simply a membership fee. In certain years other notable items of income were received, such as profits from social events amounting up to $3000 in some years, government grants towards rescue services, etc. Club income (and expenses) continued to grow since 1980 despite membership losses.

The following figures have been taken from Treasurer’s Annual Reports as presented at Annual General Meetings.

Year Income Total Expenses

Net Assets (Member Funds)

1964\65 $ 5508 $ 2079 $ 149881969\70 $ 6313 $ 7835 $ 211291974\75 $ 11487 $ 12608 $ 282511979\80 $ 23884 $ 23630 $ 252791984\85 $ 36737 $ 33655 $ 269311989\90 $ 54961 $ 37902 $ 61760

From 1970 to 1990 Club expenses grew from $7835 to $37,902, reflecting increased services such as radio, crash boats and a number of other cost rises, as well as inflation. See Table below. Costs which have risen considerably over the years are launching facility maintenance costs (which have fluctuated greatly), as well as patrol boat maintenance, Foreshore rental, and insurances. Ex-Treasurer John Collyer recalls that after the Ash Wednesday fires in 1983 it was found nearly impossible to insure a club building in such a location

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as WYC’s. Finally, cover was obtained at a great increase in premiums. Launching facility maintenance costs have always been irregular, falling as low as $400 in one year, with an earlier ten-year peak of $4574 in 1980/81. They also reached a sudden $8697 in 1990/1. Patrol boat maintenance costs have also been irregu-lar, and reached a peak in 1983/84 of $7427.

Year Insurance Patrol Launch-

ing Boats1969/70 406 - 14001974/75 1221 1005 5431979/80 2837 1585 7561984/85 5241 4719 19941989/90 4151 3155 3320

Temporary needs have been met by debenture issues, and these have been repaid from income, usually with-in 5 years. During the period 1964 to 1972 three loans were floated to members, namely in 1964 a jetty loan which ultimately reached $4009, in 1969 a building loan of $7000, and in 1971 a patrol boat loan of $1600. These loans were all repaid by 1974. The Treasurer at the time, Ron Cleaver, feels that the later absence of loans from members for specified purposes has removed some of the atmosphere of challenge from the Club, ie, that the presence of a target is beneficial.

The Club Treasurers have had to recognize the naturally deteriorating nature of many of the club assets. Depreciation therefore has been set relatively high at times. The clubhouse has generally been depreciated by 30% per year, the jetty by 15% to 60%, plant and equipment by 60% to 70%.

In 1987 the Department of Conservation, Forest and Lands proposed a new scale of rental for clubs located on foreshores of ‘2 1/2% of site value’. This would have multiplied Club rental greatly (from $1800 to $4000 per year). This was considered by the Committee to impose a totally unwarranted penalty on clubs which need access to the water to provide sport, to provide rescue services, and to provide recreation and training to a large number of people. No offer of improved facilities or services or the like was made by the Government. The matter is under disussion, and it is hoped that a more reasonable basis may result.

Over the period from 1969 to 1989 the net assets of the Club were practically unchanged. However in 1990 the discovery of the drastic condition of the Club building and the threat of considerable reconstruction or re-building costs caused the General Committee to freeze funds, impose a levy on members and create a building fund. This has therefore created a building fund for further renovations in the future, and has accordingly influenced the net assets figure for 1990. By the generosity and effort of members and the co-op-eration of the Shire Building Surveyor, the repairs have been completed in stages and costs have been kept to a minimum. In fact from an estimate of $27,000, by expertise and willing effort by members (see Chapter Three), this was kept to $15,000.

The first Club Treasurer was Jim Douglas Junior (for 3 years). Other Treasurers served for varying periods. Tom Robinson served for four years and introduced a form of budgetary control as well as presentation of accounts which showed current and previous years’ figures. Ron Cleaver served for four years, and John Collyer served for 10 years, during which time the Club went through a heavy maintenance period in regard to the buildings, yard, storage areas, launching facilities, patrol boats and the jetty.

Frank Ray became Auditor in 1961 and served for 12 years. Harold Weber has served for 16 years to 1991.

Computers at WYC

The following has been provided by ex-Commodore Peter Cooper:

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The advent of personal computers at WYC has dramatically altered two areas of activity. The first is con-cerned with maintaining a register of members, their families, their subscription matters and their boats, while the second involves the previously onerous task of scoring and handicapping race results.

As Rear Commodore (1985-87) I felt that the Club should become self sufficient and purchase its own com-puter for race results. At this time Club records were maintained on a mini-computer operated by the Victo-rian Tennis Association (VTA). Computerisation of our Club records first commenced in 1979 when Weber & Crawford, already acting as the Club Secretariat, used their own facilities. Later, an imminent change in computer by Weber & Crawford meant that the Club was going to incur significant reprogramming costs. Treasurer John Collyer, using a bit of lateral thinking, realised that by treating boats as people, we could use the facilities of the VTA to our advantage. The initial work in putting the data in the VTA mini-computer took up a lot of John’s time in the first year, but was relatively easy to update thereafter. The rationale for the purchase of our own computer and printer was not based on the costs of using the VTA service but only on the savings in time to the handicappers (myself and Tom Hood at that stage) and the ability to have results posted on the board in the afternoon of the race. In the winter of 1986 the General Committee approved the purchase of an IBM compatible Personal Computer with 640K of RAM and two floppy disk drives, a VDU and a printer.

It was evident from the outset that the computer could also be used to establish a database of all membership information such as that already operated by the VTA, but at a reduced cost, and with possibly wider applica-tions. Unfortunately, the cost of transferring the information on the VTA machine by disk to the Club’s new PC was prohibitively expensive and it had to be done, like most things around Westernport Yacht Club, with “volunteer labour”. Consequently, I started on the task of manually entering over 800 individual records, with each record consisting of a membership number, first name, last name, phone number, address, city, postcode, boatname, boat type, division number and storage allocation. A few months later we had discov-ered many powerful features that we now had at our disposal. For example, we could now rapidly produce mailing labels, which opened the way for the Club administration to communicate very quickly with all the membership (such as through Westport Bound), or selected groups such as Cadet sailors, or those living in the Balnarring postcode area, and so on. Initially we retained the services of the VTA until we had the data-base working satisfactorily and until such time as I could demonstrate that our system was capable of produc-ing the annual subscription notices. This was accomplished, and for the last five years the Club has used its own database, computer and printer to produce the notices.

Bob Hibbins had been looking after the Club’s and members’ marine radio licences with the help of John Benwel,l who had established a database of radio records using the same software as the Club was now using for general records. I took over the radio database as a part of my function as Vice Commodore. We decided that it would be more efficient to incorporate all the radio information in the main Club database. This was achieved.

My biggest concern since the Club has maintained membership records on its own computer was that I was the only person who new in detail the operation of the database and how to maintain and update records. Hence we have now trained those who need these facilities to operate the computer and its programs’.

Staffing of Operations

On Sundays and holidays throughout the year it is necessary to appoint a staff of 15 or more each day to supervise and control various operations. Since the 1960s WYC developed the policy of involving as many as possible of all the members in these duties. Other clubs prefer to regularly use the services of a few who are undoubtedly greater experts, eg for the operation of patrol boats, radio, etc. The advantages of greater participation by as many members as possible brings the disadvantages of greater risks of damaged equip-ment, less expert operation, and so on. However as a result of good training, WYCs operations have been very satisfactory. Our method has the added great advantage that a wide group of members obtain a feeling

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of participation, as well as valuable experience. Since 1967 ladies have been participating in race-box duties, radio operation, and crewing of patrol boats.

Rosters are therefore issued annually for the following functions on each day:

Duty Officer (overall supervision), Sailing Officer, Race Box staff (2), Radio Operator, Patrol Boat Skippers and Crew (2 boats, 5 members), Lunch and Afternoon Tea (4 ladies).

From 1964 the Committee appointed yard supervisors, who were responsible for keeping an eye on car park-ing, launching, general compliance with the by-laws, tidiness and security, and so on, around the Club yards. Supervisors Charles Douglas, Ken Snell, Alan Lade, Ian Wisken and Les Bristow provided good service over the years.

Club Journal

The Club medium of communication to its members, ‘West Port Bound’ (WPB), was originally put together by John McPherson (later Commodore), in 1965. In the December 1965 issue he described its aims as fol-lows:

It has been quite good fun attempting this bit of journalism off and on during the year and sending out these copies to all members to keep them informed of the happenings of the Club. By the response to the different appeals and notices of meetings etc., (we judge its success) and it is most gratifying. At times I get stuck for items of news and goings-on, etc. If any member wishes to write to me at any time offering any information to publish I will do so. I don’t always wish to publish the do’s and don’t’s of the Club but I feel it makes it much easier for members if they know just what to do at the Clubhouse and the yard with parking of cars and launching of boats.’

In 1965 ‘WPB’ contained news from the Committee, as well as racing, powerboating and social programs, younger set news, news of members and families, and jokes; much as today’s issues. Later it included many articles of interest to boating people, including some regular contributers, for example ‘Capt. Veracity’ (who can be revealed to be Colin Redman), who accented activities of the larger boats, and others who wrote about sailing techniques, handicapping, protesting, mooring methods, anchoring, as well as cruising experiences. There was, and still is, a constant need to receive articles on Club and boating activities.

The journal was issued as near as possible to monthly, but it was issued in particular to give members ample notice of forthcoming events, for example the Club meetings (AGM, etc), as well as sailing, powerboating, social and younger set programs. It has usually been prefaced by ‘From The Helm’, a report from the Com-modore, which is used to give emphasis to particular areas of Club activities, Committee plans, successful programs, future programs, behaviour, and so on. ‘WPB’ has also contained racing results, and Annual Reports.

The role of Editor of ‘WPB’ was filled at first by John McPherson (three years). Sailors Rob Hart, Steve Blaxland and Geoff Ray were joint Editors for several months. They had previously issued ‘Yachties’ Yak’, which they described as a ‘thought-provoking’ magazine. They announced in ‘WPB’ that they would ‘pull no punches, nor do we intend to offer apologies to members on whose toes we tread by daring to write what we think, but we are only to0-o happy to print the other side of the story’. Ray Cox was Editor for eight and a half years, then Neil McDonald, Graham Enting, Ian Oakey, Chris Hale, Jim Douglas (three years), and Polly and Stuart Ashburner. Jim Douglas says he established a useful policy of ‘not letting the truth get in the way of a good story’.

Over the years ‘WPB’ was printed by various organisations. Over a considerable period, ex-Secretary Brian Holland and his wife Dora printed the journal during and after the period when they were members.

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Radio Communications

During 1965/66 the Club carried out experiments in the use of radio for communication between the Club (race box), patrol boats and members’ boats. No means of communication was available previously.

At first, war-time radios were tried, and discontinued. Later, ‘walkie talkie’ (hand-held) radios, as they were known, were then used with reasonable success. These used the frequency of 27.240 Megahertz (MHz), and WYC adopted the call sign of ‘High One’. Bryant Weber and George Benwell lead the Club experiments. During 1967 a ‘safety radio system’ was installed, which coupled the radio to the PA system, so that all calls could be heard in the yard. The type of radio which was used developed into the ‘CB’ radios. As the use of these by the public became widespread, the Department of Communications was pressed to provide separate special frequencies (channels) for inshore boating, in order to avoid interference. These are the 27 Mhz boat-ing frequencies which have subsequently been widely used. More recently also the Club installed maritime vhf (very high frequency) radios which provide improved clarity of reception, with additional channels for use at busy times, These radios also provide communication with the Police and other organisations, partic-ularly in emergency situations.

From the beginning the Westernport Safety Council (WSC) (see later in this chapter) lead the development and organisation of Club radio stations, call signs, calling procedures and negotiations with the Government regarding licensing, frequency allocation, and other matters.

Radio proved to be an outstanding service to our boating activitites in general, including race control, boat-to-boat messages and, most importantly, on many occasions for urgent rescue operations.

WYC has also provided an after-hours radio watch on behalf of the Club and WSC, on the 27 MHz inshore boating channels, on maritime vhf (very high frequency) channels for local communication; and on mari-time hf (high frequency) channels for longer distance communication. At WYC this service has mainly been provided over the years by George Benwell.

WYC made the installation of a radio transceiver mandatory for trailable yachts (T/Ys) participating in races, Radios have become recognized as a vital safety devices, almost equal to life jackets. Most powerboats have also joined the Club radio network.

The maintenance of Club radios and public address systems, and so on, have been ably provided over the years by George and John Benwell, and John Dillon.

Liaison with Other Organisations

Westernport Safety Council (WSC)

As the formation of WSC has had such an impact on the life of WYC, it is relevant to quote the story of WSC’s growth.

As a result of various waterborne emergencies on Western Port Bay a number of prominent citizens met to investigate the need, and to co-ordinate the rescue facilities which were available. Sir Douglas Menzies, a member of Point Leo Yacht Club, convened a meeting of all interested parties, and after considerable prelim-inary work a regional body was created in 1967 and named Westernport Safety Council. Bryant Weber and George Benwell from WYC played an early part in its formation.

The Royal Australian Navy, Victoria Police, Dept. of Transport, Ports and Harbours eleven Yacht Clubs situat-ed on the bay, Aust. Volunteer Coastguard, Angling Clubs and professional fishermen, have direct representa-

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tion on the Council. WSC’s Constitution states its objectives, as follow:

1. To preserve and safeguard the lives of those who use the waters of Westernport for boating, surfing, swimming, fishing, or otherwise by the provision and maintenance of rescue boats, beacons, lookouts, communications and other facilities. 2. To establish and maintain an organisation for the effective use of the safety facilities provided. 3. Generally to promote safety on the waters of Westernport and to co-operate with other bodies to that end. Initially a comprehensive survey of all available rescue facilities was made and analysed. One area highlight-ed was the need for suitable off-the-beach rescue craft to be located at strategic places, and with quick call-out times. This was achieved by funding patrol boats at clubs around the bay (for example ‘Balnarring Patrol’ at WYC) and by arranging trained skippers and crew to be available at short notice.Those boats which were initially funded by WSC by agreement became the property of the club after one year.

In a number of past years the State Government made a state-wide distribution of funds for water safety ser-vices. WSC co-ordinated the distribution of those funds which related to rescue facilities at Western Port Bay clubs. Most yachting and angling clubs around the bay have received considerable assistance in the funding of equipment by this means over the years.

To co-ordinate all the available rescue facilities around Western Port Bay a comprehensive radio network was needed. The establishment and organising of radio networks formed one of the largest aspects of WSC’s ac-tivities. Base stations were established at twelve yacht and angling clubs around the bay, and at the Harbour-master’s office, with each base operating its own network of mobile (boat) stations; totalling approximately 1000 mobiles in all. WSC provides overall guidance, supervision and liaison with the authorities. This co-ordinated planning of Club radio networks as introduced in Western Port is believed to have been unique in Australia. An after-hours radio watching service now exists around Western Port Bay, which enables skip-pers of boats to advise their destination, expected return times, etc. The service also takes other messages, particularly those relating to emergencies, and advises regarding weather conditions.

All search and rescue activities are normally under the control of the Victoria Police (Water Police), with which WSC enjoys close co-operation. Collectively the affiliated organisations provide a 24-hour per day rescue service which is available at call by Victoria Police, or by local request.

WYC has continued its involvement with Westernport Safety Council, and has maintained membership and representation on sub-committees. George Benwell has continued active participation in Council meetings, WYC Commodores have generally attended meetings, Ray Cox was WSC Chairman for three years, and John Dillon has served as chairman of the radio Sub-committee.

WYC’s accepted area of responsibility for rescue services extends primarily from Sandy Point to Flinders. WYC’s capacity to respond to requests for assistance has been tested and proven many times over the years. The story of our patrol boats and their activities is described in Chapter Six of this history.

Western Port Association of Yacht Clubs (WAYC)

WAYC was formed in 1975 very much at the instigation of Tom Robinson when he was WYC Commodore. Its Objects and Organisation are stated as follow:

Objects:1. To assist yacht clubs in Westernport Bay in the safe enjoyment of boating activities.2. To assist member clubs in the self-co-ordination of their boating activities and interests.3. To assist member clubs in the representation of their common interests when so required.

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Organisation:1. Each yacht club/squadron to be represented by the Commodore with an alternate member normally the Vice-Commodore.2. At least two meetings to be held each year.3. A Chaiman to be elected annually with the general principle of the position of the Chairman to be rotated.4. The club/squadron whose Commodore is chairman to provide a secretary and administrative services at no cost to the W.A.Y.C.5. Action to be general concensus as far as possible. Where voting is necessary each club/squadron to have one vote.

WYC has played a leading role in the Association since then. WAYC has now been adopted by Victorian Yachting Council (VYC) as its Area Commitee. The regional concept, useful for organising inter-club events, etc., has now been adopted by VYC throughout Victoria.

Commodores of WYC have served as chairman of WAYC, and Joe Waxman has served as Secretary.

Victorian Yachting Council (VYC)

As the co-ordinating body for yachting in Victoria, VYC represents all yacht clubs thoughout Victoria, and WYC retains affiliation with it.

There have been periods when it was considered that there was an undue financial burden on the Club’s members in VYC’s affiliation fees. WYC has members with powerboat, fishing, skiing and purely social inter-ests, as well as those with yachting interests. Hence fees for total Club membership (on a per capita basis) were considered unwarranted. However the Club continues to support VYC as the peak boating body in Victoria.

Over a number of years a number of WYC members have been involved in VYC Sub-committees, including its Small Boat Sub-Committee.

OVERALL

A number of remarkable Club construction activities took place over the first thirty years. These develop-mental activities demonstrate the great efforts made by members, the organising capacity of Club officers, and the capability of enthusiastic and hard-working Committees.

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CHAPTER FIVESAILING

Why Go Sailing?

Ask any Sailor. In light airs, when the wind first fills the sails and the boat slips quietly away leaving a gentle bubbling track behind, the crew experience a magical feeling. In high winds, the boat becomes a wild thing which has to be tamed. Lifting off and surfing is another magical experience. Thanks to WYC, many have been introduced to these pleasures, and to the skills of sailing.

The Club’s program and sailing activities bring all ages to the beach and on the water every Sunday and on holidays. They love ‘messing around with boats’.

The Founders and Their Boats

Before the Yacht Club commenced, the yachtsmen who founded WYC sailed from the present Club part of the beach in a variety of boats, some of which had interesting and remarkable backgrounds. Jim Williams described himself as the ‘unofficial Commodore of the motley old fleet’ which preceded the Club. It may be of interest to include a description of these early boats and their owners.

Foundation Commodore Jim Williams with family and friends sailed one of the earliest Olympic Flying Dutchman class boats, ‘Contessa II’, at Balnarring and elsewhere. In 1962 he bought ‘Canopus’ from Norm Wilkinson (for description see later). ‘Canopus’ was sailed throughout Western Port Bay and Bass Strait. The rations for crew were reported to be canned beef, biscuits and a bottle of port. As these were common sup-plies in those days, someone suggested that the Club name should be ‘Western Yacht Port Club’! In the early days ‘Canopus’ was the Club race start boat.

Foundation Rear Commodore Noel Larritt was an ‘old salt’ with sailing experience going back to 1914. He was one of the small group who sailed at Balnarring before the Club was formed. He received the first sail number in the Club, ‘W1’, and was most keen about protocol and correct formalities. He was a very experi-enced sailor, and many of the early members received their training from him. By his personal example, in those days all yachts raised their own burgee immediately on departure from shore or moorings, and were also obliged to do so when starting in a race. He was responsible for introducing much of WYC’s sailing organisation and arrangements.

At Balnarring Noel Larritt first sailed a Jubilee, a 1935 18 foot racing class wooden carvel-built sloop named ‘Amana’, which he frequently moored off his home at Somers. The Jubilees were originally open boats, timber planked, and they required a ‘bailing boy’ to be included in the crew when sailing in rough conditions. They were a popular racing boat class in Port Phillip Bay prior to World War II. When brought to Western Port, Amana had a cabin-top fitted to her, to provide enough shelter for cruising. Noel and his various crew sailed her around French Island, Phillip Island, and beyond. The boat changed owners within WYC two or more times, including being owned by Ron Farnill, and in 1981 she finally run ashore from moorings and broke up on our beach. Ron managed to salvage some parts as mementoes of the old boat. Noel subsequently bought ‘Joanna’, a Westwind 20, an early fibreglass yacht with twin heavily-ballasted keels, which was sailed in early Club races.

The Club’s second Rear Commodore was Norm Wilkinson. He was a teacher, and had long-term family connections in Balnarring. He had sail number ‘W2’ on ‘Canopus’ a 19-foot carvel-built hard-chine timber ‘Gannet’ class sloop. She displaced 2600 pounds (1180 kg) including 500 pounds (226 kg) in her keel, with a

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small centre plate draft was 3 foot 6 inches. She was said to be ‘first of all a comfortable boat for cruising, and any aspirations to racing were the result of an easily-driven hull coupled with an adequate sail plan’. Norm sold Canopus to Jim Williams in 1962, and then sailed ‘Seasalter’, a deep-keeled, double-ended masthead sloop, which he moored at Hastings.

The Club’s ‘W3’ sail number was given to horticulturist Dick Thompson, who sailed a deep-keel plywood ‘Top Hat’ class boat ‘Luana’, which, because of its draft was generally moored at Hastings. However it was sometimes brought into Balnarring at high tides.

John Fethers loved all aspects of the sea. He owned an early heavy gaff-rigged Boomerang design boat (sail number ‘W4’), which was shared with many of the Club members. John went to London to complete his FRCS (Surgery) studies, and on return he found that the boat had rotted, and decided that a little surgery was needed on the boat. He cut a metre off the stern, and renamed her ‘Boomer’. He also removed the mast and added an engine. John and family used her for some seasons, including providing crash boat service for rac-es. He returned to sailing by building ‘The Hobbit’, one of the first Mirror dinghies in Australia, and became the first President of the Mirror Association. Daughter Bronwyn was required as ballast, and had to sit on the leeward side even in the heaviest of weathers. In 1967 he ordered a modified plywood design similar to the ‘Caprice’. He called the design ‘Capriole,’and named the boat ‘Boomer II. He and Bronwyn and other family members sailed in races and cruised, reportedly having many hair-raising adventures. He later tried other craft, including an Explorer 18 and an Adventure 22. John always sailed with a relaxed and easy-going atti-tude to the sea and weather. Bronwyn reports that he was an excellent and competitive sailor when he needed to be, but was known to have a sleep half-way through a race when he felt like it.

These early boats came mainly from traditional timber designs. One such was ‘Kylie’, an ex-Sydney Twen-ty-one Foot Restricted class, built of cedar planking on oak ribs. In her original form she needed two baling boys and at least six crew to handle her huge spinnaker and gunter-rigged mainsail. With her bowsprit, ca-noe bow and long stern she measured 25 feet overall. There was no built-in ballast nor keel. When tacking in races bags of sand were sometimes moved from side to side. The class was evidently a popular one with the wealthy. ‘Kylie’ won many trophies in NSW and Port Phillip. In 1934 a storm blew up in Port Phillip which wrecked many of the class. With a cabin and a Volvo diesel added, Kylie was brought to Western Port, and from then on at WYC she was used mainly for cruising and fishing over many years. Her owners at Western-port, Dowell and Betty Hardwick who were both teachers, described her as ‘Queen of the Balnarring Seas’. Betty provided Kylie’s own autobiography for ‘West Port Bound’, which concludes:

‘When you see me, stately as a queen, running in the wind in my magnificent spinnaker flight, or dipping my bowsprit gently to the on-coming seas, you might think - ‘Speed alone is not all that a boat can claim; ro-mance, prestige, vintage and solid timber, that’s Kylie’.

John Brehaut provided much of the engineering which went into the early winching gear which hauled boats up the sand and the railway. He brought one of the 18 foot Queenscliff ‘couta boats to WYC, and named her ‘Ronrico’ (a brand of rum). A cabin was added and she cruised around the bay and participated in the early ‘keelboat’ races. John also took ‘Ronrico’ around Philip Island for Sunday cruises.

Some early boats sailed beyond Western Port. Psychiatrist John Newton sailed Maria, an early ply-wood 20-foot Jedda, to Deal and Erith Islands in Bass Strait in the summer holiday periods. In December 1971 George Blaxland (Retired Commander,R.N.) and Jim Williams took a similar wooden Jedda ‘Fulmar’ to Wilson’s Promontory. Others followed there later.

Sailing Calendar

From the beginning the Club chose to run races on Sundays, mainly due to the large number of students who had other sports or studies on Saturdays, but also because a number of the senior members had business commitments on Saturdays. Those who had conflict of obligations on Sundays generally managed to resolve

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this. One young member at the time is quoted as saying ‘I would rather have a good sail than a good soul’.

An additional program of events was, and still is, provided during the summer holiday period, including special race series and novelty events.

The Club Opening Day has been kept as late as practicable to allow for school pre-examination studies. Opening Days have always been special occasions. The first season was opened in December 1960 by Major Robert Lindsay, then MHR for Flinders, who was the initial patron of WYC. Many eminent personalities have subsequently opened WYC seasons. The occasions are opportunities for visits by the Commodores and their wives from other neighbouring clubs, and by representatives of other Westernport authorities and or-ganisations. After a luncheon there follows a Sail-Past, and a race. Ex-Commodore Bob Hibbins recalls the Opening Day race of 1976, a beautiful day, when 75 boats entered and made a magnificent spectacle as they ‘sailed past’ the official boat. Many skippers and crew dressed up and decked their boat out with flags.

Off-the-Beach Boats

The first small off-the-beach fleet at Balnarring included a Flying Dutchman and two VJ (Vaucluse Junior) class boats, and shortly after, a Gwen 12. These were of wooden and plywood construction, and had cotton sails. Commodore Jim Williams recalls a number of other yachts of indifferent design and condition, many of which gave him trouble owing to their unsatisfactory state of safety, ‘but it was all in good fun’. The second Commodore, Ken Hughes, was a very early builder of Sabots. He sailed a VS (Vaucluse Senior) at Balnarring.

Gwens 12s

Very early the 12 foot Gwen class became very popular and provided most of the class competition for some years. It was described in ‘West Port Bound’ as ‘one of the best sailing dinghies that there is for racing’. ‘We would warn you that the Gwen is a real sailor’s boat, and as such is a thoroughbred off the prolific Cunning-ham’s drawing board.’ A group of parents from WYC went to Rosebud and bought several Gwens for their sons and daughters. These formed the nucleus of the class.

For the first two seasons five to six of these Gwens sailed and raced at WYC. These were ‘G.P.S’, skipper Shel-ley Arnold and crew Ian Ball; ‘Five Pennies’, skipper Graham Flatman; ‘Nocturne’, skipper Bruce Allan and crew Doug Allan; and ‘Jolly Roger’, skipper Bill Orgill Jnr. and later Ray Veal. During the earlier ‘60s there was no thought of wind speed racing limits, and no crash boats were expected. The yachties acquired an old 12 foot open clinker-built rowing dinghy, to which they fitted a 5-horsepower engine, and this served for buoy-laying. Starting was by gun and flags, from the clubhouse. Ken Hughes recalls sitting on a chair on the balcony with a shotgun loaded with blank cartridges. (There were occasions when stocks of blanks ran out, and proper cartridges had to be substituted). The starting line was immediately off the clubhouse.

‘Nocturne’ held the Club championship from 1961/2 to 1967/8. She was built by Lang of Sorrento, and she also appeared in the film ‘On the Beach’, which depicted the end of the world after a disaster. The female star, Ava Gardner, sat on Nocturne’s deck during filming at Frankston. This part of the boat’s deck was thereafter regarded with some reverence.

The Gwen class remained popular into the early 1970’s, with many State Championships held at WYC. In 1965 and 1966 approximately thirty boats arrived from around Victoria to compete in the 3 events of the championships. The 1966 event included some high winds, and many boats were damaged, but the series was rated a success. In 1964 the Committee was asked ‘why so many Gwen 12 yachts were for sale’ and were told that the members were purchasing new and faster boats. Such was the state of competition at the time.

The second Club Rear Commodore (1963 to 1966), Norm Wilkinson, states that overall these series were bit-terly contested by top sailors. He gives credit to Sailing Secretary David Hughes for the professional quality of the championship series. They gave WYC a great deal of respect in yachting circles. This capability may

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well have left its influence thirty years later.

International Cadets

The Club general committee minutes for April 1963 record that Roy Arnold spoke enthusiastically to the General Committee regarding the need for ‘a training yacht for oncoming youngsters’. ‘It was moved by Mr. Arnold and seconded by Mr. Roberts that the International Cadet yacht be adopted for the training of young Club members. Mr. Arnold offered to organise the fathers and all concerned to expedite the making of the International Cadet class yachts. The meeting was asked to vote concerning the adoption of the International Cadets and the vote was carried’.

In all 13 plywood Cadets were built, on self-help basis, but with experts to make various parts. The boats were built and assembled at the old Merri Dance Palais building at Brunswick in the winter of 1963, in 1923 man-hours, at a materials cost of around 100 pounds ($200) each. Geoff Roberts provided the jigs, Jim Rentoul made rudders and cheeks at his home, Tom Warwick shaped the two-piece glued masts at his fac-tory. 1923 man-hours were spent on the project, which was completed at the end of the year. The sails were purchased competitively from a sailmaker who agreed to use pieces of coloured sailcloth in bands horizontal-ly across the main and jib. As a result the boats made a display of many colours on the water. Later, five more Cadets, together with three Lazy E’s, were built in the clubhouse.

John McPherson (later Commodore) donated a Cadet to the Club for a raffle. This was won by a family who camped nearby (the Tozers), and they became members of the Club and sailors as a result.

Under the leadership of Cadet Captain Roy Arnold the Cadets introduced a considerable number of girls and boys to sailing, and racing. (Much later many of these members are bringing their children to the Club). This brought a considerable increase in sailing activity amongst the younger family members. A trophy was provided by Jim Rentoul, to be known as the Roy Arnold Trophy, which was competed for by Cadets and other classes for some years.

The Cadets competed in Championships, and visited other clubs, where they were known as the ‘Sun boys’ (and presumably, ‘Sun girls’), from the names given to the boats, namely Sunbeam (Heaths), Sunbird (Birds), Sundemon (Arnolds), Sunhaze (Ramsays), Sunglow (Davenports), Sunset (Sampsons), Sunsprite (Benwells), Sunstar (Stahels), and so on.

With other yachts they went on many overnight sails, to Sandy Point and Tortoise Head. The crew slept un-der the sails, on the beach. Powerboats brought the extra gear and food, drinks, etc. They were great events for the young sailors. The evenings were spent around barbecue fires on the beach.

At this period it was required that skippers pass a swimming test of 75 yards (metres) in full racing gear, for which a certificate was awarded. Other challenging events were arranged, such as ‘bottling’ (capsize) races, heavy weather races, man overboard races, lady skippers’ races, and so on. Night races (complete with torch-es to locate buoys and to identify boats) were also held. Around 10 pm. there were some parents calling to their daughters to ‘come in at once’. WYC also ran winter races. Many aspects of these activities were initiat-ed by Club Sailing Captain Jock Lawler.

Other Early Classes

Various other marine plywood designs appeared at WYC, including those from Jack Holt of England such as Lazy E’s, Herons, Mirrors, and so on. Similarly various plywood catamarans also appeared, such as Arafura Cadets and Quickcats.

The Club Committee foresaw problems arising due to the numbers of classes, and reported in its minutes of 19 April 1967:

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‘Sponsored Boat Classes: After much discussion it was felt that the Club should take firm steps to stop the proliferation of types of boats. It was therefore decided to sponsor the following boats: Arafura Cadets, International Cadets, Herons, Quickcats, Gwens and Lazy E’s. These to be the only classes for which trophies for next year will be available. It was also noted that a careful watch should be kept on the reinforced plastic boats as they are expected to come to the fore over the next few years.’

The question of the great variety of boats in the Club, and the difficulty of maintaining an adequate number of boats in any class for it to be sponsored, continued to be a problem over the years.

The Lazy E boats had a very active period with the Club (1965-1970), mainly due to the energy of Club Sail-ing Captain Jock Lawler, who became a State and National Champion. However, he died while participating in the 1969/70 championships in Sydney with his son. Jock’s concern for middle-of-the-fleet sailors is reflect-ed by the establishment of the Jock Lawler Trophy for the most improved sailor, in his honour.

By the late 1960s the International Cadet sailors began to feel more competent and wanted more speed, so another building program was organised, namely for the construction of Arafura catamarans. A number of these were built in 1967, some by Dao Williams, and four more in the Schultz’s garage at Blackburn. George Benwell reports that their boat was finished in their home lounge. The final spraying of varnish also reached other items in the lounge, much to Joyce’s disapproval. (Not the first boat to be built in a lounge!). The Ara-furas were popular for a limited period.

In the 1960’s the Club organised annual visits to Cowes Yacht Club, as well as around French Island and other overnight locations. All of these events provided interest and some excitement. However, one visit to Cowes, with an escort of power boats, proved to be a near-disaster. On this beautiful day a number of boats of all sizes drifted over to Cowes in little wind. After lunch a race had started, and at about 3pm a sudden change occurred in the weather. The wind came down the channel from the west and caught all the boats by surprise. Some boats were washed on to the beach near Cowes pier, others landed on other beaches. The full details are described in Chapter Eight.

Herons and Sparrows

In the 1960’s and 1970’s the expansion in small boat building and sailing was at its greatest, internationally. The Heron and Mirror 10, both designed by Englishman Jack Holt, led this increased interest in sailing as both could be home built or assembled, relatively cheaply. Although WYC did not have many Mirrors, the Club had an excellent fleet of Herons and Sparrows. They constituted the main fleet.

Fibreglass designs began to appear in the 1970’s, including Corsairs and Sparrows in the off-the-beach fleet. How very different were the Sparrows. They were ideal beginners boats, and were manufactured in nearby Tyabb. In a very few years the Club had over 40 on its register, with up to 20 sailing on any Sunday. Many of the Club’s juniors such as Duncan and Sandy McPherson, Greg and Rick Cleaver, Tony McEvoy and Grant and Adam Robinson have gone on to become excellent sailors. The Harvey family became Sparrow sailors, Michael Harvey became a State Champion, and John contributed to the Sparrow Association organisation for some years. The Sparrows are no longer made, but were so well made that the class, although diminished in the Club, is likely to be about for many years yet.

The competing Herons and Sparrows were quite a large group, and there was plenty of (usually) good-na-tured banter between them, each side convinced that they had the better boat. In any on-water incident, the Herons, being of plywood construction, usually came off second best. It therefore created some stir amongst the Heron sailors when Bryan Hill in his Heron penetrated Don Robinson’s Sparrow (albeit a very small hole!). In 1970 Ray Cox (ex Victorian Y.W Heron S.A.A. Secretary) caused a surprise when he changed from Heron to a lower maintenance ‘plastic bath’.

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From 1971/2 to 1973/4 the leading Club Heron sailors were Greg and Kerryn Jordan, and the leading Spar-row sailors were Greg and Rick Cleaver. During this period Tom Robinson, Bob Hibbins, Bryan Hill, Ralph Lloyd and John Dillon were sailing Herons, and later each in succession served the Club as Commodores.

Their courses were generally inside the reef area, using fixed buoys. As the wind varied so did the courses, and at the pre-race briefings there was always a scramble for a ‘Biro’ to write the course on one’s arm. Olym-pic style courses were introduced, which were larger, and tended to take the boats more outside the reef area. Although they were better for the sailors, they were definitely a disadvantage for the spectators - the families who lined the Clubhouse verandah - who had previously followed every tack, gybe and luffing match. In 1971 the Club installed starting lights in the race box. From 1972 winter racing was tried , but did not last long.

Further Designs

The Gwens were largely replaced by 420’s, being sailed by the teenagers who had largely graduated from Spar-rows. A little later, the 420’s were replaced by 470’s, and the Herons by 125’s. Earl Lindholm was the first, and in the following season Dillons, Hills, Lloyds launched their newly-built 125’s. This fast, but easily-built intermediate Victorian-designed dinghy soon became the second-largest class Australia-wide (after the Mir-ror), and WYC had a very competitive fleet of up to 10 boats.

The off-the-beach sponsored classes in 1971/2 were: Herons, Sparrows, Arafura Cadets, Gwen 12’s, Corsairs, Quickcats. By 1975 there were 37 Sparrows, 19 Herons, 7 Mirrors, 6 420’s, 8 125’s, 3 Paper Tigers, 4 Dol-phins, 3 Arafuras, 2 Quickcats, 2 Gwens, 5 Finns, 2 Corsairs, 2 Lasers and other individual boats. Many of these classes failed to reach sufficient regularly-sailing numbers to be considered as a sponsored class. Some of the original Heron sailors had either lost their young crews or desired a faster boat (or both), and hence took to 125’s or Sabres, which were of lighter plywood construction, and hence performed better. Thereafter the Dolphins, Paper Tigers, 125’s, Sabres and 470’s increased in numbers.

The Quickcat catamaran became popular from the late 1960s onwards amongst the older age group, provid-ing the need for a faster boat. These were raced for some seasons. The Club ran State Championship events for these classes. They were very active. Ron Farnill in ‘Whiskers’ held the prizes from 1964/5 until 1970/1. He was followed by John Mitchell, from 1971/2 to 1973/4.

The Quickcat was then replaced by the newly-designed and more exciting Dolphins. In 1975 Ron Farnill wrote that he was building one of these fast Cunningham boats ‘for those truly magnificent people who like to combine a little flying with their sailing, and delight to pack thrill after thrill sailing on a razor’s edge, where quick reflexes and mental reactions are the only barrier between them and disaster’. The Club had a very active group of Dolphin sailors, including Ron Farnill, Peter Cooper, Duncan McPherson, John Mitch-ell, Neville Ferguson, Noel Payne, Rob Hart, and later Duncan McPherson and Michael Robinson, with keen competition between them. On one occasion - probably a new year’s eve race - they impressed the Club by all sailing in dinner suits! WYC was the base from which the Dolphin Association arose and spread.

The early 1980s saw the introduction of sailboards, and a number of Club sailors took to them as a fun activ-ity. However, for a couple of seasons some members raced them seriously, but later they have been used for fun, including on high wind days.

Also in the early 1980s came the Laser, the deceptively simple but strict one-design dinghy which in a few years became the most popular single-handed single-sail monohull yacht world-wide. However they are somewhat difficult boats to sail in heavy conditions. Two of the early sailors in the Club were brothers Simon and Phillip Dubbin.

The single-handed boat which became more popular at WYC was the Victorian-designed Sabre. Des Theisz and daughter Jennifer were amongst our better Sabre sailors in that period. Jennifer won the National Wom-

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en’s Sabre Championship on one year.

The Impulse, another single-handed monohull also appeared in this period, with Pauline Cleaver being the most successful when she was second in the Australian Impulse Championship in 1984/5, despite having to feed baby Jody between heats. Others sailing Impulses were Greg and Peter Cleaver, Bryan Hill, John Dillon, Joe Etherson and Des Theisz. It had been common in the Club for sailors to graduate from O/B yachts to T/Ys. One exception was Bruce Gilchrist, who was a very successful Boomerang sailor, but as his boys grew up, switched to a 125, so that he sail with them.

Our catamaran fleet gradually diminished, with the last being sailed by Simon Brown. We had one or two Mosquitos, with Adam Smith Jnr. and James Cooper doing well with their boat in the Victorian Champion-ships.

In the mid-1980s the Club developed, with a lot of help from Pauline Cleaver, a strong group of young mem-bers into Minnows. However the trouble with young people is that they soon grow up, and in what seemed a short time they were too big for the Minnows, and many took again to the small Arafura training catamarans. After about one season they up-graded to Paper Tigers. But they then found other interests, and many drift-ed away from sailing for the time being.

One group that remained active is the Contender group of sailors. This very demanding single-handed dinghy, designed by Ben Lexcen, had been in the Club since the mid-1980s. WYC is one of the few clubs in Victoria that has had a reasonable fleet of these exciting boats. As the boats have to be sailed from the tra-peze, they require the skipper to be quite a gymnast, and to be prepared for numerous dunkings. Our leading sailors have been Simon Dubbin, John Lindholm, Grant and Adam Robinson, and Peter Randall. They have done well in Victorian and Australian Championships.

Whereas some sailors like to change their class of boat every few years, others do not. One in the latter category is Ian Douglas, who has had a Corsair for something like 20 years, and for much of that time it was the only one in the Club. Earlier Andy and Marj Adair, and the Fagan family each had one briefly, and Klaus Hildeman had one but that ended when he had to return to Germany. Later Ian gained competition by buy-ing another Corsair, which is on loan to other members of the Club.

Neville Ridgway was a top Heron sailor, and introduced his sons to WYC. They each married WYC girls and each now have another sailing generation. Mark Ridgway has sailed his Sparrow successfully over some years. In 1987 Paul Ridgway with Stephen Dillon won the Australian Hobie 18 Championship, and the Club assisted Paul and Stephen to attend the World Championship in Canada where they came 7th. Paul subse-quently introduced the first Tasar to the Club, a strict one-design Australian class crewed by two, and now sailed in many countries. The Club has since developed a strong fleet of Tasars, with Pauline and Greg Cleav-er along with Paul Ridgway being amongst the nation’s top Tasar sailors.

In 1988 the club Committee, prompted by Warren Stahel and Rob Hart recognised again that the Club’s future lay with new young sailors. After discussion regarding a suitable class of boat, it was decided to launch a program of building Minnows. During the winter of 1988 eight boats were built, on a self-help production line basis in the clubhouse, with some experts providing their special skills. At the time this made the Min-now the largest class in the Club. The activity also had a positive effect on the atmosphere of the Club. Two years later some of these boats were sailing competitively in special short courses on Sunday mornings.

Keel Boats and Trailable Yachts

This group emerged from original (predominantly heavy timber) keelboats described at the beginning of this chapter.

Racing

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The courses for their earlier races covered most of the western entrance to the bay, ie from Sandy Point to the Fairway buoy at the entrance. This latter end of the courses produced extremely wild sea conditions, with many hair-raising experiences.

The Club held only one race in season 1967/68. From then on there were from 10 to 12 races per season. In 1969/70 some of the races were reported to have been in 40 to 50 knot conditions. With the mixed fleet of widely differing performances, the races were run and trophies were awarded mainly on handicap (past per-formance) basis.

In 1968 ‘West Port Bound’ (‘WPB’) reported that there ‘an influx of trailable yachts was expected’, and ‘they were a reasonably practical answer for those who like to race and cruise’. In that year Bill Simon built himself an early design of trailable yacht (T/Y). The advent of the T/Ys brought a variety of boats which were not only road-trailable but were able to be launched fairly readily from the beach. They were better-performing boats, and produced great competition. Later on, the JOG handicap calculation was adopted, which took ac-count of a number of dimensions of the hull and sails of the respective boat, together with a hull shape factor and a boat age factor, to be applied the resultant handicap figure. Later on again, VYC ‘class handicapping factor’ (CHF) was used.

In the early 1970s the Club laid an Olympic-type ‘off-shore’ course (roughly triangular), of approximately ten nautical miles, and adopted Olympic scoring and handicapping systems.

The fibreglass twin-bilge keel Jeddas appeared in 1972, followed by swing-keel versions. There were seven on the Club register in 1974, four of which competed regularly, which was just insufficient for acceptance as an adopted class. A variety of other designs then appeared, mainly fibreglass, including Sou’westers, and later Botterill Explorer 16s. The Jeddas sailed actively for the next five years, after which they became out-classed and out-handicapped. One or two competed into the 1990s, and the others cruised around the bay.

In 1973 and onwards several boats entered the State Junior Offshore Group (JOG) and participated in the JOG races, which took them into blue waters, such as Wilson’s Promontory, Lorne and around Phillip Island. Bruce Gilchrist in ‘Malonga’ won one of the annual events. During one of these races, John Cranswick’s ‘Os-prey’ was lost off Phillip Island. This is described in Chapter Eight.

Also in that year ‘WPB’ reported that the ‘Heat was On in Heat 1’:‘One Jedda was holed in a collision near a mark of the course. One T/Y approached the mark, went about, was heeled over by a gust and lifted high, and then skidded sideways across the water whilst the skipper and crew climbed out and under’. Others had similar experiences.

There were more wild days. During heat 8 in 1979/80 the wind commenced at 25 knots, but strengthened to 35 knots, with rain squalls coming through up to 55 knots. There were six retirements, and then four more, and then three more retired with damaged masts. Neil Worsley in the Cole 18, Colin and Keith Redman in the Spacesailer, and Ray and Graeme Cox in the Jedda 22 managed to sail on. There were other such days. Similar weather occurred in the 1976 T/Y Division of the Westernport Challenge.

During the succeeding years the Club sailing sub-committee attempted to satisfy the needs of a very mixed fleet in regard to providing more equal competition, by various means. In 1975 the fleet was split into two Divisions, 4 and 5. At first these represented differing performances and were determined mainly by boat length. There were difficulties in providing the opportunities for competition amongst the various designs. A shorter course for the smaller (unballasted) boats was tried. After changes being made between one divi-sion (‘trailable yachts’) and the two divisions (4 and 5), owing to a lack of numbers one division (T/Y) was finally adopted.

One effect of the widely differing performances was that the slower boats were frequently caught by dropping

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wind and changing tide, and hence returned home late. Jeddas ‘Junghai’ and ‘Mara’ fought out a long contest on a light-wind day in April 1977, to return well after dark.

Yachts such as the Hood (Terry Keep), Cole 19 (Neil Worsley), Spacesailer 24 (Colin and Keith Redman), Ex-plorer 16s, Etchell (Keith Redman) and Ultimate (Jack Guthrie) took Aggregate honours from 1979 to 1983. In the Botterills, ‘Safari II’ (Tom Robinson) took the Aggregate in 1976/77, and ‘Bydand’ (Forbes Gordon) took both Aggregate and Handicap in 1977/78.

Some higher performance boats arrived. Jack Guthrie held the lead with ‘Rebecca’, a Farr 6000. The Sonata 8s then arrived in numbers in 1980 onwards, and formed an active class, with boats belonging to Don Rob-inson, Ted Holding and John Mitchell/Noel Payne taking line honours. The folding trimarans (Tramps) also arrived in 1980 and gave performed well, with ‘Liberator’ (Peter Cooper) taking honours. Jack Guthrie then purchased a Noelex 25, ‘Lively Lady’, which continued to take line honours. Jack’s boats were so successful at one time it was reported that there was a ‘plot to tie a bucket under J.G’s boat’.

Soon after, the Boomerang class came to the Club. But in 1988, John and Pat Dillon exchanged their Boo-merang for a B63. Other B63s soon arrived, and by 1989 B63s became an adopted class at WYC, with six boats sailing, including the boat of the designer, Graham Prowd. Ron Anderson has mainly taken the lead in races.

Cruising

As mentioned in the beginning of this chapter, early boats from WYC cruised around the bay, and beyond. Several have sailed to Wilson’s Promontory, including ‘Maria’ (John Newton) and ‘Fulmar’ (George Blaxland) in 1970, ‘Fulmar’ (George Blaxland and Jim Williams) again in 1971, and ‘Ellerina’ (Dan Phelan) in 1978.

T/Y skippers have taken their boats and families by road to other places, for example Val and Barrie Watts and Peter Cox and crew launched their boats at Welshpool, and sailed to Refuge Cove, Wilson’s Promontory. Others subsequently took their T/Ys to Gippsland Lakes. Some members including John Cranswick, John Sullivan and later other members trailed their boats as far as Whitsunday Passage, Queensland.

At the same time there was an increase in family-type day cruising and sometimes overnight, frequently in company with other boats, throughout Western Port. On one such occasion there were a number of WYC boats stayed overnight at Warneet. As usual, these were convivial evenings. One Jedda, Andy Adair’s ‘Bass’, deserves a prize for ‘stacking’. There were 19 and a half people (ie., including one baby - Lara Barclay) social-ising on board. Those in the cockpit got their feet wet, from water coming up the cockpit drain.

In later years it has become a regular practice to trail T/Ys to Gippsland Lakes for the Easter holidays. Up to eight WYC T/Y boats have been meeting, socialising and cruising together on these occasions.

Championship Events

In 1962 a heat of the State Flying Dutchman Championship was held at WYC. From 1963 onwards into the 1970’s a number of keenly sailed and keenly supported Gwen Association State Championship events were held at the Club. These were soon followed by Arafura, Lazy E, Quickcat and Corsair series of events.

Almost every year since, particularly on the Labour Day week-end, the Club has conducted championships, mainly for the various classes active at the Club - Gwens, Herons, Sparrows, 420s, 470s, 125s, 145s, Sonatas, Botterills, Dolphins, Paper Tigers, Contenders, Lasers, Tasars, Impulses and others.

The class for which WYC has conducted the most championships is the Sparrows - not surprisingly seeing that WYC has been the strongest Sparrow club. The biggest Championship overall occurred when we had Lasers and 125s together, a total of 140 boats, expertly run by Ralph Lloyd. Ex-Commodore Bob Hibbins

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recalls the Heron Championship of 1973, when 52 boats entered and 26 boats started in a day of 25-35 knot winds, increasing later. Only six finished. Strangely, it was on the next day (much milder) that there was a large number of withdrawals, due to gear failures caused by stresses from the previous day.

Our first National Championship was probably also our smallest. This was the Dolphin Championship, in 1975, very well organised by Nigel Huggett, but disappointing in only having approximately 10 boats. The most frustrating championship was that for the Botterill Explorers, when protests and appeals continued for many months after the event.

The WYC and Somers YC sailing courses almost overlap, and this was the cause of much consternation on one championship weekend. A westerly was blowing, and a large fleet of 125s set out from Somers looking for their windward mark. However the mark the leaders found happened to be the end of the starting line for the 420s’ Championships being conducted by WYC. Quite a large number of the 125s rounded the WYC mark right in the middle of starting procedures, before realising it was the wrong mark for them.

In March 1991 the State Paper Tiger titles were held at WYC. Fifty boats from a large number of clubs at-tended. Concerning the effort which was always required to organise, run, and cater for these visiting events, the then Rear Commodore, Martin Lowe, commented as follows:

‘Some may question the need for the Club to be involved in organising events such as these State titles. The sport of sailing gives so many of us enjoyment and relaxation and if it is to continue, it is important that clubs such as ours do our best to promote the sport at all levels. An obvious benefit of such a series is that it gives sailors from other clubs the opportunity to get to know WYC, and hopefully return with their friends. A fur-ther, not inconsiderable reason in these troubled times is the pursuit of the humble dollar. The efforts of the many Club members who assisted with this series have swelled the Club coffers by well over two thousand dollars’.

Hopefully, also, some of the visitors may be sufficiently attracted to our Club atmosphere to join WYC.

State and National Titleholders

The following skippers and boats are known to have taken State or National yachting titles:

1967/68 Jock Lawler Lazy E State Nat’l

1967/68 Greg Bull Arafura StatePaul Ridgway Heron State

1970/71 Paul Ridgway Hobie 14 StateJudy Hale Sparrow State

1972/73 Judy Hale Sparrow State

1973/74 Paul Ridgway Hobie 16 StateJohn Peel No. 64 Sparrow State

1976/77 Don Robinson Rob 1 Sparrow StateGrant Robinson Cerberus Sparrow StateGreg Cleaver Temperance 420 (Jnr) State

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1977/78 Bruce Gilchrist Malonga JOG StateGrant Robinson 420 State (Youth)

1979/80 C. Hoffman Margie Two Sunbird StatePaul Ridgway Sabre State

1980/81 Keith Redman Hilweh III JOG State

1981/82 Don Robinson Tenacious Sonata 8 State Nat’lJenny Theisz Misty Blue Sabre (Ladies Jnr) Nat’lJohn Dick Millie Magic Sabre StateKeith Redman Hilweh JOG State

1982/83 Virgill Pierini Sunshine Farr 5000 StateDon Robinson Tenacious Sonata 8 StateRay Cox Mara Jedda State

1983/84 Geoff Spencer Pursuit Bonito 22 StateJohn Lindholm Eclipse Impulse StateDon Robinson Tenacious Sonata 8 State

1984/5 Geoff Spencer Pursuit Bonito 22 State

1986/87 Michael Harvey Sparrow State

1987/88 Paul Ridgway Hobie 18 Nat’lMichael Harvey Sparrow State

1988/89 Michael Harvey Sparrow State

1989/90 Michael Harvey Sparrow State

1990/91 Michael Harvey Sparrow State Other WYC Successes

A list of Club trophy winners is included in the Appendix at the rear of this book.

In addition to titleholders listed above, a number of WYC sailors have had other successes in State, National and overseas Championships, either taking high places, or participating as crew..

From the 1960s onwards WYC sailors participated in many championships. WYC boats were well in the lead in earlier Gwen series.

Greg and Pauline Cleaver have sailed successfully individually, and together. Pauline came 2nd in the Im-pulse Nationals in 1984/5. In the World Tasar Championships Paul Ridgway and Greg Cleaver came 9th in 1988, and in the 1991 World Tasar Championships Pauline Cleaver, with husband Greg as crew, came 20th

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overall and 1st Lady Skipper.

Michael Harvey and Darryn Simcox have been a successful team in Sparrow events, taking the lead in three years and taking first in the 4th division of the Westernport Challenge in 1987.

Harley Kruse learnt to sail in a Sparrow and then a 125 at WYC. He then became crew with Craig Cobbin of Mordialloc Sailing Club in the Fireball ‘Black Tack’’ which took the State titles came fourth in the world titles in Italy. He was also crew with the same skipper in the 470 class boat which won the State titles in 1984/85, 1987/88 and 1988/89. They also sailed successfully in the 470 National and World titles in Sweden, Germany and Spain.

After their win in the 1987 Hobie 18 National titles, Paul Ridgway and Stephen Dillon sailed in the world titles at Ontario, Canada. In 1990 Paul Ridgway and Cary Pedicini won the Veteran’s title in the Tasar ‘Liquid Gold’.

John Lindholm has regularly been a leading sailor in the State and National Contender titles.

Westernport Challenge

In 1967 the Club proposed a competition between Western Port Bay clubs to be known as ‘Cock O’Western Port’. This did not immediately take on. WYC and Somers Yacht Club had annual inter-club races, which later developed into the ‘Western Port Challenge’, with the participation of all clubs on the bay. WYC Sailing Captain Jock Lawler and Rob Hart promoted this interclub event, in the belief that it would inspire WYC sailors to achieve their best possible performances.

WYC has participated in this event annually, always with a large, number of sailors, as it has always been the most popular event on WYC’s calendar. It brought out members who were rarely seen. WYC sailors received many section prizes.

WYC keelboat and trailable yachts have always participated in their own section of the Challenge.

The 1976 the race became a disaster, in which a wild wind change caused many breakages to the 165 off-the-beach boats and 35 T/Ys sailing.

Training

The Club has provided training programs for new sailors over the years.

In 1963 Cadet Captain Roy Arnold organised instruction for those who were new to sailing. There were talks on the principles of sailing, and practical handling. This included ‘dry-sailing’ on the sand. They were timed by stop-watch in rigging their yachts and raising their sails, including spinnakers. This was followed by demonstrations on the water.

In 1971/2 John Henthorne, Greg Jordan and John Benwell conducted a successful basic training course, with 130 entrants.

In September 1977 a WYC’s series of training seminars was held at Royal Melbourne Yacht Squadron, with prominent experts in several fields of sailing giving lectures. Buster and John Hooper spoke on General Sailing, Boat Handling and Race Tactics, and Frank Hammond spoke on Sails. Other different approaches to training have been held at the clubhouse over the years.

In 1979 the Australian Yachting Federation (AYF) introduced its training and qualification program for sail-

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ors and for coaches. The Club supported the scheme, and following some initial training, the WYC Sailing School was commenced with Bryan Hill as the Principal, and Pauline and Greg Cleaver and Des Theisz as the first Instructors. The school has continued, and has been successful in introducing many Club members and non-Club members to sailing. Organisers over the years have included Ralph Lloyd, Ken Stallard, Warren Stahel and Stephen Dillon, who have received AYF Sailing Masters’ certificates. Paul Ridgway has also been a Club Coach. Many other Club members have helped with instruction.

The 1990 training course was conducted a little differently in that Sailing Master Stephen Dillon arranged for the first lesson to be held at Linden Lake Sailing School. The students then graduated at Balnarring Beach. There was good attendance, by 20 Club members and outside sailors with a range of ages. All succeeded in the course, and a result some sailors from outside joined WYC.

Sailing Organisation

As mentioned earlier, the foundation Rear Commodore, Noel Larritt, initiated a number of the formalities of yachting to WYC, including flag etiquette, opening day routine procedures, sail numbers, and so on. His Sailing Captain, David Hughes put in place many of the matters concerning race organisation which have stood for many seasons and many Class Championship (visiting) series since.

All matters concerning competitive sailing in the Club were earlier the sole responsibility of the Hon. Sailing Secretary (later Sailing Captain). In 1968 Gwen sailor Steve Blaxland wrote in ‘West Port Bound’:

‘A Sailing Committee should be formed, with a representative from each class, a publicity officer, possibly a Chairman of the Committee and the Race Secretary. Such a Sailing Committee would. it was felt, introduce some leadership and efficient organisation into Club sailing. While each past Race Secretary has invariably done a thankless task willingly and well, it is beyond reasonable expectation for one person to do what is in all respects a monumental task.’

The General Committee subsequently followed up this suggestion. During 1975 under Commodore Tom Robinson the Rear Commodore was given full responsibility for sailing matters, and the Sailing Secretary was appointed to support him. The Club Sailing Sub-committee includes the Rear Commodore, the Sailing Secretary and representatives of the various divisions and adopted classes.

The Appendix at the rear of this history lists the names of those who have served as Rear Commodores, Sail-ing Captains and Sailing Secretaries over the years.

Trophies

Major Robert Lindsay, then MHR for Flinders, donated a trophy which was to be competed for in five hand-icap races over the season; the trophy to remain in the Club, and to be known as the Robert Lindsay Trophy. This trophy still remains in the Club trophy display case.

As mentioned earlier, a trophy was donated to the Club in honour of Roy Arnold, who was responsible for the great period of sailing enjoyed by many young sailors in the International Cadet events during the 1960s. The trophy was also used and awarded later to winners of other small boat events.

Computers

The following description of the acquisition and use of computers for race applications has been provided by ex-Commodore Peter Cooper.

As Club Handicapper in the late 70’s (after Clem Joyce) and early 1980’s, I found that at least two nights a

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week were spent in manually computing the race results (with a hand calculator!), the personal boat/skipper handicaps for the next race, and entering them on a large score sheet which was put on the notice board for the next week’s race. The large fleets of both T/Y’s and O/B’s (possibly the largest experienced at WYC) didn’t make the task any easier. In a short time I had programmed a personal computer to calculate all the results, print them out and maintain a running record. Life on a Monday and Tuesday evening began to return to normal! The same program was used by subsequent handicappers, generally on PC’s they had at work.

As Rear Commodore in 1985/87 I felt that the Club should become self-sufficient and purchase its own com-puter for race results. In 1986 the general committee approved the purchase of an IBM-compatible personal computer. There was no difficulty in immediately putting it to work on race results, as I had written the ex-isting software in “Basic”, a language common to most PC’s. A number of years later (when I was Vice Com-modore) a user friendly commercial package called “Yachtmaster” which is particularly suited to calculating, printing and storing Club race results came onto the market. Martin Lowe, as handicapper, recommended to the General Committee that we purchase this program because of its many advantages over my original, and I heartily agreed. We now use Yachtmaster on the Club computer for all results.’

The Future?

‘Where have all the sailors gone?’ This was asked in 1976, when there were on average 50 racing boats on the water. From then on, WYC sailing committees have battled with the problem of getting sufficient yachts on the water to maintain good competitive conditions, and to make the staffing of the Club and its patrol boats on race days worthwhile. It was felt that sailing against competition makes better sailors. In season 1973/74 45 off-the-beach boats sailed, in 1974/75 27 sailed, and in 1975/76 25 boats sailed on average on a race day. Subsequently there has been a decline in numbers of off-the-beach yachts in the Club, as well as in race par-ticipation. The number of trailable yachts in the Club however has increased, although race participation has not increased. Promotion of the Club among the local community may assist to increase membership and participation.

Cruising in Western Port has always been popular with a considerable number of WYC sailing members and their families. Overnight trips around French Island, with stays at various inlets will continue to provide endless enjoyment to those who love the natural scene.

A number of WYC sailors have graduated to the challenges of off-shore sailing. Andrew Keep, Elizabeth Keep, Stephen Holding, John Benwell and Adam Robinson have participated in more than one Sydney-Ho-bart race. Others have moved into long-term blue-water cruising, including Val and Barry Watts, who have had a wealth of experience in the south-west Pacific since 1987. They suffered the loss of ‘Halcyon’ in the northern Pacific after two years of cruising, and are re-fitting a replacement boat for further cruising. Other sailors have hired yachts in the Whitsundays, U.K., and the Mediterranean. No doubt many others will try ‘blue water sailing’ in the future.

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CHAPTER SIXPOWER BOATING AND PATROL BOATING

Why go powerboating? As any skipper will say, you feel in control of an exciting machine, as it leaps across the waves. On calm, windless days you’re on a peaceful vessel, in a relaxing mood. Anchoring and dropping a line is relaxation indeed.

Early Boats

The original members of WYC who owned powerboats were mainly interested in fishing. The launching facility gave them ready access to the Bay.

As with the yachts, the early WYC powerboat fleet included a variety of traditional wooden or plywood de-signs, some most unusual.

Member Jim Duffy had an quarter-cabin wooden boat, which was named ‘Jimminy Cricket’, with a tiny hull (about 10 to 12 foot, or 3 to 3.5 metres long) and an enormous outboard engine for the size of boat. No-one believed it would survive, but it did. It provided service to the owner, including a trip down the Murray, and to the Club as a crash boat for many years. It is said that he had all ‘mod. cons.’ on board, including electric services, such as a power outlet for his shaver.

Fred Collins and Bill Orgill had a long narrow-gutted ‘pinnace’ (about 20 foot, or 6 metres), powered by a Ford V8 inboard engine, which had seen service in Tasmania and Gippsland Lakes, which they named ‘Slipstream’. It was generally believed to be from one of the Services. It had low freeboard, and looked like a torpedo boat, and moved reasonably fast, but at the launching when, due to an incorrect propeller installa-tion, it went full speed astern. The intrepid owners later used the boat for fishing, and became well known for their adventurous exploits.

Jim Douglas’s ‘Billie’ was a 15-foot fibreglass river boat with very low freeboard, definitely not designed for the sea. She had a 40 hp. outboard earlier which was replaced by 50 hp., hence she was drastically over-pow-ered as well. Jim took her alone to Cowes on a pleasant yacht race day. Whilst there the wind grew stronger, and a catamaran tipped over. Jim and ‘Billie’ went to assist, over four-foot waves. Suddenly he realised that the speedo wasn’t working and the boat was not responding to the tiller. On slowing down slightly every-thing began to work. He then realised that the only explanation was that the boat had been sitting up out of the water on its engine cavitation plate. However it was still doing 40 knots! The cat was recovered.

Power Boating

Some early boats of the ‘sixties were of planked design, but most were mainly plywood run-abouts. Power-boat design changed somewhat, particularly when fibreglass entered the scene.

When racing yachts became greater in numbers some two years later, there was a need for patrol boat (crash boat) services. These runabouts literally came to the rescue. By now some of the younger members of the powerboat families were introduced to sailing. This mutual interest meant that some of the early Club power boaters were willing to provide crash boat assistance for the yacht races. For some years this operated well, on a roster basis, and powerboating and crash boating came from the same group. Many hours were provid-ed by members such as Alf Flatman, Lyle Williams, Bryant Weber, Claude Coffey, Alan Schultz, Tom War-wick, Charlie Veal. Alan Ramsay, George Benwell, Jim Rentoul, and others.

The Club Powerboat Captain has the responsibility for organising matters concerning powerboats, for exam-

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ple, launching, fuel, and storage services, as well as activities on the water. The Appendix at the rear of this book lists the Powerboat Captains who were elected over the years.

Powerboat Club events usually take the form of cruises. As with yachts, however, only a small proportion of the owners participate in these listed events. In earlier years, events such as speed tests, estimated time races, an so on, were held, and trophies were awarded to the winners.

WYC has awarded a fishing trophy in most seasons. This was open to all, including powerboaters and yachties, and was awarded either for the largest fish of specified types, or the greatest quantity caught on a day or week end. Powerboat owners have been asked to ‘take out off-the-beach sailors and social members’ on fishing days, in order to involve the wider membership of the Club. Fishing is still a large regular activity in the Club. Earlier members chased shark or set baits, and caught very large ones, up to six metres. Club powerboaters cover Western Port Bay and beyond. John Grech (ex-Powerboat Captain) takes his boat ‘Great White’ into Bass Strait and other places regularly, after larger fish.

The number of powerboats in WYC reached a maximum of 60 over the thirty years from 1960 to 1990, and dropped to 40 at times. In 1990 the Club introduced a ‘Fishing Membership’ category, which was set at half of the full member subscription.

Patrol Boating

Powerboat coverage was, and still is, a valuable feature of the longer distance overnight trips undertaken by a variety of Club boats, for example, around French Island. Even after the Club acquired patrol boats in later years, additional powerboat coverage of races was still valuable, particularly when there was a large fleet of yachts. Jim Spalding, Norm Spalding, John Grech, Ken Jackson and others have provided this service.

As the Club sailing boats grew in numbers, the number of available crash boats reduced somewhat inversely, and so the Club Committee had to make plans for Club-owned patrol boats.

Meanwhile, after radios first became available, calls for assistance throughout the bay were met by some of the WYC powerboat owners, such as George Benwell in ‘MX 27’, Roger Bristow in ‘Ebb Tide’, Bryant Weber in ‘Millana’, Jim Rentoul in ‘Marpie’, as well as John McPherson, Jim Adamson, Alan Ramsay and Reg Camp-bell in their boats. A feature of this era was the number of false and hoax calls at night-time, caused by fires lit on beaches, and flares foolishly let off, notably on New Year’s Eve.

WYC skippers have participated in many urgent rescues since. In 1969 a ‘press’ boat was covering an offshore powerboat event in the bay, intending to take film. It split its hull, filled with water and drifted helplessly for over four hours. There were six occupants , including WYC member Roger Bristow. An alarm was raised that the boat was overdue. Vice Commodore Bryant Weber and Reg Campbell took off with their own boats and crew to search for the boat, under radio control from the WYC race box. The boat was found, and the two capable Club powerboaters soon had the occupants safely on board, and the disabled boat in tow. The distressed boat was non-sinkable, but was awash. Those on board had become very anxious, especially as darkness was approaching.

Club Patrol Boat ‘Balnarring Patrol’

As mentioned in Chapter Four, members of Pt.Leo Yacht Club, Cowes Yacht Club, WYC and the Assistant Harbour Master took part in 1967 in the formation of the Westernport Safety Council (WSC) in order to pro-vide co-ordinated search and rescue services for the clubs and the public. Bryant Weber and George Benwell assisted in this formation. WYC officers and members have regularly participated in the WSC organisation since then.

From the beginning, WSC raised funds to provide patrol boats at various clubs around the bay, including

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WYC, and later regularly obtained government assistance for boats and equipment (including engines). As a condition of receiving these government funds the clubs agreed to assist the police whenever possible with rescue services. Reimbursement was available for petrol consumed.

The Club was offered by WSC a very sea-worthy boat, an aluminium DeHavilland Trojan, at a net cost to WYC of $1400. The Club decided to purchase the boat in 1971. This became the first ‘Balnarring Patrol’ (‘BP’). The boat technically remained the property of WSC for the first few years, and was then fully trans-ferred to WYC.

A Patrol Boat Sub-committee was formed, comprising Bryant Weber (Chairman), Jim Adamson, Andy Adair, George Benwell, John Brehaut, Bob Pierce and Tom Robinson, to arrange the fitting-out. managing, opera-tion and maintenance of the boat. The boat was fully fitted out and operational in mid-1972. ‘BP’ has been valuable for the heavier work of laying larger race marker buoys out beyond our local reefs, and for assistance to the crew of many local racing yachts which capsized in heavy weather, as well as for rescue operations throughout Western Port Bay. Patrol Boat Captains have been appointed since 1971 to administer all patrol boat matters and to chair the Patrolboat Sub-Committee (see the Appendix at the rear of this history).

The original ‘BP’ served the Club well until 1982, when another aluminium boat (a Starflite 22ft., with in-board engine) was purchased at a total cost of $15000 (with WSC and government grant). This ‘BP’ was expected also to be capable of going out into deeper waters and heavier seas if required, and in fact has done so on some occasions since (see below). It was fitted with twin outboard engines in 1989, as the inboard installation proved to be expensive to maintain. Skipper Jim Spalding reports that this boat has proven to be very efficient, and a good replacement for the earlier ‘BP’.

Further Patrol Boats

The Club also purchased a second smaller (14 foot) half-cabin aluminium boat, ‘Tulum Scout’, in 1975. This served as a start boat and inshore buoy-laying boat. The training for positions of Skipper and Mate of this boat was included in the training program. Later, in 1979, John Williams and Jim Spalding inspected the Point Leo patrol boat, a DeHavilland Hercules, for which Pt. Leo were experiencing difficulty in finding crew. This was purchased, and became the next ‘Tulum Scout’, the old one being sold. It gave good service, despite a beach capsize, and a near disaster in a tide rip, when it was dragged under the water stern-first, snagged on a permanent buoy. A rubber inflatable was also purchased, to provide for activities near the Club, for exam-ple, laying buoys for races for juniors, for working close to reefs and so on. A third small boat, ‘WP Rescue’, was purchased in 1990.

Training

The acquisition of the original major rescue boat in 1971 called for a management system to take responsi-bility for policy, procedures, maintenance, financial control, the introduction of rosters for its operation, and for a crew training program. This management system was introduced by Tom Robinson. The first crew training program was carried out by several experienced powerboaters including Andy Adair, George Ben-well, Lewis Jordan, Jim Rentoul, Bryant Weber, Alan Bewley, John Williams and John McPherson, and others. The training programs have been continued since, thereby providing WYC with a reserve of trained crew for rostering.

A training manual was thought to be a valuable aid, and John Williams, who put many hours over 10 years into supervising the maintenance of the boats and training of crew, also put together the text and diagrams of the WYC ‘Training Guide for Skippers of Balnarring Patrol’. This was published in 1976.

The Club set the tests (‘Criteria for Competency’) which trainees were required to pass in order to qualify as Mate, or Skipper (Restricted) or Skipper (Unrestricted) on ‘BP’. They were required to serve for certain peri-ods on the water including in heavy weather. The training included locating a destination by dead-reckoning,

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covering a search area, taking bearings, and locating a ‘lost’ boat, etc. After this they were required to pass the Australian Volunteer Coastguard Seamanship course. Skippers were also given special training for night-time emergency patrols and co-ordinated search and rescue work, in conjunction with the Harbourmaster and Victoria Police. These skippers learned the about the bay and its reefs, tidal flows and navigation aids very thoroughly, so that in going to assist others the patrol boat itself was always out of danger. When WYC became a training establishment on behalf of the Australian Yachting Federation (AYF), the Club was able to issue ‘AYF Patrol and Rescue Boat Handling Certificates’ to successful skippers.

Much of the training was done in the winter months when it was felt that a certificate of competency earned under rough and cold conditions would stand in very good stead in the worst of the summer cool change emergency conditions so frequently experienced in our waters.

The subject of the physical ability of ladies to qualify for Skipper was debated earlier; however some did pass the training and qualified as Skippers for the smaller patrolboats. These include Liz Sarrailhe and Phillippa Petty. In 1991 Sandra Lazzar passed the tests as a Skipper for ‘BP’. One Commodore committed a faux pas when he announced at an AGM that ‘training for patrol boats will not be limited to sex’.

WYC responds to requests from the Water Police when a search and rescue is needed on the bay. As far as possible it is the intention to retain a crew for ‘BP’ on call at all times. Fortunately WYC has had some mem-bers who are qualified skippers and crew who live nearby and have been available when required.

In the course of one of the night-training exercises, John Williams was passed a radio message that the Police wished to speak to him as soon as he came ashore. The exercise was completed with outstanding success - the ‘lost’ fisherman drifting down into danger was found in time. The Police however had bad news - John’s home in Melbourne had been burgled.

Search and Rescue

Through the ‘umbrella’ of the WSC and with inter-club co-ordination, many joint searches and rescues have been undertaken, particularly boats in distress near Sandy Point or caught on Middle Bank or other mud banks.

One Sunday afternoon, an upside trimaran took the full power of both ‘BP’ and the Cowes rescue boat to move it to safety in quiet waters, It had capsized in the main shipping channel, and the maximum ebb tide current swept it towards the sand bank.

On one occasion in the late 1970s ‘BP’ was called to Cape Schanck in response to a request from Victoria Police. A crew member of a 16 foot runabout swam ashore half a mile after they had capsized, ran along the road, and raised the alarm. WYC was alerted by the Police, and John McPherson (Skipper, then Commo-dore), George Benwell, Tom Robinson, and John Benwell took ‘BP’ out late in the afternoon. They picked up the boat in failing light, and towed it back to Flinders. Fortunately the weather conditions were good.

On Saturday, 30th December 1978, ‘BP’, with Skipper John Dillon, was sent to assist when the ‘Eagle Star’ (Cowes ferry) sank at the Cowes pier. ‘BP’ was on the water at Merricks when the ‘mayday’ call was heard, and was despatched to the scene. As with other boats on the bay, ‘BP’ arrived within minutes, to find that fortunately assistance had been quickly provided. The Cowes Yacht Club patrol boat had towed the ‘Eagle Star’ into shallower water.

During the 1979/80 season, a WYC trailable yacht (Brian Smith in his Space Sailer 24) was participating in a distance event. The wind was light, the seas calm and the tides strong. They grounded on the middle bank, near buoy 12 in the shipping channel, whilst attempting to pass through to Balnarring. The boat became hard and fast. Later in the evening a strong south wind arose, with choppy seas and generally heavy condi-tions around. The yacht was pounding badly. At 9pm Brian radioed for assistance. George Benwell, John

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Tayler, Col Redman and Barry Watts went out in ‘BP’. They waited until the yacht floated, then manouvred in the heavy seas as close as safety permitted, and John threw the towing line. The yacht was pulled off, but in the conditions it yawed wildly around. This continued all the way back to the moorings at Balnarring. Once there it took three of four approaches to bring the yawing boat to its mooring. The combination of good sea-manship, powerful boat and radio communication brought about a successful rescue.

In February 1991 ‘BP’ also provided a rescue service near Cape Schanck. A request was received from the Water Police to assist a 39 foot yacht in trouble between Flinders and Cape Schanck. Jim Spalding, Peter Cooper and John Tayler, took ‘BP’ out at 7.30 pm. There was a strong south-easterly blowing and the seas were heavy. They were directed by radio to the general position of the boat, which, when they reached it, was found to be four and a half miles SW of Flinders. A line was passed to the boat and they got underway, with the seas getting steeper. The towline then broke, and they then took a line from the yacht in complete dark-ness, with the aid of ‘BP’s’ spotlight. This line was unfortunately shorter, which made towing very hazardous; but after a wild tow they reached Flinders at about 10.30 pm., and left the yacht there at anchor.

John Tayler is a retired Port Phillip Sea Pilot. In this and other rescues John’s boating expertise and knowl-edge of the bay (particularly at night) has proved invaluable.

Reef Marking

Club members in 1970 cemented steel pipe markers onto edges of the dangerous heads of the reefs around Balnarring Bight. A boat was run up on to each reef at very low tide and the pipes were set with quick-setting cement. The first ‘BP’ was also used later to replace these pipes. Later, when the Ports and Harbours Division had approved the upgrading and official marking of reefs, ‘Tulum Scout’ was taken out to check the tempo-rary markers for the final cardinal marks. The crew made sure that they were placed safely away from the hazards.

Power Boat Experience

As with other operational functions for the Club, WYC chooses to continually train and roster a considerable number of skippers and crew. This WYC policy provides a good reserve of skilled members in the Club. This enables the Club to operate its services on a roster basis, and so share the load of these functions among the membership. This may have the disadvantage that less experience is gained by each person. Other Clubs retain a few specialists for each job, with the disadvantage that in the event of the key person being absent, there is difficulty in operating on that day. However, WYC’s policy must surely increase the feeling of partici-pation and fellowship amongst its members.

The powerboat group have been a large and active part of the Club from the early days. As with other opera-tional functions in the Club, WYC is fortunate in having a background of people with knowledge of handling boats particularly under difficult sea conditions. This knowledge has been handed over to many others, with benefits such as boating safety. In this respect, and more, the powerboat section is a valued part of WYC.

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CHAPTER SEVEN

SOCIAL AND YOUNGER SET ACTIVITIES

‘Club Spirit’

As member John Harvey has said, the first visit to the Club encounter with members, and the greetings on arrival, set the atmosphere which attracts new members.

To retain that indefinable thing, Club spirit, has been the aim of various Commodores and committees over the years. Activities on the water, on the beach and during working bees all make for good relations between members. But without doubt it is the main social occasions which create the best opportunity for fellowship between members who may otherwise go about their favourite boating activity and then head for home.

Social

The Club’s social program helps to create a link between all members, generally after the day’s boating activ-ities. The Social Secretary is a Club Officer and hence is a member of the General Committee. His/her re-sponsibilities include organising a social sub-committee, and to promote and encourage social participation, arrange social occasions, raise funds where necessary through social activities and provide catering for Club race days and other occasions.

From the beginning the Club provided a very full social program, including a great variety of events, particu-larly during the summer period.

Social Events

Over most of the 1960s and early 1970s the social program was run by Joan and Les Suckow, who were good promoters and organisers of a variety of events. With some brief interruptions, Joan and Les looked after social matters for 12 years. In later years (1981/2 to 1987/88) Peter and Lynne Cox lead the social committees for 8 years. A full list of Social Secretaries is included in the Appendix to this book.

In the 1960s progressive (bring a plate) dinners were popular, with up to 150 attending. There were sufficient members who had weekend houses which could accommodate large parties, generally spilling over into the gardens. Even rain did not dampen the spirit of these occasions.

For many years, up to the 1970s, during each January a dinner dance was held at the Balnarring Hall, with a jazzy musical and fun atmosphere provided by Tommy Carter and his band. Even though the nights were often extremely hot, there was always a lively atmosphere. These were always well attended.

There was also a mid-winter dinner dance, held at various venues in Melbourne, always very well attended. They were dress-up occasions. The local newspapers at the time gave the Club reporter three or four columns on these and other events. Even details of the ladies’ (and some of the men’s!) outfits were included. Other off-season events included car trials, evenings at bowling alleys, Wine and Cheese Tastings and other occa-sions.

The Clubhouse was used for other events, cards nights, film nights, fancy dress nights (including a notewor-thy St. Trinian’s Night, at which there were some evil-looking over-age school kids). Monthly square dances (summer and winter), with bring-a-plate suppers were very popular. Member Roy Arnold was the regular

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caller, and Sylvia Arnold the pianist. All ages joined in.

The Heron sailors in 1970 introduced the arrival of Father Christmas from the sea each year, for the young members. This has been continued regularly since then. Jean Robinson also introduced an annual sand-modelling competition on the beach during the summer holidays.

Other successful happenings included wine bottling occasions which of necessity provided at least two events, the filling and the tasting days. One such notable bottling day and night occurred at Bill and Elaine Smith’s home at Wantirna, in 1972, in aid of the first patrol boat.

In 1983 the barbecue centre in the Club yard was erected, and was subsequently named ‘the Opera House’. This has provided an outdoors location for social events, as well for day-time meals and relaxation.

During the 1980s and onwards, on the instigation of Margaret Matthews and then continued by Pat Dil-lon, the ladies held their own annual ‘outing’, each January. This consisted of a bus tour of the craft and arts centres of the Peninsula, including lunch. Naturally this left some deserted husbands (otherwise sailors) ‘grounded’ and left to attend to kids and other domestic duties, but it seems to have been accepted happily.

During the ‘80s also regular tennis tournaments were arranged during the summer holidays by Helen Mc-Gee, Barbara Robinson and others. These provided an opportunity for members with skills and interests other than sailing to enjoy the social scene. When these were held at the McGee ‘Tennis Stadium’, there was additional fun in avoiding the teams of ‘jumping jacks’, bull ants, etc.

In 1983 a bush dance at Red Hill showground hall topped the peak of popularity of such events. With the help of the ‘Blue Gum Bush Band’ and some borrowed gang show props this event attracted nearly 200 en-thusiastic yachties and families dressed in appropriate gear, with hay bails for seating. An appropriate bush supper including damper was served on a rustic wheelbarrow (from fiddler Eric McGee).

Since the late 1980s member Leon LaGruta (ex Melbourne Symphony Orchestra) together with various friends have provided musical afternoons each year in the off-season, at the home of Colin and Gwen Red-man. These were well attended, and futhermore provided considerable funds for Club services.

Club New Year’s Eve parties have occurred in some years. In December 1968 and 1972 Chicken and Cham-pagne suppers were held in the Club building. In December 1983 the party consisted of a progressive dinner. In October 1985 the Club held a 25th Anniversary Dinner, at the Danish Club, Middle Park, which was well attended by past and then-present members. including several foundation members and former Commo-dores.

In 1986 a cocktail party was held in the gardens of Coolart, to raise funds to assist in sending two WYC sail-ors (Paul Ridgway and Steve Dillon) to USA for the Hobie 18 world championships.

In October 1987 an excellent sit-down dinner was provided in the Club building at which the Younger Set waited at the tables. In 1986, 1987 and 1988 successful spit roast supper evenings were held in the Club yard.

In 1991 an Australia Day celebration was introduced and held in the Club yard, which was well-attended. At the last minute a busker with a piano-accordion was arranged, and he kept the members on their feet with dances and novelty items. An historical re-enactment was presented (by John and Shirley Sullivan) which included a revisit to Western Port of Lieutenant Grant and Mrs. Grant, who originally landed at Churchill Island (Western Port Bay) in 1801 and planted seeds, which germinated and months later produced crops. During the evening the ghost of a Bunerong aborigine arrived and accused the people of stealing his land and destroying his people and their living. Lieutenant Grant chased him off into the darkness.

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General

Over the years the annual social program has been a regular fund-raising source, and has provided Club funds with up to $4000 in some years.

The provision and/or consumption of alcohol in the Club area has been a much debated subject. The Club rules prohibit consumption of alcoholic liquor except on occasions approved by the General Committee. The feeling of some of members with families was that they had deliberately joined a Club which was not a venue for drinking, and especially one which did not have a bar. When visitors are to be entertained however, for example on opening days and when class championships are held at the Club, there have been requests for committee approval for liquor. This occurred in 1979, and was approved, for barbeque events. Subsequently, at the June 1984 annual general meeting a motion to direct the General Committee to apply for a BYO license was defeated.

The licensing laws regarding clubs were changed in the meantime, with the effect that, provided no charges are made, liquor was allowed to be consumed on a BYO basis without a license being required. The changed licensing laws have now enabled the General Committee to pass a motion annually to permit liquor on sail-ing days and special functions, except for younger set functions. It has been stated nevertheless that the overall Club attitude to liquor has not fundamentally changed.

Catering

During the clubhouse construction era, catering for the builders consisted firstly of teapots and cups carried from the nearby Williams’ and Fethers’ houses. Subsequently, billy tea was made in the Club yard over an open fire by Jim Douglas Senior. These services were greatly appreciated by the workers.

On the first opening day (1960), the water for the afternoon tea was provided from the newly-erected rain-water tank. Just before serving tea, someone discovered that a possum had fallen into the tank. The animal was removed, the tea served, and not a word mentioned of it.

Free afternoon tea or coffee has been a regular feature of Club scene throughout. Discussions have occurred from time to time as to whether cuppas should be charged for, but they have remained free of charge. After-noon cuppas are particularly welcomed by cold sailors returning from races, and the ‘galley’ is a good af-ter-race meeting point. From 1989 lunches have also been available for sale at the Club on race days.

On visiting class championship days (generally over long weekends) the social committees have generally provided lunches as well as after-race tea and coffee at a reasonable charge. This has made much work for the Social Committee members (generally ladies), but has provided a margin of profit. Bad sailing weather generally provided a boost to sales of hot dogs, soup and snacks. In recent years lunches have been provided also at normal race days.

Younger Set

It was felt from the beginning that the younger Club sailors and other young non-boating members of the families and their friends who came to Balnarring needed entertainment and the opportunity to meet togeth-er. For many years the local Fire Brigade provided outdoor films behind the tennis courts (near the present Ranger’s office), and the Club also provided free films in member J. Wrout’s steel building in Hansen’s Lane.

The younger (junior) members of the Club were then encouraged to organise programs of entertainment for themselves. They have since also organised summer evening programs in the clubhouse, winter evening events and daytime social events, inter-club football and hockey matches, younger set yacht races, and so on, which have been supported by all age groups.

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The Younger Set have also provided other services such as arranging, purchasing and selling T-shirts, jump-ers windcheaters and other clothing printed with Club emblems, including deciding on the designs and arranging printing. There have been some very attractive designs on the garments over the years, including the early ‘West Club’ (footmark on sand) symbol.

The outstanding evening entertainment events were the dances in the clubhouse during 1960 to 1970. They commenced as jazz dances, and went through to the ‘rock’ era. The program required a great deal of organ-ising, which was carried out by 16- to 18-year-olds, such as David Hughes, Harold Weber, Peter Harrison, Norm Wilkinson, Bronwyn Williams, Bill Orgill Jnr.,and later Rob Hart, Terry Edwards, Bruce and Doug Allen, Ian Ball, Graham Weber, Dao Williams, Rod Heath, Pam Benwell, Sue Collins, Rod Caple, Ray Veal, Warren Stahel, Julie Flatman, Marion Weymouth, and then Jane Ramsay, Debbie Collins, Ian Locke. and George Benwell Jnr. and others. Bands were hired,including a top jazz group, led by pianist Maurie Fabri-kant. The clubhouse ceiling was decorated with fish netting and old sails, ‘ticket’ boxes were manned, soft drinks stocked and sold, and so on, making a gala atmosphere. The floor was sprinkled with beach sand (which had to be cleaned out by 8am the next morning). Entry payment was confirmed by a ‘invisible’ stamp being placed on the visitors’ arms, which was visible under an ultra-violet light at the Club stairway entrance. The title ‘West Club’ was displayed inside and outside the building.

At first the younger members of neighbouring Clubs were invited, and visitors walked to the dances, but gradually the news got around, and visitors came from as far Rosebud and beyond. The car park became full on Saturday nights. The program also ran on Saturday and Wednesday nights over the summer holiday period, and in some years the dances went right through to Easter, on each Saturday night. Unbelievably, one count indicated that up to 400 bodies crammed in and around the clubhouse. The building rocked!.

This successful organisation by the Younger Set raised considerable funds for the Club ($3000 to $4000 per year). This caused some younger members to feel that they deserved more funds from the Club for younger set purposes. There were some strong arguments with the Club Committee.

There were security problems connected with Club buildings, boats, cars, and the large sums of money col-lected. There were some behaviour problems, which were met by the parents being rostered for supervision. Some Club members who were policemen assisted, on an off-duty basis. However the problems increased, with liquor being consumed in the car park, and in 1970 disturbances and noise brought the Police. Ques-tions at the Club General Committee brought the Club dances to an end. Later attempts to hold them in Balnarring Hall failed to produce satisfactory attendances, and the dances ceased.

A number of parents and younger members however felt that, with good organisation and supervision the Saturday night program could have continued. It was certainly had a strong influence in bringing whole fam-ilies down to the beach and the Club.

From the 1960s WYC younger set held an annual ‘Head of the Creek’. This was a race on the creek on rough-ly-constructed rafts. To add to the excitement, flour, rotten fruit and water bombs were thrown from rafts and from the bridge over the creek, with the spectators joining in. Crews boarded other rafts in order to tip them over. The state of the competitors (and some parents on the bridge) after the race can be imagined. Somers and Merricks clubs joined in with their rafts. The creek may not have been as polluted as today, but was very smelly and muddy! By 1974 it was felt that the pollution level was rather too high for the event to continue.

Also from the 1960s, football matches were arranged between neighbouring clubs once a year. The older set went along to cheer their representatives. In later years girls’ hockey matches have been played, generally as a curtain-raiser to the football matches.

Off-season events included car rallies and picnics in the day time, and films and bowling at night time. The

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car rallies were memorable days, with some becoming lost and arriving late at the barbecue lunch spot. They were successful, despite some strained relations between drivers and navigators.

Up to thirty teenagers met on some Sunday mornings and piled onto the back of a furniture van. They head-ed for such places as Hanging Rock, Yan Yean Reservoir or the snow. Great fun was had by all, sitting on the floor of the van, singing songs and playing games during the trip.

In the summer of 1964/65 the Benwell family spent their holiday in a caravan right where the trailable yachts now stand. ‘Poor Mrs. B.’ (Joyce), also provided hospitality, from breakfasts to late suppers for a caravan full of teenagers. In appreciation of her hospitality she was presented with a ‘hostess with the mostest’ trophy at presentation night. Other families still provide a gathering point at their homes for younger set activities.

A list of Younger Set Presidents is included in the Appendix at the rear of this book. After a lull in enthu-siasm amongst the younger set during the early ‘eighties, Rob Hart called a meeting (with sausage sizzle) in 1986 and inspired a renewal of their activities, with James Cooper as Younger Set President and Kirsten Kruse as assistant. A very successful barbecue/games night, volleyball and beach cricket and a cricket match against Somers resulted.

Social Secretary Joan Suckow, who provided much support and accommodation for many of the younger set during the early years of the Club, believes that the group had ‘a terrific teen-age life’ at Balnarring. There were no alternative attractions around nearby. The WYC younger set program brought many of this age group to Balnarring rather than stay in Melbourne. Other members of their families came down to sail.

The need to provide for younger set activities still applies today. For this reason table tennis tables and equip-ment were provided in the clubhouse. In 1970 and 1990 it was also intended to provide volleyball and/or basketball in the Club yard or on the beach, and equipment was obtained. With organisation, this may well prove a popular attraction in the future, for all ages.

The friendships formed amongst the earlier Younger Setters has lasted. There have been some very well-at-tended reunions in recent years. Many of these early members met their partners at WYC, and now keep in touch with others regularly, together with their children. Social Success

Visitors from other clubs and those who come by invitation from members have frequently commented: ‘Westernport Yacht Club is such a friendly club’. The members and their Social Committees have no doubt set this atmosphere.

The main social occasions are still well attended. Thus it seems that WYC spirit can be expected to prevail, thanks to the efforts of successive Social and Younger Set Sub-Committees.

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CHAPTER EIGHTA DANGEROUS MIX

It seems that a great deal of our humour depends on the discomfort of others. It would be hard to find an area of human activity which is so prone to mishaps, and in such a great variety. People, boats and water create a dangerous mix, which often produces ‘bad news’. There evidently must be a special Murphy’s Law of the Sea.

The humans on board boats suffer all kinds of mishaps; articles of all kinds inevitably go overboard, boats go on strange courses, meeting up with the bottom, reefs, piers, other boats, submerged objects, etc., and some-times the sea enters and intrudes into all parts of the boat and into articles on board. And in addition there is the weather!

These stories begin when skipper and crew are learning, they occur during launching, they also develop when the weather takes over, and even occur to the experts who believe they are doing everything right on a beauti-ful sunny day!.

Learning Pains

Betty and Ron Farnill had never sailed, but bought a Gwen. They had great difficulty in finding how it went together. With some assistance it was assembled on the beach. Someone rather prematurely asked if they were ready, and immediately said ‘get in’, and pushed them off, pointed to Somers. In a 15 knot northerly and beautiful blue sea, they thought ‘great, this is sailing’. Came the time to turn back, and with confidence, turned the tiller. Crash, bang, mast going in circular movements, Betty saying ‘I can’t swim’, boat and crew both shaking. Suddenly they were back, pointing to Somers. Ron was not game to turn the tiller again, so headed for the beach. Speed increasing, discovered no brakes, crash on the beach. Stop. ‘Right, I’m walking back, until you learn to sail’. Fellow Club member and friend Tess Williams turned up and helped them back along the beach, giving them a sailing lesson on the way.

When Lyonel Tozer first took Nan out to sail in the Cadet, she had a habit of falling out over the lee side. The Lazy E was promoted as a ‘family boat’. When they acquired one and went out for their first sail, Nan took her knitting. It is not recorded whether she completed any stitches. One day they went out and it became rough, and they bottled. Nan came back on shore with her hair, her jumper and her shorts all wet and droop-ing down. Instead of help from daughter Vicki, she got an admonition: ‘Mum, you can’t go up to the club looking like that’.

An Arafura went out from Sandy Point in strong winds. The boat would not go about. The skipper said ‘let the main down’. She (the forward hand) let down the forestay, and the whole lot came down, mast and all.

Tom Haselgrove was a 100% powerboater. One fine day Geoff said ‘come for a sail in the Jubilee with Nor-ton and me?’. Calm day. ‘Don’t worry, some good wind will come’, said Geoff. In no time, it came. Heeling right over, with water coming in, Norton said ‘I think we have too much sail’. Are we going to sink, thought Tom. They were having difficulty making way, and had to tack out to sea. When they finally tacked inshore towards Somers, Tom said ‘I’m getting off ’. He walked home.

The trailable yachts also had learning problems. So also did their crews who were new to sailing. Many a headsail was erected upside down.

The weather seemed always to intervene when Margaret Cox went out. Fine days turned bad, and she could not understand the need for boats to heel in the wind. To make it worse, once when leaving the boat she lost

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her grip and fell into the dinghy.

Launching and Recovery

There were lighter moments, such as at the first launching of one off-the-beach boats one morning. The boat was about to be officially named and doused with champagne, when a little dog walked up and beat them to it.

There were notices at the winch house showing the correct hand signals to be used for trolley (flat-top) launching, between the owner whose boat was on the flat-top and the winch operator. Many times the sig-nals given were incorrect and confused. Sometimes two or three persons were giving different signals from the beach at the same time.

The trolley (flat-top) caused a heap of incidents. Before owners learnt to secure their boat trailers to the trol-ley with a chain, many a boat slid off the trolley when the brakes were applied too suddenly, with various results.

Alan’s Ramsay’s new runabout ‘Dolphin’ was being launched on the trolley. A child ran towards the line, and the operator applied the brakes. ‘Dolphin’ slid off and landed off the flat-top with its stern and engine in the sand. Some repairs were needed to the boat. This was repeated by other powerboats, some suffering worse damage. It also occurred to the Jedda yacht ‘Junghai’, to the dismay of owners Don Burns and Bob Hibbins.

In later years the sand had limited the depth for launching, and it also covered the outer end of the railway. This often caused the trolley to run off the rails, and it was necessary to dig out, lift and move the trolley back on the rails.

One Sunday evening, just on high tide, it seemed ideal to return ‘Mara’ to her moorings. However, a trolley derailment resulted, and as the tide rose the crew pushed the boat to try and get her to slide off into the water. Instead, she moved backwards far enough to cause the trailer to suddenly slip forward (like an orange-pip) underneath, causing Mara to cant further backwards, until she was at an angle nearly 45 degrees. Darkness came, and the tide went out. The boat was left there, and the skipper and crew went to their house and had a sleepless night. They came back before dawn, hoping to find a high enough tide to float her off. No luck. All day they shovelled sand and attempted to get the trolley on the rails. Success only came when the next high tide arrived, and the boat was rocked off into the water.

In the days of planked wooden boats it was necessary to keep the planks wet, otherwise they would shrink and cause gaps. Launchings of the larger boats were sometimes spectacular. Once launched, water entered the hull, and slowly the boat sank in full view of those on shore. These events were usually accompanied by cheers from the audience.

Roger Bristow recalls:‘One of our keelboats (Canopus) was planked. It arrived at the Club for launching, but had opened up so much you could see daylight from the cabin. They decided to launch, the idea being for a couple of people to bail continuously until the seams absorbed water and swelled sufficiently to stop further entry of water. I happened to be snorkelling nearby, so I climbed on board to help bail. I got down into the cabin and bailed out through the open hatch. But the boat started to sink. The others had clambered off, but did not tell me. I glanced behind me, saw a wall of water flowing in, so I swam out of the hatch. Nobody really worried. It was later re-floated.’

Many were the occasions when boats were launched without drainage bungs being replaced. However Roger Bristow recalls a trick played on him for good measure, by Club yardman Ken Snell, who was quite a ‘charac-ter’:

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‘Ken saw that I was putting my bondwood powerboat in for the first time, making sure that everything was right. Ken noted that I had not put the bungs in, but, to teach me a lesson, said nothing. He lowered the flat-top, and away I went to fish. I roared out, stopped, and out went the anchor. I was suddenly aware that the boat was sinking. In a panic I called on the radio ‘get the flat-top down quick’. Ken had left it down, and in his slow drawl said ‘better get that bloody tub back before it turns into a submarine’. Back I came in a hurry, onto the trailer and out of the water. Again I went back out to fish, most embarrased, with Ken laughing on the radio.’.

Recovery of boats has brought its share of incidents.

Roger was coming back to the jetty in his power boat a little too fast. He put it into reverse, the motor jumped to the tilt position. The boat was on a wave, shot on to the lower landing and straight up on to the jetty out of the water. An amused bystander quipped: ‘D’ont like getting your feet wet?’

Roger had another experience of recovery:

‘This day we had been out on a 18 foot cabin cruiser for three hours. It was lumpy, and we were bringing the boat out, which meant driving onto the trailer which was half-submerged on the flat-top. If you missed the trailer the first time you had to circle around and try again. We hit the side of the trailer very hard, so we circled around to try again. I opened the cabin door to get my gear, only to be confronted by a cabin half full of water. We pulled the boat out rather fast. Upon inspection we found a gaping hole in the bow below the waterline.’

The Weather and Tides

Balnarring’s worst weather was on Cup Day 1976, when the village had a brief northerly blow. Loose articles such as deck chairs and rubbish bins flew horizontally. The dinghies along the back of the Club were deposit-ed on the beach. Tops of the larger trees were twisted off, and ti-trees fell everywhere.

In the 1960’s the Club organised day visits to Cowes Yacht Club, as well as around French Island and other overnight locations. All of these events provided interest and some excitement. However one visit to Cowes, with an escort of power boats, proved to be a near-disaster. On this beautiful morning a number of boats of all sizes drifted over to Cowes in little wind. After lunch a race had started, and about 3pm a sudden change occurred in the weather. The wind front came down the channel from the west and caught all the boats by surprise. Some boats were washed on to the beach near Cowes pier, others landed on other beaches. Warren Stahel’s Quickcat was seen trying to beat the front as it arrived, but disappeared in the misty rain and spray, with a police boat in hot pursuit. One or two tried to make it to Sandy Point, on the other side of the bay. One of these sailors (Bruce Allen on ‘Nocturne’) broke his collarbone. ‘Canopus’ (described earlier) made it to Sandy Point and then to Hastings. Half a dozen power boats were deliberately driven and manhandled high up on the beach while still under power. Families at Balnarring heard by radio of the happening, and were anxiously awaiting news. Some wives then drove their cars to Cowes and collected sailors. The rest of the sailors boarded the Cowes ferry, which was at the pier, rising and falling dangerously, making it necessary to leap on board at the right moment. Most had no money, and paid no fares. With the wind and seas still high, it was a hair-raising ride back on the ferry.

There have been other days when the sou’westers came in during races. Some of the trailable yachts managed to reef down drastically, but inshore the off-the-beachers suffered. Monohulls were driven along on their sides, and multihulls were cartwheeled over and over with the wind. No serious human mishaps were re-corded.

In 1973 John Cranswick gave his reflections in ‘West Port Bound’(WPB) after the loss of his T/Y:

‘Osprey II was sailing particularly well with the JOG race on a spinnaker run, in what started as a 15 knot

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wind. Off Seal Rocks the following seas became quite nasty and several boats were broaching. When Osprey broached on a pretty big wave which lifted the rudder clear of the water, the boat flipped over like a dinghy, the mast not stopping in the horizontal but only when it was pointing to the bottom. And there it stayed. When John Lithgow in ‘Dauntless’ came to help us we passed him a rope, and then set out to try and right Osprey. But in those conditions it was hopeless, and after 25 minutes we were too cold and exhausted to con-tinue, and were dragged aboard the rescue ship.’

They radioed for assistance, but after one and a half hours Osprey was left adrift. She was smashed to pieces in Smugglers Cove (Phillip Island). John and Joy later bought a Boomerang, and have had many enjoyable days and overnighters since.

In December 1973 ‘West Port Bound’ described the events of Heat 1:

‘If our skippers wanted experience early in the season, they got it. Small boats were thrown about, and their positions in the race took sudden changes. The crashboats were busy.

The Division 3 fleet had its episodes. One Jedda was holed near a the mark of the course. Another trail-er-sailer approached a mark, went about and was heeled over by a gust and lifted high, then skidded sideways across the water, whilst the skipper and crew climbed out. Nearby, WYC’s veteran keeler (‘Kylie’) caught the same gust near the mark and also skidded on its beamy bottom. The same veteran boat later swept into the moorings, misfired in picking up its mooring, fouled its rudder which then floated away, and the boat then careered off with the skipper (Dowell) looking anxiously for a solution to his problem. ‘Balnarring Patrol’ came to the rescue and towed her home. Meanwhile another skipper, in trouble with a plate jammed up, was trying to pick up his moorings and also debating whether to drop and clear out of way as the foregoing vessel headed his way. ‘BP’ also subsequently assisted this boat to its moorings, but got holed it in the process.

The ‘overnighters’ and Club cruises have produced some excitement.

Thunder and lightning were the highlights of the trip (mainly by the younger set) to Rhyll in January 1970. After a slow trip over in light wind conditions, the sailors then went for a walk to Cowes and back. At night a camp fire was lit which wound up soon after 10 o’clock, when they started to bed down, the girls in a sep-arate tent, with senior member Marj Adair as ‘chaperone’. However the full extent of the tide had not been taken into consideration, and the camp became awash at high tide, around 2 am. This caused a rush, and 18 tried to fit into a three-man tent. Some used sails for cover. At 2.30 am a wild and spectaculer storm broke, followed by rain which poured into the camp. In the morning a bedraggled bunch managed to make some breakfast, pack up and sail home for a sleep.

Thunder, rain and mozzies have made life on the beach difficult on other ‘overnighters’. In addition, there have always been one or two of the younger ones who have gone out unprepared for meals and sleeping. On one particular trip, one Peter was hurried out of bed back at their camp at Balnarring. He sailed off late and arrived at Sandy Point with only a jar of vegemite! Some others took pity on him, and shared some bread.

In January 1971 the barbeque picnic at Sandy Point was idyllic. However someone walked around the point and came back to say that ‘all hell is breaking loose out there’, with a strong southerly. As the tide was flowing out fast it was decided not to sail in the channel, but to walk the boats around the Point to the near beach. So began the eerie sight of a long caravan of boats and crew, sails flapping, walking and struggling across the long sand bar. ‘WYC’ became the Walking Yacht Club. The return posed more problems. The seas were too great for some to sail. The power boats came to the rescue, towed some boats back and took some crew on board, and returned them home, some the worse for cold and seasickness. One Gwen class yacht, with Ste-phen Blaxland and his little sister Allyson on board, sailed back and got a round of applause on their return.

The tricks of the weather combined with tides are well known throughout Western Port. Many unwary boat-er has been tricked and caught by the tide on the sand and mud banks. This results in a wait of some hours

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until the tide returns.

The Middle Bank in the western entrance to Western Port has given some frights to the unwary. This area regularly produces heavy, steep rollers in certain tide conditions. Things can go wrong on the best of days.

Chapter Six records the rescue of the trailable yacht which ran aground on the middle bank in a flat calm sea, only to be caught up in heavy rollers shortly after, as the tide came in.

Peter Cooper once mistook a channel marker in the distance for a Club buoy. They suddenly realized that they had gone too far and were near the bank, when the breakers appeared. The boat went right through the seas, which broke overboard and doused everything. They retired from the race.

Jane Cox recalls going out on John Brehaut’s ‘couta boat ‘Ronrico’ towards Seal Rocks. They suddenly met up with very high and steep rollers over the Middle Bank, The boat rose up and fell completely off several waves, with water coming on board, threatening to fill it up. They finally managed to make way gradually off the Bank, and avoided disaster.

The course of one early trailable yacht race went from Buoy 1 (near the entrance) to Buoy 10 (towards Cow-es) and then inshore towards Somers. This meant passing through the Bank. Bob Hibbins reports that as they passed through, huge swells appeared suddenly, which were steep enough to hide near boats from each other, and must therefore have been nearly 24 feet high and with white foam on their tops. They were terri-fying, and appeared to tower over their Jedda, which other skippers said looked like a dinghy by comparison. When going through from Buoy 10 to Somers a breaking wave went over Tom Robinson’s Explorer, com-pletely submerging it, but they managed to sail away.

Fog also causes wierd experiences. Without a compass, all sense of direction and position can be lost. George Benwell has had several calls via radio for assistance in fog conditions. The location of the boat had to be solved by sounds, wave direction, and/or memory. One boat called and said he had no idea of his position, except that he was somewhere in the Western Entrance, ‘Between Balnarring, Pt. Grant (Phillip Is.) and Sandy Pt.’. George recommended that he drop anchor, and note which way the the tide passed his boat. From this he was able decide to go to the right for Phillip Island or the left for Somers. He made his decision. Shortly after he called and said he heard the sound of the ferry and was following that home.

Some of our boats have had experiences in fog in Western Port, but generally they have had a rough idea of their position, and have had compasses to guide them home.

It was reported in ‘WPB’ that WYC member Phillippa Petty was coming home towards Brighton in thick fog. Phillippa was at the bow, wearing a balaclava, when she thought she heard a fog horn. The next few minutes were terrifying. A ship was obvious closing their position rapidly. The fog horn seemed to come from all points of the compass. The Skipper gave the diesel every ounce of power and gambled on what proved to be the right direction. Out of the murk there appeared a grey twenty five-story building travelling at a good twenty knots. No sooner sighted than gone, leaving only the echoing menace of the receding doleful horn.

Sailing and Racing

Steve Blaxland and Rob Hart decided to sail their Gwen anti-clockwise around French Island in one day. They were back as far as Sandy Point and very tired, when a Shearwater cat was sighted, making its way up the bay without crew. While Steve sailed ‘Reflex’ singlehanded, Rob sailed the cat back to its crew on the middle-of-the-bay sand bar. Rob then rejoined ~Reflex’, leaving the thankful pair to sail back to Somers.

Jim Williams was sailing their Jubilee boat ‘Kathleen’ to the Nobbies when the brass chain plate disintegrated and the mast began to topple. As the forward hands put their shoulders to the mast Jim threw the boat on to the other tack. He sailed her all the way to Balnarring with only the port shrouds in service, ‘without a care

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in the world’.

George Blaxland (ex RN) was a capable and stalwart sailor. He only reluctantly accepted assistance. George and daughter Allyson were sailing in a ‘father and daughter race’, in a Cadet. They ‘bottled’, near Palmers’ Hill. Allyson got back on board, and the boat sailed off. The patrol boat came along, assisted Allyson, and went to George. and asked him if he wanted to come on board. He signalled ‘no’, and swam on. Some time later the patrol boat came and asked George again, he waved them away and stroked on. A considerable time later, after the patrol boat attended to other boats, it was getting late in the day and they went back to George, still stroking away. They finally convinced him to come aboard.

Parent/son-daughter relations at time become strained, particularly during a race. In one exciting race several boats had taken the lead. With a quarter of the race left, Skipper/son Greg and Father Ron Cleav-er came from behind and forged ahead. The inevitable happened - they bottled. Consternation! The crew went overboard, but the Skipper hardly got his feet wet. Like an acrobat, born of long practice, he was on the gunwhale, flicked the boat up and stepped aboard. Then in typical skipper fashion he then screamed abuse at the crew to get aboard, dragged him in over the stern, grabbed a bucket and started bailing. What a perfor-mance! They finished third.

Many incidents arise during races. On a wild day, Doug and Bruce Allen were racing, and saw that Shelley Arnold, the crew of leading boat, had fallen off and was in the water. They picked her up and returned her to her boat. Progressively all of other boats in the race had broken their gear. In the end, Doug and Bruce’s boat was the only one to finish.

James Cooper wonders whether a skipper and his boat can develop communication, on some strange and undiscovered channel.

On a good racing day with a 15-20 knot breeze, in a mixed fleet, he was leading the Dolphins. He followed a Contender to a mark, calculating his turn so as to go around and outside the other boat. In a gust, his boat lurched forward, and in a moment he saw through the spray the Contender, nestling between the hulls of his catamaran. Its skipper looked around with amazement, and then poured out abuse. The two boats however were locked together, with little control, and with the skippers puzzled how to extricate themselves. A litle later, either due to the waves or an unconscious decision, they both gybed, and parted. But as they gybed and separated, James went overboard. He called, but the other skipper refused to help (he was winning). To make it worse, the skipperless Dolphin took off on its own accord, heading in the direction of Tortoise Head. James waved and waved, but neither the crash boats or the race box noticed his predicament.

Finally an Elwood Junior skipper saw him. With the two on board, they slowly got to the crash boat, ‘BP’. After James questioned whether those on board had been holding a party or were fast asleep, he pointed to the ‘Dolphin’, which was heading past Somers. ‘BP’ headed out at full speed. They finally went alongside, with the Dolphin doing nearly 20 knots. James decided upon the moment to leap across. He jumped, only to find himself out in front, looking at a sharp hull, heading straight for his face. The next moment the hull brushed over his forehead and he felt the rush of air as it passed. By some luck, Dolphin’s hull then rose up high in the air and the boat came to rest over on its side, as James says ‘like a playful and obedient dog, ready to be put back on its lead’. He sailed back to the club, where the race controllers apparently did know he was missing overboard.

Andy Adair had a DeHavilland ‘Corsair’. He went for a sail with crew Nancy and Tony, towards Cat Bay on Phillip Island. The wind changed and blew harder, so they headed back, with the wind behind, and the crew facing forward. Andy turned around to attend to a problem down under the rudder. He slipped overboard, catching himself by the ankle behind the tiller. The boat sailed on, with the crew not noticing any change. Andy was under the water some of the time. Finally the boat gave a lurch, and Andy fell off completely. It was only the fact that boat gave another lurch that made the crew look backwards, with amazement. No skip-per! They then managed to bring the boat about. Fortunately a fisherman noticed this happening, and took

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Andy back on board.

Bob Hibbins and crew were in a race, and their Heron bottled at a mark to the west of the Club. The patrol boat saw them, came alongside, and took the crew on board. Bob stayed with the boat, intending to sail it back. However he found that he could not get back on board. With the assistance of the wind, he pushed the boat in the direction of the Club. Three-quarters of an hour later, the patrol boat came back and offered a tow. Bob then managed to get on to the Heron. But the patrol boat then ran onto a reef, leaving Bob and his boat to float away again. He saw the bottom and jumped overboard, intending to pull the boat home. But he unfortunately stepped into a deep hole, and once again he and the boat floated away, with Bob still hanging on. Ultimately Club member Joan Allen came out and pulled boat and skipper back on to the shore.

Genuine Fish Stories

Tom Haselgrove was a regular fisherman, from the early days of the Club. One day in the ‘60s he set a shark bait on two 4-gallon drums, near the reefs off the club towards Somers. Twenty-four hours later Tom went out to his shark bait, and for convenience tied his 13-foot clinker-built boat by the stern to the drum buoys. However the weather suddenly worsened. Two rollers came overboard, and his boat was swamped. It emerged with the bow only showing. He thought it was safest to hold on to the drums, for buoyancy. He tried to desperately to go under, to get a knife to cut the drum line free, so that the drums would drift to the shore, but without success. He decided definitely to hang on to the drums. The weather worsened and became colder. By sheer luck, a fellow WYC boat owner Mal Kingman was looking through binoculars at home, thought he saw something strange. Alan Ramsay hurriedly launched his boat. Tom was rescued, grey, nearly finished, and with a 10 to 11 foot shark encircling the buoy, caught by the hook!

Over the next two days the boat and drums were seen to be drifting towards Somers. Many ropes were found and were joined together. Alan Ramsay launched his boat, and Graham Weber on board tied the ropes to the drums. A team of members pulled from the shore. The drums, boat and shark were retrieved. Inside the shark was found a seal pup. The boat was damaged, but was later re-built. Tom went on to continue fishing into the ‘90s.

Fred Payne helped three visiting Italians to launch their fishing boat at the Club. Their engine would not start. Fred made suggestions, and tried to find the problem, but to no avail. Not to be defeated, they rowed their boat just out beyond the moorings. They came back with ten beaut whiting.

In an earlier year the Lord Mayor of Melbourne officially opened the season. It was suggested that he bring his boat on a Club trip around French Island. He did, and then went off fishing, but got stuck on the mud and stayed overnight. He was reported as missing. There was some panic, with phone calls to WYC. What did you do with the Lord Mayor? It made the news.

Those So-and So Engines!

Sometimes they seem detirmined never to start. Sometimes they fail without good reason at the vital mo-ment of need.

Fred Collins and Bill Orgill’s narrow-gutted powerboat had a powerful V8 engine. When ‘Slipstream’ was first launched, they started her up - and she shot off fast, backwards! They had fitted the propeller incor-rectly. One day they planned to go to Rhyll fishing stored up as usual with plenty of ‘liquid rations’. At the moorings, the engine would not start. They tried and tried. For consolation, they had a few slurps, and tried to start it again, the a few more slurps. Finally they looked around and decided that where they were was a good spot for fishing, and whatever.... The next morning they were seen, fast asleep, still at the moorings. It is believed that no fish were caught.

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Up the Creek

When Balnarring Creek was merely muddy (and only a lttle polluted), there was an annual ‘Head of the Creek’ raft race. Neighbouring clubs Somers and Merricks joined in. Flour bombs, rotten fruit, water bombs and worse were thrown from ricketty vessels. Collisions, boarding, and sinkings were accepted. Mothers were horrified to see their kids arrive on shore plastered with mud, flour and more.

Meanwhile Back on Shore

Father Christmas regularly came to the Club on a Heron (presumably from some remote island). This time he was skippered by Clyde Wheatland. It was a windy day. The boat arrived at the shore amongst waves, fouled a line, and heeled over. Father Christmas (Keith Davenport) promptly fell on his face, and squelched up the beach with wet pants but his bag safe.

One day Fred Payne noticed a fire near the fence on the beach side of the Club. There were boats parked nearby. He ran for hoses, and got messages to the Balnarring Fire Brigade. They came in time to save serious damage.

The Good News

So much for the bad news. As we all know, the good news is that there are nevertheless some delightful days when people, boats and water do mix well.

Earlier, when there were dolphins in the bay more regularly, Graeme and Peter Cox went out in their trima-ran past Somers. Suddenly they came upon a school of dolphins, which in no time came over and played around the boat. Some even rolled over in between the hulls of the boat, close enough to touch.

Bob Hibbins recalls that he and Don Burns were in a combined fleet of WYC and Warneet Motor Yacht Club trailer sailers, meeting up at Sandy Point and sailing to Warneet together. A steady southerly was blowing. so it was a spinnaker run all the way. The sight of so many yachts moving up the North Arm together, spread out over the blue waters, with multi-coloured spinnakers, was ‘out of this world’.

Fortunately, there are such days.

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CHAPTER NINEMEMBERS’ REFLECTIONS

DIY

It is hoped that this book reveals the contributory and do-it-yourself (DIY) atmosphere in which the Club and its facilities have been constructed and maintained. In addition to being a venue for boating activities and skills, the Club has provided opportunities for all ages to learn and engage in many supporting activities.

Many have had the opportunity to demonstrate their own expertise in technical and organisational matters. The design, manufacture, installation and maintenance of club facilities, as well as organisation of Club boat-ing and social events, have provided outlets for many. Meeting challenges without receiving personal finan-cial incentive appears to provide outlets for self-expression and hence satisfaction to many people.

Ex-Commodore Bob Hibbins has commented on the enormous amount of work achieved over the years through working bees. Working bee days find members occupying themselves on jobs which would other-wise be utterly boring, if it were not for the company of others, as well as the fact that they were near their favourite place, the sea. Who could complain at having to paint the clubhouse, with such a view! John Dillon once said that he, Ern Robson and Brian Hill had some difficulty in telling their colleagues, when they re-turned to work after a long weekend, what they had done during the holiday weekend. The fact was, they had spent the weekend searching for and found the club septic tank which was due for a clean-out, and had to dig up the Club’s concrete patio in the process.

This contributory atmosphere is fairly widely supported and spread throughout the membership. There are, however, always a few who feel that the Club is a service organisation, and that its facilities are available on demand. One member has stated with concern that some facilities are over-used by some members, for example, the introduction of fishing or radio membership allows the use of facilities without the obligation of contribution to the club in other ways.

Boating Variety

From the start, WYC accepted a great variety of boats, both power and sail. Members engage in powerboat-ing, fishing, sailing (cruising or racing), or just ‘messing around with boats’.

This has undoubtedly provided WYC with a broad fund of knowledge in all forms of boating. It has also ben-efited many members, who would otherwise not have the opportunity to learn other techniques and skills.

As stated in Chapter Six, the presence of powerboats has complemented the sailing section, provided a back-up protective fleet, and has been the background through which the Club developed a large reserve of trained skippers and crew for rescue purposes. Sailors were able to learn other boating technical and handling skills.

Changes

Some earlier members have been heard to say ‘things are not as they used to be’. Undoubtedly they cannot be exactly as they were. Changes are of course inevitable. It is always hard in any organisation to maintain the fellow feelings which exist amongst those who worked hard in the first place, and created the club. However, a friendly and contributory Club spirit still exists after 30 years. Attendance at social events is still high, and the level of contribution by members is excellent.

As early as 1976, when 50 boats were racing on Sundays the sailing committee was asking ‘where have all the

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boats gone?’ Subsequently the numbers have declined greatly. Staffing the Club on race days can involve as many people as those on the water. Likewise the cost of providing patrol boats and equipment becomes out of proportion. These subjects are being addressed by the General Committee.

The progress of technology has enabled members to try new materials and designs in boats and equipment. Glass fibre, Carbon fibre, stainless steels, and dacron replaced earlier materials. Similarly, the Club itself has entered a new world of equipment for communications and computing. Changes and developments will continue.

Also, general relative affluence has enabled families to own larger boats. Has this larger boat development given the Club an elitist appearance? Does this, in turn, discourage a new breed of young families from dis-covering the satisfaction of learning to handle and sail a low cost small boat? In the’60s, thousands built and sailed small yachts, to their great satisfaction. Can this be repeated in the ‘90s?

Financial

The Club financial situation has of course changed as a result of reduced membership but continued costs.

On the subject of Club finances, earlier Treasurer and Commodore Tom Robinson feels that, over a period of changing affluence and changing values, the Club has lost the ability to minimise costs and hence to keep the members’ fees to a level at which the average family can pay. He also feels that all major capital works should be financed through member loans with clearly-stated repayment schedules. This comment may also be supported by ex-Treasurer Ron Cleaver’s belief that the presence of a loan provides a challenge to members. The General Committee however feel that the major costs such as launching and patrol boats are in fact being contained. Other costs such as rental and insurances are beyond WYC’s control. Inflation remains unavoid-able.

It is certainly desirable that family members are able to join at a time when their resources are at a minimum, and that they and other members are able join and learn the basics of boating at reasonable cost. The history of Club has shown that those who graduated from the learning stages in small boats to the later stage when they were able to own a larger boat, have also made a large contribution to Club organisation, development and maintenance.

In 1991 the General Committee submitted a recommendation for increase of 10% in fees, with a discount of 5% for early payment. Whereas in earlier years this would have demanded that this be backed up with a statement of financial affairs, this recommendation was merely based on maintaining funds against the effect of inflation. The motion was nevertheless supported unanimously by those attending.

Committees

It has been said that committees were responsible for the design of the camel, when a horse was required. Past Committees have planned and supervised the design and construction of many facilities. There seems to be little about the Club area that has suffered as a result of Committee decisions. This is despite the fact that available and cheap (or free) materials and voluntary labour have been used at times. Undoubtedly, as with government, results are sometimes achieved out of discussion and argument, of which there was plenty in earlier years. WYC’s organisation and facilities seem to have suffered comparatively little from its commit-tee-run basis.

Different Committees have over the years tackled many different major projects, involving new facilities or additions. During succeeding periods their priorities have changed, from building development, to organisa-tional matters, and to maintenance of boats and other support services.

There have been occasions when Sub-committees have debated subjects which already were decided earlier.

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The two-year change-over of Club Officers, together with the ‘run-up’ period during which Club Officers move up through the Committee, means that there is a period of five years or so during which memories of past decisions are available, but quite often thereafter past decisions have been overlooked.

As early as 1974 a ‘Club Future Questionnaire’ was issued to members. which invited suggestions on a number of subjects. Since then, some Commodores have initiated Forward Planning Sub-committees, which from year to year have come up with surprisingly different conclusions, but each no doubt with relevance to the times.

These scenarios no doubt apply to the committees of many sporting clubs and other organisations.

Permanent Friendships

Undoubtedly those who formed and built the Club have maintained the longest relations with fellow mem-bers and their families. Many older Club members also have found the area sufficiently attractive to retire to the village, knowing that they have a circle of friends there. Such was the confidence and enthusiasm among a number of early members in formation and construction that some initiated and participated in the cre-ation of the Balnarring Bowls and Social Club. It would appear logical and beneficial therefore that a perma-nent link be established between the Bowls and Yacht clubs. Many ex-members are also members of various other clubs and societies in the area.

A dozen or more couples have met and married as a result of meeting at WYC. Many of the earlier Younger Set are now bringing their children to sail at Balnarring. As a result, WYC has three generations of sailors, in a number of families.

Bronwyn Ridgway (nee Fethers) recalled how many of the younger set who sailed and attended the early films in the tennis court area are now married and bringing their children to the beach. She has jokingly commented: ‘What an in-bred membership the next generation can look forward to, if their children meet up in the future!’.

The Local Environment

As mentioned in Chapter Two, there were initial reactions against the establishment of the Club on a fairly undisturbed beach front.

In 1970 sailor John Fethers wrote to the Editor, ‘West Port Bound’:

‘I see that Progress has struck again, and in place of a few old trees and bushes we have a fine area of open space to add to the club yards.

No doubt it will be used - as is St. Kilda junction. Those who require only access to water can get this much closer to home. Others, like myself, enjoy Balnarring for what it is and are disturbed to see it destroyed piece by piece, always with the best intentions.

Perhaps this so-called ‘progress’ is inevitable. I doubt if this is true, if others feel as I do and say so. If I am a lone voice, let me at least be heard crying before the wilderness is completely gone’.

Subsequent to the last extensions to its land, the Club’s impact on the area has substantially ceased. In fact, many members have participated in the constant cleaning of the beach, and in tree-planting projects, over the years.

Club members have almost continually served on the Balnarring Foreshore and Parks Reserve Committee of Management over the years. In 1989, members participated in a clean-out of noxious plants in the foreshore,

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which is to be an on-going commitment. The Club’s first Commodore, Jim Williams, has been active in prescribing plans for restoration of indigenous plants to various locations throughout Australia, including the Balnarring Foreshore.

Objectives

The Club’s expressed objectives in general are to encourage boating as a healthy outdoor activity. Different members have seen the Club’s objectives and successes in different ways.

In 1974 Commodore Tom Robinson defined the club objectives as furthering the development of WYC as a truly family club and enhancing the team spirit among members of all ages. This was to be achieved by pro-viding opportunities for participation in the day to day running of the Club through voluntary task groups and working bees. In 1975 the Club objectives were amended to also include the encouragement of personal development of youth, and ‘to encourage the participation of all members in boating activities for pleasure and for the development of physical fitness’.

Tess Williams (wife of our first Commodore) has stated that the club was formed primarily as a family club, where parents and children could learn to sail and have fun together.

Stuart and Liz Sarrailhe wrote in ‘West Port Bound’, in 1985 :

‘Firstly a club is about people, and here we have a wonderfully broad-based club, with all ages sailing or boat-ing for the love of it. With such a wide variety of friendly people, there is always someone who will talk about boats. The boats, like the members , come in all shapes and sizes, powerful or gentle, narrow or broad in the beam, large or small. The traditional rivalry between power and sail is forgotten. Even gently cruising and enjoying the beautiful scenery of the Bay is part of the Club scene’.

Westernport Yacht Club provides a variety of boating opportunities. Members come to Balnarring mainly for their favourite activity on the water; powerboating, skiing, sailing casually or competitively, or cruising around the Bay. There are of course family members who do not wish to go out on boats. Walking, swim-ming, socialising and fishing are also a part of the scene. Generally there are opportunities for all to ‘do their own thing’. The Club appears to have successfully extended as well as achieved its objectives.

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Many early members remember Balnarring foreshore as a very pleasant camping spot. They all have happy memories of the social activities, and made lasting friendships as a result. Hence many are now retired and living locally. Many later members and they families also spend the holidays in caravans on the foreshore, and enjoy the Club activities and the beach.

David Barclay wrote his own testimony to life at Balnarring, as follows:

Summer Holidays

Balnarring my beautiful place by the seaBanksia and ti-tree by sea-shore and creekRippling blue waters roll up golden sandsWhere summer’s brown bodies relax in the sunOr glistening plunge into sun dappled waters.

Rainbowed sails track sparkling sea pathsWaves grow, fall and wash over low tide rock reefsFar away ships pass by penguins and seals

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Slow marching rollers on middle bank vieTo race them to port until Sandy Point’s nigh.

Calm night times reflections of red and green flashingsGuide cargoes conveyed on deep throbbing rumbles.Stars and moon canopy silver the seaBobbing white shallow lights, flounder spear ripplesTinkling laughter o’er wet shining sandsFollow torch beams away across curve of the bay.

Pre-dawn birds chortle and chaff sleeping campers‘Til canvass walls gleam heralds in a new day.Aroma of sizzling bacon and eggsWafts among sleepy heads still in their bedsForetaste of new day’s pleasures in storeRefreshes the memories of times that endure.

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APPENDIX

LIST OF CLUB OFFICERS

Flag Officers

Season Commodore Vice Commodore Rear Commodore

Club Officers

Season Secretary Treasurer

Other Club Appointments

Season Sailing Sec. Powerb’t Capt Social Sec.