MARINE ACADEMY UPDATE
It is exciting times for the Club and the Marine Academy with the commissioning of our new training vessel, Southern Investigator, over the months of June and July. A 2007 Beneteau Cyclades 43.3 purchased from a member, she is a contemporary cruising yacht originally built for charter work and saw service in the Whitsundays. Her standing rigging and mainsail have been replaced, new signage applied promoting the Academy in unmistakable style and regular maintenance and servicing of all parts of the boat completed. Without doubt she will be an inviting proposition to members and the public to start their journey of sailing discovery. We hope, like her predecessor, as a training yacht she will assist in the recruitment of new members once they get the sailing bug. Our Cruising Instructors have undertaken an induction process with the new boat and the picture below records the first occasion they gathered for their induction. Thanks must go to instructors Hugh Longbottom and Rod Hunter for the time and effort put in to bring the boat up to the standards required by the Royal Yachting Association for accredited training. The winter break has also seen the new season’s training program published. You can find all 46 courses covering the period September to April on the Club website under Training/ Course Dates and Bookings. We are pleased to be offering the same wide range of courses covering both power boating, safety and sailing. In particular we look forward to offering the ‘Out There Sailing’ courses over the summer and April school holidays. These Australian Sailing courses aimed at teenagers offer firstly a half day ‘taster’ and then, if interested, progression to two levels of three days of on the water activity involving learning to stay safe, sail, paddleboard and some power boat rides. Keep it in mind for your kids or grandkids during the summer break.
restrictions the Marine Academy is now back at normal operations, albeit with a COVID-19 Operations Policy and additional cleaning and screening measures in place. Let’s hope that this continues. Don’t let the current environment curtail your desire to be on the water or to join us to update your skills. Lastly, we must bid our faithful servant Academy 1 farewell and safe travels. She has served the Club as our training vessel for some 11 years and introduced hundreds of people to the joys of sailing. It is pleasing to know it has been sold to a family from the south coast and will still be seen the in waters around our gulf. David Royle Marine Academy Principal
The last two months of the 2019-20 training season were lost due to the COVID-19 outbreak resulting in eight courses being cancelled. I am pleased to advise that based on current
CYCSA instructors L to R. Hugh Longbottom, Brett Yardley, Rod Hunter, John Edwards & Vern Schulz
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