VOLUNTEER SPOTLIGHT Paul Manuel

Paul was instrumental in designing the new seating, which was designed in such a way that it could easily be removed to maintain a multipurpose boat for all sections to use for their specific needs. The next task was removing the rope boxes from the rear of the boat and manufacturing a new swim platform as well as designing the yachting flag mast. Paul put all this together in a proposal and submitted it and his AutoCAD drawings to the Boat Committee for approval before putting it out for tender. Numerous quotes were sought with many contractors, all of whom were too expensive, some never showed up, or were quite unreliable hence this was a very frustrating time for Paul. When speaking with Shane the manager from the HYC boat lifters he recommended Beau Finlay (Finlay Marine fabrication) who ended up being the perfect solution.

As Paul was also doing his Aviation Electrical course at Jandakot airport, he was starting at 0700 each day and coming after his lectures down to Hillarys arriving around 1 to 2pm and working until the boat yard was closing, pretty much 7 days a week to get the boat finished. He worked closely with Louise Jennings and the Boat Committee to get all the boat jobs and requirements done as cost effectively as possible. It was an enormous amount of his personal time and much effort, with many others from the Dive section to get firstly Balaton Jack stripped out to achieve a good price for the scrap aluminium and then Alibi to where it is today. This has taken many months of dedication and hard work which has ended up with a first-class multipurpose boat for all the Club to use. A special thank you to Paul and all those who have contributed to the project of acquiring, transporting and refurbishing Oceaneer Alibi to make it a very suitable boat for the Angling, Diving and Sailing sections that will last well into the future.