Joyous

by John Curnow on 13 Jun 2017 It is not hard to be impressed by the Mooloolaba Yacht Club. They happily refer to themselves as the little club that could, and boy can they actually do it. Pulling off their annual Etchells Australasian Championship is a herculean task for a club with no formal locale, yet in a massive display of putting the shoulder to the grindstone, the clubs band of trusty, and mighty volunteers get the job impressively. They perform well, and after 21 years, they get about it with both a definite precision, and a welcoming joy. If you were Amundsen, you’d ask if you might be able to trade your Huskies for them.

Good on them. The Sunshine Coast Council see the point to all of their efforts, and local businesses like The Wharf, See Restaurant, and the Newport Apartments, well and truly know the way to South Pole, as it were. Of course on the marine side of things, North Sails and Harken have been amongst it for years, and Line 7 seized the opportunity to become naming rights sponsor this year, as part of their first year back in the market. Just on that, remember that Line 7 have their competition running to send in your pics of Line 7 gear to them on their Facebook page to be in the chance for great prizes each week.

Now the developer that owns their ‘home’ has very big plans for the area, which very much includes the Mooloolaba Yacht Club itself. The club is not short of ideas, either, and boats venturing North, as well as those looking for an excuse, may in the not too distant future have a very viable option.

Also, after the dredging at the mouth of the creek, which is presently underway, you won’t need a 4WD catamaran or 6x6 cruising boat to get in their, either. Other clubs looking to achieve big things in the challenging environment our sport finds itself in could take in a lot from what the Mooloolaba Yacht Club has done, and is to do!

Further afield now, and it is important to note that the World Cup Final in Santander comes just some six months after the last one in Melbourne. Being able to talk with Ross and Kevin Wilson was a terrific side benefit of their ongoing involvement with both the Mooloolaba Yacht Club and the Etchells. It was pleasing to see that Sail Melbourne is to survive in the post World Cup in the Southern Hemisphere era, albeit that the dates have not yet moved to a more family friendly time slot. You never know, perhaps an Asia Pacific Cup or similar could get up… With the Euro circuit now dwarfing the SWC, it is more than pipe dream stuff.

Kevin expanded, “Sail Melbourne will be held from 29 November to 3 December, 2017. Olympic and invited classes are on offer, as usual. The former will run from 29/11 to 2/12, whereas the latter will be run over the final three days, 1-3 December. That is four days for the Olympic craft and 3 for the invited fleets. This means there will be a two-day overlap, where everyone one will be on the water.”

So good luck to the Wilsons, and Mark Taylor, et al, who will have to organise four or five tracks on those crossover days. Naturally, they are well versed in it by now… However, don’t go to sailmelbourne.com.au just yet, because it won’t work for you, but I am reliably informed that the NoR and other stuff will be available soon, and I am equally as sure the team will let us know exactly when that is. Nudge. Nudge. Wink. Wink!

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