Whitsunday volunteer Ian Davey recognised

by Ian Grant on 25 Aug 2008
No sporting club can claim to play a major role in the community without the personal support from dedicated volunteers.

Some volunteers manage their personal time to support various organisations to ensure their Club becomes actively involved in the day to day affairs of the community.

They also possess that friendly nature which offers an open invitation for visitors to feel welcome and relaxed.

This fun filled atmosphere was again expressed when the Whitsunday Sailing Club hosted the highly successful Meridien Marinas Airlie Beach Race Week on Pioneer Bay.

Sailors who represent clubs from the cold latitudes south of the Tropic of Capricorn have now adopted this series as their preferred tune up and evaluation trial for the major summer races including the Rolex Sydney Hobart and coastal passage races in New Zealand.

Popular New Zealand skippers Anatole Masfen (Pussy Galore) and Rob Bassett (Wired) who have raced at Airlie Beach in previous years now regard this Race Week series as the perfect event to test the speed of their yachts.

'The racing for our class of yacht is comparable with the best in the World' Rob Bassett said.

His compliment was also supported by champion New South Wales skipper Ray Roberts who has raced in all of the major regattas including the China Sea Race and the King’s Cup in South East Asia.

'Airlie Beach has it all and rates on the top of the list as my most favourite place to race'.

'The courses are challenging, the regatta is professionally managed and the Sailing Club always has that special friendly appeal, Quantum Racing will be coming back next year' Ray Roberts said.

This type of sail and community friendly hospitality has been encouraged and managed by some familiar faces.

There are too many of these volunteers to name individually but they all deserve a good old fashion pat on the back for providing the hours of personal time which has established their club as a major international yachting destination.

They are also the people who have diligently worked for many years not accepting a salary apart from the ‘fringe Benefit’ of a cold beer a cut lunch and a volunteer shirt to bank roll a multi-million dollar cash flow into the community.

Like all of the yachts the team of volunteers also have a likable skipper who they call Frog better known as Ian Davey.

Many years ago this columnist had the happy assignment to cover the internationally famed Great Whitsunday Fun Race and was handed the name Ian
Davey as the contact.

When I strolled into the club this beaded guy dressed in thongs and a WSC shirt shook my hand saying ‘welcome bloke sit on the stool and have a frostie’.
Naturally it was nice to have a coldie on a warm tropical day but I had to find Mr Davey - thankfully this hairy guy knew him.

'He’s real easy to find just look around for a big bloke who looks like a Frog that swears 'he said.