From the Commodore

Ken Wood

Greetings Members, “50 Years, really?”

Yes indeed. In July 1973 the Whitfords, Sea Sports Club was started by a group of locals with a passion for water sports. The Club’s first fishing competition was held that month at Pinnaroo Point, and the first general meeting was held the following month at Springfield School, Kallaroo. The surf cat sailors held their first event that December, with 60-70 boats taking part. Our first club house was a caravan parked on the beach at Pinnaroo Point, and we’ve come a long way since. The important things haven’t changed, like our love of sea sports, our camaraderie, and our focus on family. If your interested, a history timeline is on our website (https://www.orssc.asn.au/history), put together by our Patron, Ian Younghusband. We are canvassing our legacy members to add to the story, and intend to produce a video that highlights our history. Meanwhile, the Club is building a calendar of events for the coming year that that will showcase our pride and excitement to be celebrating 50 years.

Marina Development and Clubhouse

The mid-2023 target for the completion of the breakwater, dredging, land reclamation and inner harbour seawall is debateable, but we will continue to monitor progress and advise any changes in the program. Tendering for our new Club facility expected to commence soon, with October 2024 still the target date for completion. I must applaud the efforts by our member working groups, whose participation in the project has provided a good outcome for the preliminary design. Meanwhile, we have initiated discussions with the Department of Transport regarding our future hardstand and access to wet-pen storage, and we will certainly keep members advised of progress.

Funding the New Club Facilities

Members have questions regarding the overall funding for the Club facilities (as they should), and the following recap will provide some history and clarity:

• In November 2020, the State announced they would provide $6.5 million to help relocate ORSSC, including the RSL sub-branch, and Marine Rescue Whitfords to new facilities. The initial plan was to put us all in the same building, but this was deemed ill-advised due to potential conflict between club and rescue activities. Accordingly, the funding was split between ORSSC and MRW, with ORSSC being allocated $4.8 million for a like-for-like facility.

• In November 2021, the state agency tasked with building the new facilities, DevelopmentWA, developed two designs for consideration. A single-story structure of similar size to our existing Club, costed at $4.8 million, and a two story structure sized to meet our projected growth, costed at $8.3 million. The City of Joondalup and the Club agreed to equally fund the larger structure, and at the Club’s Half-Yearly General Meeting in 2022, the members voted to endorse funding $1.75 million for this purpose. This funding will be provided via a loan from the City.

• Late last year DevelopmentWA indicated that due to anticipated increases in construction costs, they had revised their estimate from $8.3 million to $9.6 million, and were now seeking additional funding from the Club and/ or the City. ORSSC responded that we were at our limit for funding, with our cash reserve required for the Club’s anticipated relocation cost. The City of Joondalup subsequently drafted a recommendation to the City Council to provide the additional $1.3 million, and on April 18th, the Joondalup City Council approved the recommendation.

We anticipate the City will now submit a tenancy agreement and loan repayment plan to the Club for consideration, possibly sometime in May/June this year. Our intention is to review the City ’s offer and provide the members the opportunity to vote on it at the Annual General Meeting in August.

Staff

I would like to welcome our newest staff member, Melissa Robertson, who has taken on the role of Marketing and Communications Manager. Melissa has an extensive background in media communications, both social and commercial. We will be relying on that expertise as we ramp up for our 50-year celebrations and our relocation. She sits next to Kym, our Club Manager, so drop by and say hello.

Finally, my thanks to all our members who patronize the Club, are gracious to the staff, and all-in- all provide a warm and friendly Club environment. When asked what they want in the new Club, members invariably tell me they want what we have here, over there. And that’s the plan.

Best regards,