Sailability

Benjamin Noonan

It’s been a relatively quiet winter for Sailability Gold Coast (SGC) with numbers at about 60% of our busiest summer day. Some clients have stayed away because of the particularly colder winter this year and the flu season. This has conveniently matched our volunteer numbers as finally people can travel again and see family overseas which is great, we also have SGC Volunteers traveling around Australia. We hope that coming into summer our participation rate increases. A huge thank you to all Volunteers that have provided a wonderful and safe sailing experience for the 50/60 clients plus their carer’s we averaged every week this winter. 64 clients last Tuesday!!

Sailability Gold Coast held a successful BBQ at the Arundel Bunnings on Saturday the 30th of July. We hope to continue regular Bunnings BBQs as the day was such a success! Not only does it give SGC fabulous exposure, but it also fits well with our regular weekly BBQ at Hollywell on Sailability Tuesdays for any leftover stock. The recent Bunning’s price increase from $2.50 to $3.50 did not deter shoppers from stopping by for a sausage. A huge thank you to all the Sailability Volunteers involved and their partners.

Sailability also operates on a smaller scale on Thursday’s teaching people with disabilities to sail independently. We also use Thursdays to train our Volunteers in sailing a 303 Access as well as yacht training for crew aboard our two yachts Spirit and Hope. The Pontoon boat “Freedom” as recently been utilised on a Thursday to try and maximise the vessels use.

Sailability is currently taking bookings on Thursday’s from 9:00am with the first trip leaving at around 9:30/10:00am. “Freedom” carries ten people with eight passengers and two crew. The highlight of “Freedom” is that it can take up to three people with disabilities remaining in their wheelchairs. Please contact Di Hunt 0421 049 774 to make a single or group booking. SGC recently purchased a new Liberty thanks to a $10 000 donation from Commonwealth Bank. The Liberty will sit along side our fleet of twelve 303 Access dinghy’s and two Liberty’s. One is privately owned by the Hain Family for Brendan to sail, SYC now has two and depending on demand may look at getting three more to make a fleet of six Libertys. Neil Rowsthorn currently sails the new liberty on a Thursday to train for international regattas, and racing on Sundays. There is also an exciting push now for disabled and abled sailors alike to race the Liberty and the 303’s on Sundays. This hasn’t happened in ten years since I joined in 2012, and it’s very pleasing that the opportunity for people with disabilities to race has returned outside of the SKUD racing which the QPSA continues to provide.

SGC is working with SYC and the Para World Sailing Committee on preparations for the Para World Sailing Championships for athletes with intellectual impairment being held as part of the Virtus Oceania Asia Games in November. I will be sure to take plenty of pictures for the next issue of iN SYnC.

Sailability Queensland Conference is on the Sunshine Coast from Sept 7- 9. Several Members of the Committee will be attending and looking forward to working closing with other clubs from all over QLD, there are 13 active Sailability clubs in QLD. Many of our Volunteers that travel north come back with tales of the great things that other clubs are doing. We hope to continue to improve the way we operate to meet best practice.

If you would like to Volunteer at Sailability please contact us on 0407 979 666 or view our website at www.sailabilitygc.org

Stay safe and see you on the water

Benjamin Noonan President SGC

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