The Yachtsman 2016-2017 RPAYC Yachtsman 2016-2017 | Page 10

GENERAL MANAGER
SESQUICENTENNIAL YEAR
O
n 15 October last year we marked the
beginning of the Royal Prince Alfred
Yacht Club’s Sesquicentennial year with
the unveiling of the entry sculpture.
Throughout the year there have been a
number of celebrations and commemorations to ensure
the spirit and meaning of this poignant occasion are
known and appreciated by all members and the sailing
and local community.
While the year has been littered with development
works to ensure the Club looks its best for the 150th
finale, the most enduring work has been undertaken
by the Archives Committee. Committee members have
been hard at work ensuring that the Club’s archives are
being sorted, catalogued, preserved and displayed. It
isn’t unusual for Rob Cole, David West, David Kennedy
and Julia Hornsby to spend five days a week toiling away
in their new fire rated archive room (if you don’t know
them, they are usually the ones wearing white gloves).
As they work through this mammoth project, they
are ensuring that the wonderful history of the RPAYC
remains alive and communicated by bringing the history
to the members through a series of story boards that
have been erected in many locations around the Club –
known as the History Walk. My favourite is the Boatyard
board which shows efforts of some of the Club’s forbears
physically working to build the first slipway on the Green
Point site. This really shows today’s young members that
this wonderful Club is what it is today, because of the
very hard work of many before them!
Soon the empty back corridor will be adorned with a
History Wall – a snap shot chronology of the RPAYC’s
150 years. This is an ideal way to communicate to the
new generations who like to consume information in
short sharp bites rather than wade through history books.
Speaking of ‘(tall) stories’, the Sesquicentennial Old
Timer’s Race saw a record number of boats participating
in the race and over 200 Old Timers and friends who
joined the lunch, and told many ‘tall tales’. The highlight
of the day was to have Jack Gale on board Alfreds I as
the guest Race Officer. Jack had a wonderful day out on
the water and enjoyed the stories retold afterwards at the
lunch – many of which he featured in. It was special that
he was able to catch up with so many of his old friends
and acquaintances at lunch – he was in great form and
thoroughly enjoyed the day.
As well as a number of commemorative regattas,
many social events have also taken place to reunite
members and celebrate the Club’s history, such as the
Back to Alfreds Youth Development (YD) alumni party.
This event celebrated 23 years of YD at RPAYC and
recognised the wonderful achievements of this group and
the many champions who are products of the program
which include Olympians, World Champions and, of
course, America’s Cup winners. The Old Timer’s Day became even more poignant
after the Club lost Jack soon after on 7 July (two years to
the day after losing his beloved Joan). While it was sad to
lose him, he was ready to go. All Club members, the staff
and the entire yachting community were so privileged
to have known such a wonderful character. While we all
mourn his passing, we celebrate his wonderful life, his
very special character (which made us all feel we were
special to him too) and the great contributions he made
to the Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club. Robbie and
Geoff Gale are planning a memorial service to be held
at the Club on Thursday 14 September which will close
another chapter in the RPAYC’s long history which Jack
was such an integral part of.
Preparations for the Sesquicentennial Senior’s Lunch
are underway which will recognise all members in the
Senior membership categories totalling in excess of 230 While we have seen growth in our race fleets in recent
seasons, this year we have seen a flattening and in some
cases decline in average fleet sizes. The weather hasn’t
As I write, there are 17 boats away on the
Sesquicentennial Coral Coast Cruise and more are on
their way. This will be one of RPAYC’s biggest long off
shore cruises.
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members. No doubt there will be many memories and
stories shared at this event.
YACHT SMAN