Commodores’ Winter Member Update

Membership Renewal

It is firstly my pleasure to welcome you to another year of Membership to RANSA and to sincerely thank all Members for your support of our Club. The year started with continued COVID issues, and the support of Members and Staff was so important in negotiating those challenges. The second half improved dramatically, and it was so pleasing to see the return of the Twilight events, and currently so many RANSA yachts active in the Winter Wednesday series and Saturday Combined Clubs racing.

Your renewal notices will be sent out electronically in coming days. Despite the challenges we can all be proud your club has continued to grow in Membership. We warmly welcome your renewal and very much look forward to growing your clubs social and sailing activities further into 2022 and beyond.

Our Naval Heritage

You belong to a strong Club with a rich Naval history and wonderful camaraderie. You will note several serving and retired Naval and Defence personnel on your Squadron Committee. Our Patron, Vice Admiral Michael Noonan retires in July this year and we congratulate him on so many years of service and our deepest gratitude and thanks for the support of RANSA.

We also congratulate Vice Admiral Mark Hammond on his promotion to Chief of Navy. Mark and his wife Jodie have officially represented RANSA for us at the RANSA Regattas and many other occasions. And noting last week, Australia’s new Chief of Navy arrived with a group in the Naval Barge for lunch in our Heritage shed.

Mark Hammond is also one of Australia’s most experienced submariners, and with the submarine heritage within the Sir David Martin Reserve, RANSA hopes to play a further role in the development and plan of management in the Reserve.

Member Survey

There have been several changes at RANSA, including the introduction of the Café, and work needed to update the LMC Marina as it is reaching the end of its serviceable life. Your Squadron Committee wanted to gather Member views and feedback for future direction setting.

Our Secretary/Director Cam Wayland is highly experienced in these processes and has led the whole exercise with a summary of the results now available to review on the RANSA website under the Membership tab

We are delighted with the participation, and it was designed to cover as many aspects of Membership as possible. It achieved a high participation rate of 170 responses, and a completion rate of 88%, and it has provided very valuable feedback with an excellent overall response across all membership categories.

In summary, while there are matters to address which Cam has summarise, it is so pleasing RANSA Members expressed a strong overall enjoyment and pride in the Heritage shed and marina facilities, and the unique character and personality of RANSA is generally loved by all.

We will discuss the Survey further at our AGM in September and of course welcome further comments from our members at that time.

Thank You RANSA Volunteers - Working Bee & BBQ Day

Thank you to everyone that came down to the club to lend a hand to give the club a tidy up and clean up at the end of April before the start of the Winter Series. It was great to get RANSA volunteering back into gear again after the covid lockdowns and a lot was acheived on the day to make the club shipshape.

A Thank You to Roger and Nick

We did not need the survey to confirm what a great contribution our staff Roger Wragby and Nick Wilson make to RANSA, but it also did confirm just that. And with their first five years’ service completed in May 2022, a special thank you luncheon was held at the club for them.

While we could have filled the club with Members, participants included our retired staff Member, Janet Doyle, past Commodores, and some specific helpers in the transition. Their outstanding efforts were recognised, together with wives, Anne Wragby and Kylie Wilson, who have also coordinated home life with at times some inconvenient dates/times of RANSA of events/regattas.   

RANSA KEYS - No More

Hopefully all our Members have now picked up their new Member swipe card for this year.

As from July, your new card will provide discounts at the RANSA Bar and Navy Bear Café, so remember to bring it along to get your member discount. The card will also shortly provide access to the club as a "smart card"

As Cam Wayland continues to direct the modernisation of the Club, a contract has now been issued to change over from the old key lock system to your new Member card as a proximity "smart card". For some areas or doors we will be putting in pin pad locks so you won't need to carry the member key to unlock the oar locker for instance. Addtionally there will be further upgrades to the camera and security system to make sure the club and your boats and belongings are kept safe and secure.

While we will update progress and dates for the transition, for minimum disruption, keep an eye out on the website and social media for updates and times of when physical changes take place  

Final Council DA Approval

We have now received final DA approval for some specific club improvements, including Fo’c’sle paving, a staircase to storage areas above the Galley (which RANSA recieved a NSW grant for), moving chillers externally, which also provides provision for air conditioning and upgrading in the Whaler Bar.

However, the most “observable” change will be to the height of the Western Door.

The old Hit Head Here sign will become a thing of the past as OH&S needs make it necessary to raise the height of the door for taller humans to more safely pass through, and whilst maintaining the original character as best as possible.

Parking

Finally, thank you to those who registered their support with Woollahra Council for implementing some parking constraints on the western side of New Beach Road. I understand restrictions will now be imposed to avoid permanent parking of the many trailers/cars, and create some additional casual available spaces for all.

On behalf of the Flag Officers and Directors we look forward to seeing you at the AGM on 21^st September and trust you find the results of the Member survey of interest. Meantime it is great to see so many sailors out in some recent cold, wet & windy conditions, and while enjoying the challenge, I am sure pleased that solstice has passed with a slow transition back to some balmy Twilight events.

Kind Regards

Bill Wyllie

Commodore