Port Kembla Sailing Club

Busy day at the working bee this morning followed by the AGM and safety briefing. Next Saturday is the first day of sailing. Juniors and Tackers start the Saturday after the long weekend. A bumper season is coming up!

When you have a few minutes, or an hour, have a listen to the latest Bar Karate - The Sailing Podcast episode 370. At 1hr 7min in, they give Sail Illawarra a plug, which gives the event great exposure. A big thank you to them.

The podcast itself is about SAilLAB, which is a STEM program for primary and high school, based around sailing-themed projects. The program has been running for a while, originating from WA, and supported fully by Australian Sailing. Well worth listening.

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Port Kembla Sailing Club is excited to announce the inaugural Sail Illawarra 2026 regatta, to be held on the last weekend of November, bringing together sailors from far and wide for a weekend of competitive racing, great hospitality and community spirit. [Photo (c) Stephen Watts] https://www.sail-world.com/news/298560/?source=facebook

One for the Maricatters...

This weekend, we had the great pleasure and good fortune to welcome "home" former PKSC junior, coaching legend, Australian Sailing Coach of the Year and crowd favourite, Dante Olivieri, who conducted AS instructor course for the Discover Sailing staff of the club. It was a great opportunity for the old dogs to learn new tricks and the new(er) instructors to see how it's done.

When we kick off the sailing school next October, we'll have 8 fully qualified instructors to deliver the four courses for kids and adults.

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Last night PKSC had the season 2025-26 presentation of sailing and special awards. In the juniors, Keira and Alice took out the pointscore, Cohen the club championship, Louie and Ciaran most improved and Charlie the junior sailor of the year. Old Man Emu took out the OTB Triangle Course honours for both. In the OTB Windward-Leeward, Ian won the CC, and Michael the pointscore. Jeff won both for the Cats (again).

Then came the Berkeley Bay Bummer award, won by Richard L**h. The detailed account Hugh provided of Magella (Richard's TY) dragging a crab pot around the lake only to have the rope wrap around the prop was a stand out winner.

The prestigious Club Member of the Year was awarded to Canteen Supervisor and Chief Hamburglar Annette. By the applause, a popular and worthy winner too.

In the special awards category, Norm Thomson was recognised for his many years of service to the club as 'Lake Legend 2026'. Norm's trophy is a mounted radio, symbolic of his role as base radio operator, safety coordinator and finisher.

In another special award, Jim Curry was presented with a 'Lifetime Achievement Award' in recognition of his contribution to the betterment of our club over, well, a lifetime. Hugh, our club captain, regaled us with an account of Jim's life and times, up to his retirement from active duty. We salute you.

But that wasn't all.

To round off a great year the presentation of life membership to two very worthy recipients was a pleasure to witness. Firstly our Club Captain, Hugh Lewis followed by Rebecca Curry were both surprised and delighted. Both have given many years of dedication and service to the club. They were joined by Brad and Hayden, our other two recent life members to pose with the updated life member board.

Thank you to all those who attended and contributed to the success of the club and we look forward to a bigger and better 2026-27.

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Here's team Rugcutter (Castle 650) at Tin Can Bay SC, ready for the start of the Bay to Bay, this morning. PKSC has three entries this year, including Hatatai (Castle 650) and Magella (Magnum 8.5). Good luck lads.