The sailing community of Australia has rallied around those impacted by the ongoing bushfires around the country, with offers of support and relief coming in from clubs, individuals and organisations.

Our thoughts remain with everyone involved, and we share in the nation's sadness at the devastation caused by the fires. We also want to extend our gratitude to the scores of volunteers and emergency services personnel who have and continue to fight and protect communities across the country.

In support of those impacted, Australian Sailing will be supporting a number of initiatives including the Red Cross Disaster Relief and Recovery fund.

Fundraising Auction

To help raise funds for the fund, we will be hosting a fundraising auction in conjunction with the Sorrento Sailing Couta Boat Club at the closing ceremony of the 2020 Australian Youth Championships on the afternoon of Tuesday 14 January. Prizes for the auction include generous donations from the Australian Sailing Team, Australia SailGP Team, Sorrento Sailing Couta Boat Club, Zhik and Ronstan.

Firefighters on Boats

Australian Sailing are supporting Above and Beyond Boating’s “Firefighters on Boats” initiative, which will offer firefighting volunteers and their families the opportunity to spend a day together on the water.

The program will put firefighters and their families in touch with boat skippers around the country, who will be donating the use of their boats and their time as skippers for the day as a thank you for their services.

Various clubs and marinas around Australia are working on dates to be able to offer this in their local communities. Above and Beyond Boating are providing support to clubs and marinas to run events through 2020 to accommodate various stations and watches who cannot all have time off on the same day.

For more information on how you can get involved as a hosting hub, hosting boat or volunteer, we encourage you to register here: https://aabboating.com/hub/

Donations

Members of the Australian Sailing community can make donations directly to the Red Cross Disaster Relief and Recovery fund here: https://www.redcross.org.au/campaigns/disaster-relief-and-recovery-donate