Volunteers are an integral part of any Sailing Club and if it wasn't for them, then there would be no sailing, no sailing clubs, just idle minds and lost souls.

That sounds a bit dramatic but there is a lot of truth in those words.
 
From the point of view of Mordialloc sailing club we are very fortunate to have a wonderful and committed membership volunteer list that supports the club.

This past season was very busy with a number of state or national regattas along with many single sailing days for specific activities e.g. discover sailing days and the Long Beach regatta.

On all these occasions, our volunteer members were able to support these events.
 
In past years we had some difficulties in obtaining a full complement of members to man the necessary race management positions on race day, however for this past season we used a spreadsheet and emailed out to approximately 45 members if they could nominate days that would suit them to assist the club in the running of events.

This simple approach gave the club more certainty and the race management people less heartache due to previous uncertainties on volunteer numbers leading into the day’s events.
 
In appreciation the club organised an informal ‘Thank You’ evening in May to recognise the efforts of these members.
 
Looking forward to the coming year, the club has three or four major events from August 19 to January 2020 that culminates in the open skiff national titles from the 16th to the 22nd January 2020. 
 
One question we will not have to ask is: ‘Will we have enough members to assist in the running of these events’?
 
 
Written by Peter White, Rear Commodore, Mordialloc Sailing Club.