CONSTITUENCY STATEMENTS
Mr TIM WILSON (Goldstein) (10:29): So begins summer; so begins the sailing season. I want to start by congratulating the Hampton Sailing Club on their 80th birthday, which is going to be celebrated this Saturday. I'm looking forward to coming along.
It started in 1945. Hampton Sailing Club was formerly the Victorian Ladies Yacht Club, which was formed in 1945 when a group of young women involved in the Rangers-Girl Guide movement secured the use of an old shed on the Sandy foreshore. The club are lucky to be able to include some of the VLYC members in their celebration this Saturday.
The women assembled a fleet of sabots for sailing training purposes, and the new club prospered. As the membership grew, so did the number and classes of boats they were sailing. Eventually the club moved to new premises, to its current location to the west of Hampton Pier, in the 1960s.
With the introduction of equal opportunity legislation in the great state of Victoria in the early 1980s, men were also allowed to join the club, and, of course, the demographic of the club progressively changed. A few years later it changed its name to the Hampton Sailing Club. However, the purpose and spirit of the organisation remain the same—an active and accessible venue for Bayside and the wider community to enjoy off-beach recreational watercraft activities.
The opening of the sailing season is a big event within the Goldstein community, and I want to congratulate those clubs that have already had the opening of their sailing season. To the Sandringham Yacht Club and particularly its commodore, Mark Welsh: congratulations on the start of your sailing season. I hear it was a spirited and always lively and somewhat less sober start to the season.
Congratulations to the Royal Brighton Yacht Club and to Peter Demura and all of the committee members and executive members as well. There are clubs yet to have their opening of the season, including the Beaumaris Motor Yacht Squadron. To John Giuliano and all the committee members at the Beaumaris Motor Yacht Squadron: I hope you have a wonderful sail past as a start to the sailing season.
And, always, to one of my favourite yacht clubs, the Black Rock Yacht Club, and particularly to their commodore, Randal Garnham: congratulations on the season yet to come. It's always a beautiful setting down there if you ever want a wonderful location in the community. If you want to reminisce about some of your favourite moments from Kath & Kim episodes, it touches a few of those points too.
There are of course many other sailing clubs across the community in Port Phillip, including the Beaumaris Yacht Club. I want to say to the head, Bruce Fraser, and to its committee members good luck for your sailing season. But one of the most important things for all the clubs, as we start the sailing season, is to remember to stay safe and respect the water.
While Port Phillip is not necessarily a surf beach like some people might experience off the coast of their electorates, it does not change the fact that water can be dangerous. Be safe. Make sure you tell other people that you're going to be in the water, and play it safe.