2024 Australian Sailing

Awards Tasmania

Club of the Year Winner
Port Dalrymple Yacht Club

Category B (Club affiliation bands 13-22)

Award Nomination Criterion and Information supplied

GROWTH

How many members did your club have in 2022-23? 282
What was the percentage growth in members from 2021-2022 to 2022-23? 6.5%

PARTICIPATION

Over the past 3+ years PDYC has developed a strategic plan, after extensive member consultation and workshops, this plan was adopted in 2022. This plan has subsequently provided a backbone to guide the committee and executive in its planning and decision making.
In the process of identifying the strengths of the club, it gave us direction to support, advance and promote those strengths.
It Identified the strength of our DSC and consequently we reinforced our successful DSC program by appointing 2021-22 Tasmanian Instructor of the Year as head dinghy instructor, the appointment of a youth member as head instructor strengthens the connection between instructors and tackers participants.
The DSC extended its scope to aid the transition from Tackers to start racing. The acquisition of 11 "Sly" built Sabots to complement our fleet of "Tackers Optis", provided a smooth transition from "tackers 2" onto the racecourse with 9 graduates participating in their first Sabot Nationals.
The strategic plan identified the need for a structured club pathway post Sabots. After much consultation with our senior Sabot sailors, parents and members the club adopted the Sabre Class as our intermediate/senior single-handed dinghy complementing the NS14 as our 2 handed dinghy.
To increase our recruitment from local residents PDYC ran a series of Friday night New Sailors Nights/Races, realising an average of over 50 new or returning sailors on each of 5 nights, leading to numerous new memberships. Our annual "Women On Water" day again allowed us to reach out to not only existing female sailors but to invite interested ladies into the club and expose them to the many facets of club operations.

EVENTS

In 2022-23 PDYC ran its signature club events, starting with the Inshore Championships for Keels and Trailerables incl the Tasmanian E5.9 State Championships and SB20 Northern Regatta. The Inshore Championships provides openings for crews to participate in a short series regatta and give us the opportunity to support the fledgling SB20 fleet on the Tamar River
Our annual Blockbuster Regatta for invited OTB classes exposes our young sailors to a regatta format event, right on their doorstep. The visiting fleets showcases the pathways open to our youth.
For the coming season the Club has plans to expand its DSC to include keel boat crewing and helming courses, providing a path for new and future members to progress into regular crewing positions or boat ownership.

PROMOTION

In mid-2022 as we navigated our way out of the ever-changing covid world to the new norm the Club seized the opportunity to engage with the local community by holding monthly dinner nights thru the off season. These nights and the associated promotion raised the profile of the Club in the local area.
With the scheduling of the new sailor’s series at the commencement of the 2022-23 season the club continued that engagement with the local community through the local community social media pages, "Beauty Point Community Connect" & "West Tamar Community".
Along with social media the club promotes its DSC programs through the local schools in the West Tamar, inviting students to our tacker’s programs.
To assist the relationship with prospective new sailors and to commence their grooming into potential new members, the club offers and encourages the issuing of Sail Pass memberships. Thus providing important participant indemnification and a conduit for targeted interaction moving forward.

SUPPORT

PDYC encourages any member who wishes to pursue any qualifications that may assist the operations of the club. Our Flag Officers and DSC principle are constantly identifying potential candidates for whom Australian Sailing qualifications would be mutually beneficial.
We currently monitor the youth sailors and mentor them into Assistant Instructor roles within the DSC, once they show an interest and aptitude in this role we support them to begin their instructor journey.
PDYC facilitate the instructor training by being able to provide the Power Boat Handling Certificate Course within our DSC to Dinghy Instructor candidates from PDYC and other clubs in the North of the state.

GOVERNANCE

Over the past 3+ years PDYC has developed a strategic plan, after extensive member consultation and workshops, this plan was adopted in 2022. This plan has subsequently provided a backbone to guide the committee and executive in its planning and decision making.
The Strategic Plan detailed the club’s current situation and in Dot point format addressed the following areas for consideration
Membership Retention & Growth
Racing
Learn to Sail & Skills Development
Slipway Upgrade & Management
Trailer Park & Ramp
Support Boats
Disability Access & External Upgrade
Clubhouse & Internal Upgrade
At the 2021-22 AGM the membership adopted an updated Constitution and By-laws.
These updated documents provided a much-needed upgrade to the governing documents for club management, procedures and operations.
Our DSC Documentation details the administrative protocols for the operation of this facility within the club’s operations.
The Club holds Risk Management & Emergency Management Plans for our on-water operations to ensure that our activities are run in a safe manner.

FUTURE FOCUS_ STRATEGIC PLAN

PDYC has managed to commence the planning and implementation of many strategies in the strategic plan.
Sail Pass has been successfully introduced.
Re styling the Club furniture to make it more welcoming.
Planned expansion of the DSC to include Keel Boat training.
Determination & recognition of intermediate and advanced dinghy classes.
Acquisition of beginner and intermediate club owned dinghies for class promotion.
Budget set for keel training boat acquisition.
Scheduling of junior training reviewed.
Promotion of Junior training to be targeted to local area.
Slipway redevelopment has been progressed to being shovel ready and financed
Trailer park grass top dressed
Trailer Park Sail Storage locker installed
Clubs Committee boat overhauled
Working group reported on Disability access options
Exterior facelift to Clubhouse.
Minor equipment purchases for the Kitchen.

ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY

The Slipway upgrade project (Enviroslip) will ensure that the facility meets the current environment standards as prescribed by the Tasmanian Environmental Protection Authority. This project whilst providing a safer workplace (including barriers, improved surfaces/wider work bays and services) will ensure that all harmful bi-products removed from vessels from boat maintenance during slipway operations are collected and filtered out before the washdown water is returned to the environment. This upgrade will give PDYC the first compliant slipway on the Tamar river and substantially improve the ecology in our waterway.