Welcome aboard our newsletter.

This is your go-to source for everything happening around Somers Yacht Club.  Our goal is simple: to keep you reliably informed while having a bit of fun along the way. Through shared member stories and insider knowledge, we cross bridges to tie the entire club community together. 

Dive in, enjoy the read, and we will see you at the club soon!

Upcoming Events

• Fri 9th Oct - Friday Night Social @ 6 pm   Band Jam (live music) and nibbles available
• Sun 11th Oct 9:00 - Working Bee  
• Fri 16th Oct - Friday Night Social @ 6 pm     No dinner avaliable 
• Sat 17th Oct  13:30 - Opening Day Race, note start time
• Sat 17th Oct 18:00 - Opening Day celebration   must have renewed your membership to come           Book Here
• Sat 24th Oct 14:30 - Pre-Xmas race
• Sat 24th Oct - Social Night      Music Trivia 
• Sat 31st Oct - Novelty Race
• Tue 3rd Nov - Social Sailing

Meet great people and join our volunteer crew behind the bar. BAR ROSTER HERE

Don't forget, everything is on our website 

Reflections from the water, the social scene, clubhouse banter, and members' antics.

Tower Training Prowess

With the new sailing season just around the corner, 15 new and experienced volunteers recently came together at the clubhouse for a Tower Training session led by Naomi Chiu.

The session provided a useful refresher on the many tasks involved in supporting racing from the tower. Volunteers worked through the different roles and responsibilities of the Recorders, Computer Operator and Outside Observer, as well as how these roles work together with the Race Officer and Assistant Race Officer.

The training covered the full race-day process, from setting up the tower and checking the recording equipment, through to recording starts, lap roundings and finish times, entering results and making sure every boat is accounted for.

Following the training, some members of the group headed up to the tower for a practical tour and a closer look at the equipment and set-up used on race days.

Outside, it was a wild and windy day with plenty of heavy rain, but the weather didn't dampen the enthusiasm of the group. It was great to see both new volunteers and experienced members getting involved and refreshing their knowledge ahead of the season.

A big thank you to everyone who gave up their time to take part. As the training presentation reminds us, volunteers are the life of the club — without you, there would be no racing.

New Season Program 2026-27

Download yours here

Time is running out to choose your time slot.

Self-nomination for race day duty is open until the end of October. After this date, if you have not signed up, all sailors will be allocated 2 or more on the roster. 

So sign up now yourself!

We ask all members aged 15 and under to be with their parent or Guardian while doing their volunteering. 

Hot tip: If you are seeing last year's roster instead of this season when you follow the link, close the tab completely and follow the link again. 

Roster Here

Voluntering

It turns out that giving your time to the club is the ultimate wellness trick—delivering a dose of purpose, a break from daily stress, and a great excuse to hang out with great people. As the largest off-the-beach club in Victoria, run solely by volunteers, we need to share the load. 

Currently, we are looking for 2 positions

• Club Maintenance Coordinator - leading a team to get things done around the club.
• Kitchen Coordinator - managing equipment and replenishing small stock items

Please phone or email Simon Morris for further info or questions.   0425 734 922  commodore@somersyachtclub.com.au

If you would like to offer your time or skills in other areas, please follow the link at the bottom: 'Have something to say?'  or contact Simon Morris

If you have some Gossip that needs to be shared, please email it to communications@somersyachtclub.com.au

What is this Commodore business?

Well, it only took me around 15 years to understand the hierarchy of the yacht club, and it seems fitting now that we have just had our AGM that I try to educate you a bit sooner than I was. 

The word comes from the Dutch wordkomadeur. It was historically adopted by navies (like the British Royal Navy) to describe a senior captain temporarily placed in command of a squadron or group of ships. 

In a yacht club's naval-inspired hierarchy, the Vice Commodore and Rear Commodore serve as the second and third-in-command, respectively. They assist the Commodore and oversee specific operational areas of the club.

The Vice Commodore is the club’s second-in-command and typically steps in to lead if the Commodore is absent. In most modern clubs, they function like a Chief Operating Officer (COO). Managing the physical property, clubhouse facilities, and shoreside operations.

The Rear Commodore is the third-in-command and focuses primarily on the club’s on-the-water activities. They function similarly to an Events or Program Director. Managing the actual fleet, sailing programs, and on-the-water events.

The commodore of a yacht club is addressed in formal and also most informal situations as “Commodore.” The title “Commodore” is also used for all past commodores. This form of address for both current and past commodores is in recognition of the time and effort it takes to become commodore of a yacht club: “Once a commodore, always a commodore.”

https://neusesail.wildapricot.org/Sailing-Traditions

Your segment to meet the crew under the spotlight

Evan Gaulke

The Origin Story: How long have you been a part of the crew, and what was the exact moment you realised you had to join and why?        

Joined around 2015, because…. I was given an old/new 125, built years before by my father-in-law to the rough stage. I finished it, and ‘Lucky Cananywackle’ was born! I rang a few clubs to see if anyone knew about 125’s and it was someone on the phone from SYC who said, “Just bring it down and get it on the water”, which we did. Having only sailed Hobie Cats when living on Hayman Island in the early 1990’s, I forgot about the existence of a centre board, and on the way back into the beach, skilfully caught a wave and ended up sideways on the beach. Impressive!

Oh, that guy: What are you best known for around the club?      

In the early years, being the last boat around the course, closely followed by the rescue boat picking up the markers as we passed them.

These days my daughter Ida and I sail a Purple 125, with the very credible name of “Bum-in-a-Bucket”

 The Double Life: When you are not hanging out at the club, what secret hobbies or projects consume your time? 

Since 2022 I have been spending a few months each year volunteering on Australian Wildlife Conservancy Sanctuaries. It’s holidaying with purpose.

Scotia (65,000 ha) is beautiful Mallee and Belah dune and swale country in southwest NSW. There I generally help the Land Managers with welding projects and general handyman things, or the ecologists and PhD students as required. They also have an 8000 ha predator-free area, which helps preserve threatened species including Greater Bilbies, Bettongs, Numbats, Bridled Nail-tailed Wallabies and Red-tailed Phascogales. To drive into the predator-free area at night is like stepping back in time to an experience of Australia prior to foxes and particularly cats, which have decimated our indigenous critters, many to extinction.

My other volunteer Sanctuary, Newhaven, is about 5 hours west of Alice Springs. It is magnificent desert country with 5 stunning escarpments popping out of the red sand spinifex country. It also supports salt lakes, vegetated dunes, ephemeral lakes, Desert Oak and Mulga communities. Combined with the neighbouring Ngalurrju Aboriginal Land Trust property, the protected area covers over 600,000 ha and incorporates a 10,000 ha predator-free area, one of the largest in the country. Mala, Bilby, Black-footed Rock Wallaby, two species of Bettong, Central Rock rats, Golden Bandicoots, Great Desert Skinks and so on, are all thriving in this area. I do a Rock Wallaby scat survey each year, and last year Peter Laverty came along to help with. We count thousands of poos at 213 set plot sites across the 5 escarpments over two weeks! It’s remote, wild and beautiful. The survey has been conducted for many years and is vital data to help understand the Wallaby population, particularly outside the feral-proof fence in order to inform cat and fox control. Each year I also have the opportunity to help with a trapping survey on one of the escarpments. These are so much fun, hanging out with the skilled ecologists and assisting where I can. It’s a great opportunity to be up close with the animals.

The Highlight Reel: Tell us about one unforgettable, hilarious, or legendary moment you’ve experienced here.            

Watching Sonja and co. getting lower and lower in the water as good old “Queen Celeste” leaked more and more water at sailing school. In fact, it may have been the Queen’s final voyage!

The Time Capsule: Fast forward 5 years—what is the wildest or biggest thing you hope the club achieves?              

A resurgence of the Mono-hull fleet.

The Soundtrack: If our club had a theme song, what would it be?         

Jess Hitchcocks version of “By the Sea”- Nice relaxed vibe reflective of the Somers community

or Cat Empire “Thunder Rumbles” - Great energy, like the Club

The Superpower: If you could bring one fictional character into the club, who would you recruit?  

Gilligan – Would be a good laugh, may screw up a few times but always earnestly doing his best.

The MVP: Who is another club member who deserves a shout-out right now, and why?         

The fresh-faced newcomers who are starting their own sailing journey, not yet in the knowledge that their most tragic and pathetic on-water moments will provide the best full-bodied laughter for years to come. Ida and I have had plenty!!

Sealand Marine 10% Discount

Members of Somers Yacht Club are offered 10% discount on purchases if they provide proof of membership.

The attached document has the details: Somers YC Member Discount Offer

Have something to say! 

Follow the link and please tell us.

Your feedback is important to us as a community club. 

CLICK HERE