THE Hillarys Yacht Club AGM on Sunday provided an opportunity to applaud the efforts of staff, volunteers, members and the achievements of three outstanding individuals.
The Junior Sports Star for the year is Jackson Porter, who successfully made the transition from the Optimist class to Laser 4.7 class with a third placing in the National Championships in Adelaide in December.
Jackson will compete again in the Nationals this year in Queensland after completing his secondary school studies.
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READ NOWRuby O’Grady was named Senior Sports Star for her efforts in angling. Ruby won the AAA State Boat Championship on a particularly rough and windy day at sea and was part of the women’s crew that was second in the teams event. Not resting on her laurels, Ruby regularly assists with the juniors developing their skills to land the big one.
The Club Person of the Year is Gary Illing, the keelboat handicapper. Gary uses and advises on the use of the computer software program Finishing Line to produce results during the sailing season and for presentation night.
Gary also assisted the dinghy section to adopt the Finishing Line program with seminars on its use and also drives the start-boat for them. An affable character, Gary is always ready to assist where possible for the greater good of the club.
In his annual report, retiring Commodore Simon Davenport highlighted the successes in the angling, cruising, keelboat, dinghy, dive and powerboat sections of the club, and the myriad social activities that took place throughout the year.
The Commodore for 2017-18 is Neil Harrison, skipper-owner of the very successful keelboat Deckchairs Overboard.
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