The Richmond River Sailing and Rowing Club (RRSRC) based in Ballina has been awarded NSW ‘Club of the Year’ and head coach Michael Willey has been named ‘Coach of the Year’, by the country’s peak sailing body Australian Sailing.
‘These are very competitive awards and Ballina winning both is a major achievement,’ RRSRC training coordinator Garry Bargh said.
‘This puts both the club and the coach in consideration for the Australian club and coach of the year awards to be announced later in the year’.
The presentation of the awards was held in Sydney on September 16. The RRSRC took out the ‘Club of the Year’ award category B.
‘Michael Wiley and the club’s Commodore, Phil Robbins, made the trip to Sydney to attend the awards ceremony at the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia and were pleasantly surprised to find out that both awards had been taken out,’ Garry said.
‘The citation emphasised Michael’s focus on the women’s skiff training.
‘This teaches adult women to sail fast, demanding, high performance, twin trapeze, sailing boats. It is a form of training unique in Australia and has been responsible for introducing a large number of women to this exciting form of sailing,’ Garry said.
‘The club has also managed to expand its membership, partly through the skiff training, but also as a result of some innovative approaches to keeping students engaged after Learn to Sail classes.
‘This was not withstanding the adverse effect of the floods and at a time when many clubs are fighting a reduction in membership’. Gary said.
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