Members have enjoyed the member profiles we’ve provided over the past few weeks. Here is a piece from Miriam Cherry, owner and skipper of the yacht Lena.
When we came to Australia in 1968, the only clubs that would accept women members were Hastings YC and Hobsons Bay YC, so we sailed our 24ft Endeavour between the two. Then when James was old enough to sail his own boat , we bought him a sabot, and took him to a regatta where we met Avon Patterson who ran the sabot section at RBYC, and she invited us to join the club. So we came in 1978 and moored our Compass 28, and began to sail at RBYC.
As my children grew up they both sailed sabots and cadets, and I think especially for my daughter, her time in cadets was invaluable, and she formed life-long friendships. My children went on to bigger and better boats, and we moved up into Peter Joubert’s design, a Magpie “Billabong” . We cruised in Bass Strait in Billabong, and joined the Cruising Division as founding members.
We only had Billabong a short time as Brian wanted a boat with a double berth! So we acquired another Joubert design, a Cape Barren Goose which we have sailed since 1995, cruised to Port Lincoln as well as made several excursions into Bass Strait. Anita Hill has been a staunch crew member for many years. And we are still sailing Lena today!