RIB Upgrade Arrives at DBSC

We are excited to announce that the club has purchased a much newer second-hand RIB to replace the existing Paul Adam. 

The new RIB, which is scheduled to arrive this week, is a 2005-year Gemini Elite 630 (about the same size as the Bergman) with a 115hp Yamaha outboard. 

Our new beauty.

With Paul’s permission, the new RIB will also be named the Paul Adam, continuing our recognition of Paul’s tremendous contribution to the club over such a long period of time.  

We are grateful to Dave Sharma MP, Member for Wentworth, who represents our electorate in the Commonwealth Government, and has been very active in the community since his election in 2019. Dave championed the award to us of a $10,000 Commonwealth Government Stronger Communities Program grant to assist with purchase of this much-needed safety and response boat upgrade. 

Member for Wentworth, Dave Sharma, presents Commodore Cox the award.

We are also grateful to the Australian 18 Footers League and Jonathan Stone, who each made a further $10,000 contribution towards this purchase. 

The Australian 18 Footers League is our long-time close affiliate, contributing to the club’s financial position each year and conducting their racing from our club with the assistance of our RIBs each Sunday in season. 

Jonathan Stone is a life member, who has been a great contributor to the club over a very long time. His contributions included an astonishing 33 consecutive years on the management committee, during which time, among other things, he served as President, Commodore and Club Patron, coordinating the big boat fleet and acting as PRO for Club Championship races, as well as organizing our annual participation in Clean Up Australia Day. His donation towards the purchase of our new RIB, which he made upon his retirement from sailing last year (see previous article HERE), represented yet another of his continuing contributions to the club. 

Thanks to the three generous contributions we received, we have been able to purchase the new RIB, and also add much needed improvements to both it and the Bergman, including new tube covers, nav lights, upgraded radios, and also improvements and extensions to the davits to reduce wear and tear on the RIBs and improve operating safety.

Thanks are also due to Pat Levy for his extraordinary commitment of time and energy in sourcing the new RIB, negotiating its purchase, arranging all the upgrades to both it and the Bergman, and collecting and delivering it and the Bergman to multiple service providers all over Sydney! Thanks also to Luke Parker for donating the steel davit extensions and thanks to Andrew Simpson for their design and certification. 

There will be an article next week with some important operational notes about the RIBs.