RQYS Mainsheet 2021

Volunteers

FEATURES

OUR ‘HERE–ROWS’ SCRUBBERS: Concrete cleaners par excellence! It’s been 18 months of hard yards—literally!—for volunteers Hugh Sheardown and Chris Reid as they brightened our pontoons and, after breaking for summer, they were astonished to learn that Marina 2’s total 3,000m 2 of concrete equates to Slipway 1’s hardstand work area!

Both retired, Hugh and Chris have been mates for 40 years and already had a track record of RQYS volunteer commitment – 17 and five years, respectively – when Marina Manager Glen Scott called for volunteers to lend a hand in early 2020 as the COVID-19 downturn disrupted business. “We both put our hands up,” said Hugh, “as I’m always one for giving back to the community, and Chris enjoys the company. It’s been ideal: working outdoors in the open air was good and social interactions are limited when you’re pressure-blasting.” Considerable experimentation was needed at the outset, when the equipment used to clean the ramps proved unworkable when Hugh and Chris tested their cleaning techniques on the fuel pontoon. “I get giddy thinking about a problem and coming up with a workable way to solve it,” Hugh says, “and there was no way that gear would get us around the whole marina, so we basically had to build our own. We built this contraption on a stack of palettes (so it could be moved with the forklift), mounted on castors and rigid wheels, with posts to hang the all hoses and places for the gear,” Hugh dryly noted that it was fortunate the resulting Frankensteinian contraption was fitted with brakes … as he and Chris found one low tide on the Marina 2 bridge ramp! “We never gave it – ‘the thing’ – a name,” recalled Chris, “but there might have been some language as we sorted things out. We were too busy to ever stop to think of getting a photo of it, too.” Starting in earnest with the Bill Kirby Jetty, followed by A/B row, “that alone probably took us two or three days,” said Hugh, “as we refined our techniques.” Weather interruptions notwithstanding, it was a solid effort before the pair took a break for the heat of summer 2020-21.

In autumn 2021, armed with a more powerful portable guerney and well practised with experience, Hugh and Chris resumed work on R/S row, followed by N/P and L/M rows. But, as their newfound mobility was increasingly put through its paces, new challenges emerged. “It was a pain in the arse on those longer rows at first,” Hugh states bluntly, with the voice of hard-won experience, “you had to walk miles to go to the dunny. After the first time one of us had to walk all the way back to the shed, we learned to carry all our spares – hoses, washers, tools – in a small trolley with us when we set out.” It thus became a polished (pun intended) two-person routine – one blasting, one rinsing, swapping roles from time to time – and the progressive leap-frogging of power cord and hose from one spare podium connection to the next offered a chance to chat with liveaboards, members and tradies in the blasting-free quiet interludes. “We’re both interested in cricket, and Chris is from across ‘the Dutch’ so we’ve also enjoyed a but of Trans-Tasman ribbing too,” said Hugh with a cheeky smile. “Chris and I started 18 months ago,” Hugh notes, “and there’s only C/D and E/F rows left to do, at the end of 2021, otherwise the whole of Marinas 1 and 2 concrete has now been scrubbed. We also did the end plates and replaced missing or damaged berth number tags as we went.” Hugh added: “It’s not just this Club, across the whole country organisations would not function without volunteers.” Hats off to you both, and thank-you! In 2022, Chris’s RQ volunteer efforts will be directed elsewhere around the Squadron, so Hugh will be looking for a new partner to finish off the final rows. Contact the Marina Office if you want to put your hand up.

LOCATION

UNITS AREA*

TOTAL

1 1 1 1 1 4 1 4 5 1 8 6 1 1 4 1 4 3 3 5

212.0m LOA

Marina 2 arm + R/S junction + ramp pontoon

390.85m 2 22.25m 2 31.50m 2 217.25m 2 88.80m 2 147.65m 2 61.20m 2 89.80m 2 203.60m 2 143.65m 2 111.75m 2 122.55m 2 336.80m 2 71.80m 2 24.60m 2 125.00m 2 127.70m 2 109.80m 2 79.80m 2 305.90m 2 156.30m 2

202.5m L x 1.93m W 9.5m L x 2.34m W 6.50m L x 4.0m W (shape) 3.20m L x 1.70m W (ends) 55.0m L x 3.95m W 11.5m L x 1.93m W 76.5m L x 1.93m W 11.5m L x 1.33m W 13.5m L x 1.33m W 105.5m L x 1.93m W 13.5m L x 1.33m W 14.0m L x 1.33m W 63.5m L x 1.93m W 174.5m L x 1.93m W 13.5m L x 1.33m W 18.5m L x 1.33m W 23.5m L x 1.33m W 32.0m L x 1.33m W 27.5m L x 1.33m W 12.0m L x 1.33m W

X row

X fingers (13m)

V-W row

W fingers (13m) V fingers (15m) U fingers (15m) T fingers (16m) T-U row

R-S row after elbow

S fingers (var.m)

R fingers (var.m)

10 23.0m L x 1.33m W 23.5m L x 1.33m W 5

MARINA 2 TOTAL AREA

2,968.55m 2

Drone’s-eye view of the equivalent 3,000m 2 Marina 2 pontoons area cleaned. Main pic: Matt Tesch

*Yes, the editor did crawl around with a tape measure one afternoon, to the bemusement of some members, and use Google satellite’s onscreen measuring tool as key research for this story; 0.8m was allowed for all finger end plates and some minor rounding has occurred. Any difference of opinion over the resulting maths is politely disavowed in advance.

Mainsheet 2021

14

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