Another big week

Thursday saw another drive down to the South Coast of NSW with the Boating Industry Association members to several boatbuilders in Nowra and Woollamia.

I took the opportunity to see our customers down there in a different light, in a group setting as well as a short individual chat. Unfortunately the industry is in a bit of a down turn and there’s not too much happenning in terms of new builds.

Each boatbuilder has plenty of repair work to keep them going, but they do like to build from scratch and they take a lot of pride in their work.

The last visit on the day was to view the proposed site of the Shoalhaven Marina. This will be a huge complex when finished. There will be a marina, slipway, travel lift and full service facilities. Whilst it has been in planning for several decades, it’s now getting closer to being built and will be a huge bonus to the area both in job numbers and to the local area as there are currently limited facilities in the area.

Over the weekend Melissa and I sat for the Yachting Association Powerboat Course, this replaces the old TL3 certificate that I had previously recieved. For two days we had lectures/talks and an afternoon on water session practising boat handling, man overboard and mark laying and retrieval.

Whilst a full weekend, it was interesting to see other sailors points of view in boat handling and is a recommendation to others if they too have the opportunity.