Commodore’s Notes

Spring has arrived along with the obligatory equinox winds which is not great for fishing but the longer and warmer days are very welcome. We’ve had lots of dolphins hunting and playing right in front of the clubhouse recently and our new resident baby seal is growing rapidly. Most of the whales have departed but still the occasional sighting. I had a Southern Right near my boat yesterday.
There’s not a lot to report on the social scene as we have been closed since my last notes.
Even though Lorne has had zero cases of COVID we have to remain closed.
We all have our fingers crossed that Regional Victoria will reopen soon followed by Melbourne not too long after us. Hutch is still finding things to paint so if you’re walking past don’t stop or even slow down or he might paint you.
Our masks were a huge success and we have now sold out and at this stage we won’t be getting any more. We raised over $1700 for local charities so it was a very worthwhile venture. Because we didn’t have to close the club until April we will still be able to show a healthy profit for last financial year but things look like they will be vastly different this year. We will be relying heavily on membership fees to cover our costs so everyone out there please join up when you receive your renewals in November.
This year is our 60th and we had plans for a huge celebration but this has been put on hold. Hopefully we will be able to have a huge party to celebrate this milestone before the year ends.
We are due to hold our AGM in late November and it’s looking more and more likely that it will have to be held online using Zoom. If this is the case we will need to get proxies from members to achieve a quorum. If you receive an email asking for your proxy please reply.

SINKER MAKING
A bloke (sorry I lost his name) generously donated a bucket of old sinkers to us. He found them using his metal detector around our beaches and rocks. I will melt them down and make snapper sinkers that I will give away free to our fishing members on our competition days. If anyone out there has lead they don’t want, drop it into the club and when we have enough we will hold a sinker making day and everyone who supplied the lead can have free sinkers.
I will set a time and date as soon as the restrictions allow us to do so.

ALBATROSSES
The most common of all albatrosses in Southern Australia is the Black Browed Albatross. Up until a few years ago it was easily the most common one in our little patch of Bass Strait but for some reason they have become quite scarce and the Shy Albatross have taken over. The Black Browed has a lifespan of over 70 years and breed on the circumpolar islands in the southern oceans. They mate for life.
They are endangered with a 67% reduction in their population over the last 64 years. Their estimated population is 1.2 million. They lay only one egg each spring and incubation is done by both sexes they don’t start breeding until their tenth year.
The vast majority breed on the Falklands. There are no breeding colonies on any Australian islands or territories.

T.A.L.L PROJECT
Lorne P-12 College T.A.L.L. Project
Covid-19 lockdown has changed our lives in 2020 and let’s hope we do return to some normality and we can interact with our family, friends and community the way we did previously.
As you know our Club has closed, open with limited numbers and closed again and at the moment we wait to see what happens next. We could not fish, but at the moment we can so long as we observe social distancing. The Lorne P–12 College wants to record our experiences. Below is what they are looking to achieve.
This is all part of our experience and journey and we hope that many of our members who have not already done so takes this opportunity to share their experiences of 2020.
What is T.A.L.L? T.A.L.L (Tales of A Local Lockdown)
For our 2020 VCAL Project at Lorne P-12 College we are gathering isolation experiences from our community and beyond. We want to know how the experience challenged you, how you grew as a person and what changed in your life.
Accounts of these experiences will be put in an online time capsule in collaboration with the Lorne Historical Society to be stored for community members and historians.
Once we have gathered everyone’s tales, we plan to exhibit them at the Lorne Historical Society Centre. This event will showcase stories and artworks from our community and beyond,
We invite you to be a part of recording this ‘unprecedented’ moment in time.
How can you help us? By filling out the survey below you will help future generations have a deeper understanding of what isolation in 2020 was like.
Click https://locallockdown.weebly.com/ to fill out the survey

OP SHOP TO HELP WITH RESCUE BOAT
The Lorne Op Shop have very generously offered to help fund the purchase of a rescue Boat for Lorne. A couple of years ago we contacted the state minister for rescue services and asked if they would fund the purchase of a rescue boat for Lorne. Both Torquay and Apollo Bay have boats and I explained that on a rough day they are both well over an hour away from us. Our application was refused. Now with the Op Shop onboard and if we can get a fund raising campaign up and running I reckon we should be able to get some partial funding from the government. Most rescue boats that I’m aware of have been fully funded by the government.
So watch this space.

TREASURERS REPORT
With the club remaining closed and no clear guidelines as to when we can safely reopen, the club continues to operate around about a break even position through the Government subsidies we receive. How this changes over the next few months will be determined by the guidelines that are to be issued by the Victorian Government. At the moment we are considering options in respect to how we hold the AGM for 2020 and once a decision has been made we will advise accordingly. At this stage there is nothing new to report in respect to the Point Grey redevelopment of our club and we have had no communication with GORCC since late July.
 
Keep well, stay safe.
David Worth, Secretary & Treasure, LAAC

NEW APPOINTMENTS
We’ve got a new Vice Commodore to replace Doug Williams.
He’s the reigning world champion sausage roll champion, a legendary fisherman and our 2018 Club Person of the Year, RIC ADDISON.

We also have a new Committee Man. WAYNE GRIFFITHS.
Wayne is a well known popular local identity and the biggest tin arse fisherman I’ve ever had in my boat. He holds more club fish records than anyone and most of them used to be mine. Wayne will be a great asset to our committee and club.

FISHING REPORT

This will be a short one. The fishing over the last month has been a bit ordinary. There hasn’t been a decent snapper caught for over a month. The only good news is that the flathead are still on the chew. It’s the best run of flathead fishing we’ve had for a very long time and there’s a lot of really good sized ones amongst them.
The gurnards are also on fire and ready to spike the unwary. The pier is still producing a few King George Whiting, Calamari and Salmon. Hopefully the snapper will appear in the next couple of weeks.

 

COFFEE

Jason our world famous barista will be opening from Saturday 19th September from 8am for take away coffee, tea, hot chocolate etc for a couple of weeks.

MERCHANDISE

We have limited stock of long and short sleeve T Shirts, Caps, Stubby Holders and Stickers. They are great Christmas or Birthday Presents so if anyone would like some send me an email and I can post them out to you. My email address is: keith.miller@live.com.au

Cheers,

Keith Miller, Commodore

Thanks to our sponsors:

KEANE CONTRACTING BRICK/BLOCK and SCAFFOLDING – Gary Keane
SURFCOAST GARDENING – Kerry Webster & Rob Dalziel