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Commodore’s Notes

Well spring is finally arrived but the weather hasn’t looked at the calendar and still thinks it’s winter, although we’ve had a couple of days hovering around the 20 degree mark. I’m sure it will improve soon.
Not that it matters, we are quite cosy inside our weather beaten trusty old club house with the heater on, the TV on FOX SPORTS and the beer as cold as ever.
We are open every day except Tuesdays with our famous HAPPY HOURS on Wednesday and Friday evenings. We have free nibbles and snacks every night and throw in the odd free sausage sizzle. On Saturday evenings we have a raffle with generous first, second and third prizes. All Welcome.
Our club house is available to any member for Weddings, Parties, Anything.

I’m writing this from a place called Niue, which is one of the smallest countries in the world with a total population of about 1600. It’s also the world’s largest coral atoll island. It’s completely covered in lush tropical rainforest with no rivers or creeks and all the rain water is filtered through limestone before entering a huge underground lake and the ocean.
They claim to have the world’s clearest ocean water and after SCUBA diving here every day for a week, I believe them.
Lorne identity Bryce Newcombe, owner of one of Lorne’s leading restaurants ‘’Lorne Central’’ grew up on Niue. His parents ran the main resort there.
On the island they have an abundance of strange looking creatures called coconut crabs which are on the menu at some of the local restaurants.
They start their life as a hermit crab using sea shells as a home but they soon grow too large to fit into any shells and can get up to 4kg and live up to around 60 years.
They are a land crab and adults cannot swim or survive under water, they climb trees to find food or escape predators. On Niue their only predator is humans.
They were once prolific on most of the Central Pacific and Indian Ocean islands but because of their magnificent eating quality they have become almost extinct.
They are now protected on all but a few islands, Niue being one of the exceptions.
Because of its small population and dense rainforest the crab population is stable.
They will eat almost anything, they have been known to kill a rat and eat it but their main food source is coconuts.
They are also known as Robber Crabs because they will sneak into camp sites at night and steal food.

SMYTH REAL ESTATE FOOTY TIPPING RESULTS

The winner was Peter Steven (Machine) who led nearly all year and ended up on 131
Runner Up was Mick (Chook) Finnigan on 129 only 2 behind Machine.
We had 3 equal thirds, Ric Barham, Paul (Stack) Staley and ZARX (we don’t know who they are) all on 128 so it was a very close comp this year.
We finished off the season with an open bar for everyone who entered and free roast beef rolls while watching the last game of the year.
It’s got to be the best value for money tipping competition in Australia. Only $15 so don’t miss out next year..

UPCOMING EVENTS

Our next fishing comp is a Major Comp sponsored by GREAT OTWAY CONSTRUCTION, Luke Norton and Andy Little. It’s on Sunday October 6th.
As usual fish must be weighed in by 12.30, this will be followed by presentations and a scrumptious roast lunch which is free for all competitors and only $10 for members.
Come along and watch the fish being weighed in, have a cold one and enjoy one of our famous roasts.

WORKING BEE

Our old club house needs a bit of TLC so to all our members out there please come and help out from 9am Thursday 24th October.
Every year we have a working bee and only about 5 or 6 of us turn up.
Your help would be really appreciated. We will be putting on a barby lunch and light refreshments.

WINE TASTING DAY

Meet The Locals Table on Saturday 2nd November.
Michael Clayden of Surf Coast Fine Wines represents a small group of growers around the Geelong region and in particular the Surf Coast. Brown Magpie at Parraparap and Dinny Goonan near Deans Marsh have strong track records producing high quality examples of our regions notable grape varieties.
Dinny specialising in Shiraz and Riesling principally and Brown Magpie building a strong reputation with Pinot Gris, Shiraz and Pinot Noir.
Michael is also a talented wine maker in his own right, producing wines from select parcels of fruit across Victoria.

Summer in a Bottle Table
With summer on the horizon, Rose, crisp whites and light reds are the style to reach for the hot weather. We will be pouring a range of our picks for the season ahead, from the classic crisp dry Provence style Roses to some alternative white varieties such as the Spanish Verdejo, Italy’s Soave along with some classics in the way of Pinot Grigio and Chardonnay. While the reds are built around Pinot Noir, Gamay and Grenache based blends to match the bigger barbecue meats.

  • Dal Zotto Vintage Prosecco – King Valley
  • Message Verdejo – Spain
  • Monte Tondo Soave – Italy
  • Le Petit G Rose – Provence
  • Turkey Flat Rose – Barossa Valley
  • Gaia Rose – Greece
  • Stark Raven Pinot Noir – Geelong
  • St Johns Road GSM – Barossa Valley

Locally made crackers from Cracker Collective along with cheese and meats will be available to break up the tasting.

 

 

MELBOURNE CUP

Our Melbourne Cup Day extravaganza is on again.
We kick off at 11am with free champagne, chicken salad,snacks and nibbles.
We have happy hour drinks prices during every race, an onsite booky, fashions on the field for the ladies and the gents with huge prizes, TV’s inside and one outside under our marquee.
Last year we had a vast improvement in the men’s section but we would still like a few more to make an effort and drag that old suit out of the back of your wardrobe.


GARLIC COMPETITION

Don’t forget to start nurturing your Garlic. We will be holding our Great Ocean Road Garlic Championships in December on a date to be advised.
We will again have; Men, Ladies and a Junior section.


AGM

This years AGM sponsored by FoodWorks Lorne and will be held on Saturday 30th November at 5.30pm.
It will be followed by fishing competition trophy presentations, an open bar for one hour and free snacks.

RECENT EVENTS

On Sunday 8th September we held our final Winter Fishing Competition for the year. It was sponsored by Surfcoast Gardening and Mowing, Rob and Kerry.
The weather wasn’t kind so everyone had to fish off the shore or the pier because no boats could get out.
Thanks to our regular stalwarts it was another successful day.
As usual after the presentations everyone tucked into a beautiful mixed grill and salad washed down by a couple of cold ones.
We had 14 competitors with 5 fish weighed in.
The way our comps work is that anglers only gets to weigh one fish each which they have to choose before it’s weighed.
Each species earns a different amount of points calculated on eating quality and average size for that particular species.
Land based caught fish earn more points than boat caught fish.

The Winner was David Manfreda with a good size Salmon = 2515 points.
 Runner Up was Ian Middleton (the salmon king) with you guessed it a salmon = 1960 points.
 Third was our reigning club champ Andrew Clarke with a nice Trevally = 1830 points.

The final results for our 2019 BENDIGO BANK WINTER CUP are:
Winner: Ian Middleton.
Runner Up: Andrew Clarke.
Third: Paul Staley.
An honourable mention to David Manfreda who came a very close fourth.
Both David and Ian don’t have a boat so they do all their fishing off the shore which is a sensational effort.

KELP

The build up of kelp in our boat launching channel has been terrible this winter.
Some say it’s the worst they’ve ever seen it.
Rod from GORCC has been doing a wonderful job trying to keep it clear for us and without him we would have had many weeks with no boat launching at all.

NEIL HILLARD STAIR CLIMB

Local identity and club member Neil Hillard recently competed in the Melbourne Fire Fighters Stair Climb. It was a fundraiser with 600 competitors, mainly fire fighters racing up the stairs for 28 floors at the Crown Metropol.
The total raised was $495,884 which is donated to the Emergency Services Foundation, Black Dog Institute and Lifeline.Neil did a great job fundraising in Lorne achieving a total of $3,070 in sponsorship. Our club contributed $500.


COURTESY BUS

Our courtesy bus is running Friday and Saturday evenings during our quieter months.
Please be generous with your gold coin donations.
Phone 0498 031 234

BAIT

We have the biggest range and best value for money bait anywhere along the Great Ocean Road.
Check out our Pippies, Baby Cuttlefish, Salted and unsalted Pilchards, Squid, Prawns and Berley Logs.

MEMBERSHIP

Our membership renewals are due soon so please don’t forget to renew yours or please join our friendly club, feel part of the team, it’s as cheap as chips.
The advantages of being a member are:

  • You will have unlimited access, non-members can only visit the club 5 times and have to sign in every time
  • Happy Hours on Wednesday and Friday evenings (except January)
  • Membership card number lucky draws
  • Discount off bait
  • Use of our facilities for Weddings, Parties, Anything
  • Free meals and discounted refreshments at club events
  • If you’re a fisherman we have experienced locals who will tell where the fish are biting and you can have a go at our fishing comps with great prizes
  • Get your name up on the members fish record board when you catch a big one

Be part of the Worlds Friendliest Club

Cheers,

Keith Miller, Commodore

Thanks to our sponsors:

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