Our Homegrown Sailors @ PYC

Bob Ford Life Member of Parkdale Yacht Club 2022
Bob’s commitment to Parkdale Yacht Club has come to the fore over the last 20 years. He has been a long term office bearer on the Committee, Commodore twice from 2005-08 and again in 2015-18 and Vice Commodore until 2024. Bob helps organise the working bees at the Club and manages the maintenance of the Club building. He volunteers regularly as the Officer of the Day and has overseen club racing and results. His wide sailing experience has evolved into a new role of Race Officer and he has officiated at a number of State and National titles held at the Club. Bob’s building experience has been put to the test by keeping the old club building operational for so many years beyond its “Use by date”. But once it was obvious the building was not going to be viable for much longer Bob was instrumental in negotiating with Council firstly for our Club building to be renovated and then influencing the design and construction of our current new building. He worked tirelessly to ensure the new club building would be innovative and versatile so it would meet our current needs and future demands. Bob’s roots in Parkdale Yacht Club are deeply entrenched, extending from his childhood to the present. He has made many life-long friends through the Club and his love of sailing. He continues to actively promote the community sailing spirit of Parkdale Yacht Club and believes the Club to be a valuable asset to the local community. A life membership with Parkdale Yacht Club is well deserved and Bob is extremely proud to have received it.
Bob Ford and his father John alongside their Mirror Dinghy at PYC	Grandpa supervising the boat building at home	Checking the sail set in his backyard

Nick Bez-Australian Sailing National Sport Promotion Winner 2022 

Congratulations to our very own Nick Bez, who has taken out the Australian Sailing National Sport Promotion category!  His hard work, promoting the sport of windsurfing, has been recognised nationally at the Australian Sailing Awards.

Nick has an insatiable appetite for Windsurfing and has held the titles of World Champion, National Champion and State Champion and inputs an extrordinary energy into the growth and promotion of the Windsurfer community through his involvement in the Windsurfer Class Association of Australia (WCAA) and Parkdale Yacht Club. In particular, NIck has been recognised for the outcomes achieved from the 2022 Australian Windsurfer Class Championship held at yours truly in January this year, in which he established a large inventory of photo and video content for promotional use and strong social media engagement both locally and all over the world.

Nick Bez, we are very proud of you!

Australian Sailing National Sport Promotion Finalists

Paul Grimshaw - Life Member of Parkdale Yacht Club 2023, PYC Committee member, Rack Master, Trainer and Life Member of the Windsurfer Class Association 2023

Paul is one of seven kids, all of whom were introduced to sailing at PYC to give their mother a well-earned break on weekends. With their continued involvement spanning many, many years in various roles, Paul's parents became stalwarts of PYC and eventually Life Members.

Paul was an eager participant in his family's developing interest in sailing and after learning the basics, he crewed a Flying Ant named 'Sheegwee' as a junior with his brother. During the off-season, this boat would be a permanent fixture in the lounge room for ongoing maintenance and numerous applications of varnish.

Over the years, Paul has gathered numerous sailing experiences and accomplishments and we, as a Club, are now the fortunate and thankful beneficiary of his wealth of knowledge. Some of Paul's most notable achievements include:

• Encouraging his twin children to get out on the water, teaching them and watching them develop into established winners amongst the windsurfing fraternity.
• Organising the Blue Diamond Windsurfing event for numerous years along with the rest of the Grimshaw clan. This in turn, lead to PYC becoming the unofficial headquarters of Victorian Windsurfing and our Club benefitting from the Class' involvement to the extent that we now have more than 50 boards stored and sailed.
• Competing in numerous ocean yacht races, earning a line-honours win in his division in a Sydney to Hobart race and crewing on 'Prime Example' in several Melbourne to Hobart races.
• Competitively hitting the race course, winning the Windsurfer Nationals Course Racing Championship for his weight division in Adelaide in 2020. To this day, he remains heavily involved in the Windsurfer Class Australia not only as a sailor, but also in his role as Treasurer and new Life Member of the Windsurfer Class Association in 2023.

Paul has and still does an absolute truckload of work around PYC and continues to be the driving force of our Learn to Windsurf program. On the set up of our new Club, he was instrumental in the construction of storage racks downstairs and is a major contributor to the maintenance of our building, especially with anything electrical.

His Life Membership with Parkdale Yacht Club is well deserved and we are extremely grateful that Paul has continued the Grimshaw family's enormous contribution to our Club and followed in his parent's footsteps with his unwavering passion for PYC. 

A heartfelt congratulations to you Paul.

 More homegrown sailors coming soon.....