Sailing passion leads to 50 year membership at Townsville Yacht Club
Being part of the Townsville Yacht club is much more than just being a member for Jim Finch and Stephen Shugg, they both call the marina their home.
Townsville
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BEING part of the Townsville Yacht Club is much more than just being a member for Jim Finch and Stephen Shugg — it’s also their home.
Mr Finch owns an 11.6 metre cruiser racer that he built with his own two hands 29 years ago and said he races, lives, sails and fishes off his boat.
“It was coming that way that I was looking around to upgrade my previous boat, I couldn’t find anything I liked anywhere,” he said.
“So I thought I would make one and that is what I did but I couldn’t find any decent plans to suit me either so I sat down and drew the plans myself and the end results is a lot of hard work.
“I name her Warrigal which means wild dog or half breed dingo because when I designed her, I was influenced by three different types of boats,” he said.
The retired businessman has been a member of the club for 50 years and said he had fond memories from his time living at the Townsville Yacht Club and “it is a nice spot to belong to”.
“I lived on Warrigal at the club for two years and it was the best years of my life,” he said.
“I was surrounded by mates all the time and the girls behind the bar and the staff are so lovely here and is just a beautiful place to live.”
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Owner of a 10 metre Hunter American yacht, Mr Shugg said he had been sailing since he was six-years-old and had called the Townsville Yacht Club his home for the last 30 years.
“I was living on the Hawkesbury River with my family and they bought me a canoe and I talked to my eldest brother about maybe getting a sail and a mast for it and that was the end of me,” he said.
“I was only 17 when I first came (to the yacht club) and now I am 67 and I’m still here, so that speaks for itself.
“There is never a dull moment, there is always something to do,” he said.
The experience skipper said the Townsville Yacht Club was not only his home but it was also his bread and butter in the 80s and 90s while working as a bar manager.
Mr Shugg said he loved the club for encompassing a vast variety of boat owners that all supported each other’s love for being out on the ocean.
“It is not only a sailing club, there are a lot of fishing boats here too including game fishing boats, bottom fishing boats, tinnies, trailer boats and of course big and small yachts,” he said.
Townsville Yacht Club
Contact: Terri Mitchell
Contact number: 4772 1192
E-mail: admin@townsvilleyachtclub.com.au
Website: www.townsvilleyachtclub.com.au
Address: 1 Plume Street, South Townsville
Membership: Starting at $50 per year
Originally published as Sailing passion leads to 50 year membership at Townsville Yacht Club