A kind gesture has travelled its way down the coast with Eden Marine High School gifted a 22-foot boat and students thankful to everyone who helped along the way.
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Each year the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia (CYC) invites Eden Marine High School students to learn and experience sailing at Rushcutters Bay.
The excursion is the CYC’s way of saying thank you to Eden for offering assistance during each Sydney to Hobart yacht race.
In November this year, The Magnet and ABC South East reported on the students’ sailing trip.
The coverage caught the eye of Dalmeny resident Donna Anderson who had recently purchased a new home that also had a boat. Ms Anderson decided to donate the boat, a Castle 650 trailer sailer, to Eden Marine High School.
“Donna and her mother were both school teachers in the public system, she said she was a strong advocate of public education and thought her mum would really like gesture,” Robyn Malcolm from the Twofold Bay Yacht Club said.
“It is worth a reasonable amount of money, it is definitely not an old clunker or anything.”
The 22-foot-long trailer sailer is set up with a stove, radio, toilet and sleeping quarters.
Ms Malcolm was excited to haul the special boat down the coast and to the school. She said it would “open up a whole new world of sailing for the students.”
“It is big enough to take four or five students. It will open up another world of sailing for them.
“They can have a lot of fun together as opposed to sailing a dinghy when they are alone or with one other person,” she said.
However, shortly after departing Dalmeny, Ms Malcolm said the trailer began to fall apart.
“We managed to get it into Narooma and take it around to Kingfisher Marine who generously let us leave it in their parking lot,” Ms Malcolm said.
The trailer sailer was suddenly stranded in Narooma until King Smash Repairs came to the rescue.
“We were wondering what to do next, then rang King Brothers Smash Repairs in Eden and they offered to pick it up for nothing.”
The boat was then brought to Eden on the back of a truck last Friday and the damaged trailer is being assessed by Sapphire Coast Engineering.
“It is all such a lovely reflection of our community, with Donna donating a boat, the Kingfisher Marina and smash repair guys helping us out. They all didn’t have to do that,” Ms Malcolm said.
