Babe - Pig on a Mission Comes Out of the Water

Monday 12^th November 2012

preparation work at home

Babe - Pig on a Mission Comes Out of the Water
MrJ and I were to help our friends Rob and Alison to get their boat Babe through the lock and out of the water at the Dinah Beach boat yard.

Skipper Rob                                                  First Mate Alison                                       Deckie MrJ                              

getting chains and slings in place

Babe gets a lift

all set up on her concrete blocks

The Dinah Beach Cruising Yacht Association is situated on the banks of Sadgroves Creek just 1km from the Darwin CBD it is a unique and friendly club. Dinah Beach originated in the early days of the pearling fleets operating out of Darwin. Luggers were careened here roughly at the point where the entrance to the club is now situated. After WWII, pearling began to decline and a few intrepid yachties began to drag their boats ashore where the luggers had once been. There, among the mangroves, our founding members built and repaired their boats and created the spirit that has pervaded our club ever since. The Association was formed in 1982; the club now boasts a membership of over 1000 and offers facilities to both local yacht owners and visiting boats. From these small beginnings, the facilities were conceived and developed by members past and present, some of who have become life members and whose names are inscribed on the guttering beneath the tarpaulin roof of the club. The covered area is named The Song Saigon Bar, after the Vietnamese vessel which brought boat people to Darwin in the 70's and was beached here for a while. A sea-container was converted into a serving area and serviced the club for many years. The Dilly Baggins Bar, in one corner of the covered area, is a transom, salvaged from the former careening beach and crafted by a former Commodore, Peter Dermoudy and volunteer helpers. The bar is named after the only dog known to have been admitted as a member of a waterfront club in Darwin. The dog, owned by one of our members, was smuggled onto Darwin Sailing Club premises in a dilly bag and was proposed as a member under the name Dilly Baggins. The dog caused no suspicion and the Club unwittingly accepted its first four-legged member.