2013 VOLUNTEERS OF THE YEAR

It's that time of year again... the time of year where we celebrated our annual volunteer of the year awards, recognising volunteers who have made a special contribution for various categories over the last sailing season. We would love to share the award categories with you and recognise the winners for their amazing efforts, contributions and support over the past year.

AUSTA MEDALLION Peter Graham

Each year since 2001 AUSTA has awarded personal achievement medallions recognising persons of any age who have shown outstanding personal achievement either on board or in support of the organisation’s vessel.

This year, this prestigious award goes to a volunteer who doesn't let his age get in the way of his amazing contribution to Leeuwin. This person returns time and time again, committing to at least one voyage a month, as a Watch Leader and is loved by all of his trainees and fellow Leeuwin crew. This person is always willing to shuffle his own schedule around, often moving things of priority to put Leeuwin first and can always be relied on to put his hand up when we are short of volunteers. Trainee Watch Leaders are often placed under the guidance of this volunteer, and there are not many current Watch Leaders who have not sailed as a t-dub under his training prior to receiving their watch leader rating. This volunteer’s patience, kindness, knowledge, skills and dedication to young trainees are an absolute asset to the Foundation. Coming straight from the Captain’s mouth – this volunteer’s presence on board any voyage makes the voyage sail that much smoother and makes the Captain happy. 

AUSTA MEDALLION Chloe Hosking

The second AUSTA medallion goes to a young person aged between 16-23 years who has shown outstanding personal achievement while undertaking a voyage.

This AUSTA medallion recipient is a volunteer always willing to go the extra mile and put in more than what is required of her. She shows hard work, enthusiasm and dedication towards everything she helps out with at Leeuwin and has come to fit right in with the shed boys, though she drops the average age about 50 years. This volunteer has shown great progression this year and worked very hard over many voyages to get her Watch Leader rating. She can always be seen around the ship and shed with a beaming smile and a positive attitude.

ORDER OF MERIT (VOYAGES) Chloe Hosking

This award recognises one red shirt who has volunteered their time on the most number of voyages this sailing season. This volunteer participated in 12 out of 20 voyages this season.

ORDER OF MERIT (SHORT SAILS) Don Kinnear

This award recognises a red shirt who has volunteered their time on the most number of short sails this season. This volunteer participated in 36 out of 89 short sails this season.

CAPTAIN’S AWARD – Mitchell Cullen and Barbara Henderson

This year the Captain’s award is an endurance award that is recognising two volunteers for their contribution to the Monkey Mia leg of our voyages. This year two of our red shirts both did the voyage up to Monkey Mia and back, and everything in between. Those voyages can be particularly tough and  these volunteers gave their time to participate in all voyages.

 

SPIRIT OF LEEUWIN  (INDIVIDUAL) - Emily Brough

This award recognises a volunteer who encompasses the spirit of what Leeuwin is about. This recipient really is a great example of the Spirit of Leeuwin. She is friendly, willing to teach others, skilled, passionate, dedicated and reliable and has in past been awarded volunteer of the year by the Sail Training Association. 

SPIRIT OF LEEUWIN AWARD (ORGANISATION) -  Woodside and Minderoo Foundation

This award recognises an organisation/ community partner who encompasses the spirit of what Leeuwin is about.

This year, we awarded the Spirit of Leeuwin Award to two organisations whose contributions and support over the year have seen hundreds of young people who would otherwise never have the opportunity available to them, be able to attend a voyage this season. Woodside and the Minderoo Foundation (formerly known as the Australian Children’s Trust) have continued to support us in the form of scholarships. The voyage fare can often be a barrier for many young people to have this life changing experience, so to have the support of Woodside and Minderoo this year has been amazing and both organisations really do encompass the Spirit of Leeuwin – and that is aiming to bring positive difference to the lives of young Western Australians. 

OTHER ORGANISATIONS 

It is not just our major sponsors who have helped us out this year or made a

contribution to helping young people attend a voyage. We would also like to

recognise the following organisations for all of their support over the season in the

form of sponsorship, scholarships , promotion and continuing a partnership sending

local youths on a voyage.

            

Manjimup APEX club

Shire of Harvey

City of Kwinana

Middle Island Fishing Club

Shire of Dardanup

Lions Club of Leeuwin

Shire of Dandaragan

CRC Network

The City of Gosnells

And KEI

VOLUNTEER SHORE SUPPORT AWARD - Ken Whiting

This award recognises an individual who has made valuable contributions to the smooth running of the office.  He is perhaps a lesser seen volunteer who started with the Foundation over 20 years ago. Since then he has been on several voyages as watch leader, purser and doctor; he is a long term member of the Ultimate Challenge Committee and assesses all trainee voyage medical forms. 

VOLUNTEER RECOGNITION AWARD - Sarah Gilbert

This award was a chance for all of our volunteers to nominate a fellow red shirt. The award recipient is described as being awesome, fun, hardworking, and someone who can be relied upon by her fellow volunteers. She is always willing to lend a hand and has done by being involved in refit, short sails and voyages.

VOLUNTEER ALL ROUNDER AWARD - Jeffrey Poon

This award goes to one of our red shirts who has excelled at all roles he has taken over the past year. He has been a cooks mate, purser, watch leader and has volunteered in the shed and office. He has not a lot of free time, but always makes time for Leeuwin. He goes above and beyond what is expected and has come to be someone other red shirts go to for his knowledge, wisdom and skills. He is friendly, enthusiastic and  is always wearing a huge smile. 

APPRECIATION AWARDS - Angela Bond, Mike Swan and Ben Dewar

SOCIAL CREW SPONSORED AWARD - Heather Denham

This award recognises one of our newest watch leaders. This person returned after a 3 year break to volunteering on voyages. She was a trainee watch leader and watch leader on a total of 7 voyages, including 4 out or 5 Christ Church voyages.  She has the patience of a saint and is welcome back anytime after she gets back from travelling America.

OTHER THANKYOUS 

Thankyou to Gail and Bernie for their contributions and hard work running the Leeuwin social crew this year

These are only a few of our amazing volunteers who keep the ship, shed and shore running so a huge thank you to everyone involved with Leeuwin this year. We couldn't do it without you and are very excited to see old and new faces joining us for the new season starting tomorrow!

ONCE-A-YEAR VISIT TO BUNBURY

Join us on a day sail on our only visit to Bunbury this year! 

This coming weekend a group of excited trainees are set to sail our blue canoe to Bunbury on a youth explorer voyage, where we will be opening the ship at the Port for two exclusive short sails on Saturday 5th October.We only visit Bunbury once a year, so this will be your only chance to hop on either a day sail or twilight sail and explore the unique surrounds of Bunbury, by tall ship. 

Saturday 5th October

Day Sail (11 - 2pm)

Twilight Sail (4 - 7pm)

Don't miss out! Places are filling quickly so visit sailleeuwin.rezdy.com to book your spot!

MEET OUR MATE!

It’s 7am on a weekday. Some of us have had a solid night’s sleep and have gotten used to the rocking motion of sleeping on a ship. Some of us have only just shut our eyes after just coming off the 12-4am night watch. All of us are woken up by the sound of Abba blasting through the ship’s speakers, followed by a Croatian accent greeting us with “Morning guys, guys morning. Time to get up and do some stretches, then we go eat.” Sitting in the Charthouse at the other end of the speaker, holding his cup of freshly brewed coffee, is Slaven Roje, our First Mate.

Born in Croatia, Slaven moved to Oz and joined the Leeuwin team in early 2012, having previously been in the position of First Officer on the Queen Mary. Slaven has sailed on cargo and cruise ships all around the world, and has travelled to places as diverse as Antarctica and the Caribbean. He worked as the second mate on the Queen Victoria before jumping ship to the Queen Mary as second mate and working his way up the ranks.

“Before I joined LOAF, I didn’t really know what to expect from Sail Training.

Does it really work, is it just an excuse for people like me to have fun on tall ships… now, a year smarter and definitely more experienced in Sail Training, I can say that the previous year of my life has been a fulfilled one.

I am now convinced that what we do here does make a difference and it can change young people’s lives.

I know it sounds like a cliché, but then again if it wasn’t true, it wouldn’t be a cliché.”

As First Mate on Leeuwin, Slaven is second in command of our ship. He is the one of our five permanent crew members that works most closely with trainees on voyages and runs the trainee program on board.

When Slaven isn’t sailing he enjoys photography, running, the gym and motorbikes. He would also like anyone who owns a long board with a single fin to give him a call!

MEET THE CHEF!

Some of the questions we always get asked when we visit schools and tell students about the Leeuwin voyages, are "What's the food like? If we get really hungry will there be enough? Can  we go back for seconds?" After returning from their first voyage the trainee's post-voyage letters almost always read words gushing over how good the food was, all thanks to our awesome Chef Aidan.

After an early morning start, woken up after having just come off night watch, morning stretches, climbed the mast several times and done a solid morning's sailing, the tempting smell of freshly baked biscuits wafts up from below deck, making all mouths on deck water. Trace that alluring smell down the main companionway and you will find our chef Aidan in the galley, music loud and cooking up something delicious. 

Growing up in the WA country town of Denmark, Aidan first came to Leeuwin as a trainee himself, with his first voyage in 2005. He enjoyed his first voyage so much that he returned as a volunteer often and as much as he could, with ratings of Bosun’s Mate and Watch Leader, every year until he came on board as the Leeuwin chef in early 2012. 

For Aidan, the Leeuwin exposed him to a different and more positive social avenue as a teenager. He wants to be able to provide the same experience he had to other people. “If in some small way I can give that to other people, I will.” 

With a love of food and a ton of experience working in a variety of restaurants, bars and cafés all around Perth, Aidan always manages to please trainees with his food.

“Working on Leeuwin is a truly unique experience; you will never have a working environment the same as this.”