Club Catalina, at Rathmines, Wangi Point Lakeside Holiday Park, and Wangi Deck Cafe, at Wangi Wangi, were among the local venues on the itinerary for the 84 members of Shag Islet Cruising Yacht Club (SICYC).

The club was formed eight years ago, as a joke, by Australian sailor Ken Thackeray, after Mr Thackeray and his wife Rhonda had been denied entry to Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron.

The couple had been hoping to view the club’s collection of America’s Cup memorabilia, but were turned away by the manager because they were neither members of the club, or any Royal yacht club, nor a “flag officer of any fleet”.

Weeks later, while relaxing on a beach in Queensland, Mr Thackeray figured if only he’d been “a vice commodore of some crappy little yacht club” the Kiwis would have let him in.

Mr Thackeray was admiring the view of Shag Islet, in the Whitsundays, when the idea to form Shag Islet Cruising Yacht Club took shape.

The club, he decided, would not comprise merely members, everyone who joined would be a vice commodore. But what started as an in-joke among his friends soon turned into a serious sailing association which now boasts 5376 vice commodores from 16 countries.

The club’s purpose was to form an international network of like-minded boaties and non-boating friends, where each vice commodore would represent a nautical location – such as a river, lake, island or bay.

So when a vice commodore from, say, Lake Macquarie, was holidaying on the Gold Coast, they could meet up with local vice commodores to get the good oil on where to moor, where to eat, and what to do while they were in town.

The club soon morphed into a fun-loving and sometimes eccentric social group (who call themselves ‘Shaggers’), with fundraising as a serious spin-off.  In the past six years, SICYC has raised $400,000 for the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia.​

The group’s big annual get-together is at Shag Islet on the last weekend of August.

But at any time during the year, SICYC vice commodores can host gatherings almost anywhere.

So it was only a matter of time before local SICYC’s vice commodores invited the club to discover Lake Macquarie.

Geoff King was one of the local organisers of the ‘Cruise or Drive Beautiful Lake Macquarie’ event.

“Visiting vice commodores sailed, caravanned or drove from as far away as Perth, Mooloolaba, Brisbane, the Gold Coast, Sydney and Port Stephens,” Mr King said.

“And one yacht from Germany joined the fun.”

The three-day visit included lunch at Club Catalina, followed by an afternoon of barefoot bowling, music and dancing. 

“A raffle and the sale of club merchandise raised $840 for the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia,” Mr King said.

“On the Monday, a fleet of 25 yachts and cruisers sailed to Croudace Bay for a picnic and barbecue, and an afternoon of games in the park and a swim in the bay.”

All vice commodores who drove cars to the event were hosted on local yachts and cruisers for the day.

Some SICYC vice commodores don’t have boats, but are happy to drive cars to club events. They call it land cruising.

“On the Tuesday, local yachts and cruisers again hosted visiting guests for the sail from Wangi to Kilaben Bay and a picnic in the park near Styles Point.”

Mr King said Lake Macquarie impressed the visiting vice commodores, and the event was likely to become an annual feature of the SICYC social calendar.

”This will coincide with the start of the winter coastal cruising season as vice commodores migrate north on the east coast.”

More locals are invited to join SICYC. For a one-off cost of $65, they can become a non-voting life member.

Mr Thackeray said membership included a SICYC vice commodore polo shirt, life membership card, access to the SICYC website members area, and monthly newsletters.

“We ask members to place their VHF on 16 and 72 on scan and when they arrive in an anchorage, harbour or marina they can go in and do an open call and ask if there are any vice commodores on net and so they can socially meld wherever they are,” he said.

And it’s not all about yachties.

“We’ve got a huge number of power boats, and there’s no differentiation at all. And I think we’ve got about 15 per cent that would get seasick if they looked at the water, and don’t own a boat at all. Because it’s become such a social organisation, people are joining for just the social aspect of it.”