Nic with proud dad and SLS SNB Branch President and fellow Bungan Beach SLSC member Rod McGibbon. Photo: Bungan Beach SL:SC
On Saturday November 1st the 2025 Surf Life Saving Australia Awards of Excellence were held at the Sofitel Sydney Wentworth Hotel, where Australia’s top surf lifesavers were recognised for their dedication and commitment to their communities on SLSA’s night of nights, the National Awards of Excellence.
Among those named was Bungan Beach SLSC's Nic McGibbon as the Youth Lifesaver of the Year.
The citation reads:
'Nic McGibbon, from Bungan Beach SLSC, is one of the youngest members of his Club’s Board but already one of its most influential. As Director of Lifesaving, Patrol Captain, Training Officer, and IRB Racing Team Manager, Nic balances an incredible workload with humility, enthusiasm, and genuine care for others.
This season, he contributed over 258 patrol hours, led a full overhaul of patrol operations, and established an additional patrol team, ensuring consistent beach coverage for one of the Branches smallest Clubs. His innovation extended beyond his own Club, building an interClub training partnership with Long Reef SLSC, which improved candidate experience, reduced trainer fatigue, and doubled participation in IRB racing.'
Bungan Beach SLSC December 2024: Congratulations to all the new IRB Crew persons. Thanks to the collaborative efforts of Long Reef SLSC and Bungan Beach SLSC for our 2 day IRB Crew Intensive. BBSLSC pic
'Through his training and mentorship, Nic has guided more than 40 members to new awards and piloted an IRB Engine Masterclass to grow technical knowledge. Passionate, capable, and inspiring across all ages, Nic is strengthening lifesaving today while building sustainable foundations for the future.''
Nic had been nominated and won the Surf Life Saving Sydney Northern Beaches Branch award in 2023, as well as the Branch and State award this year, 2025.
Bungan Beach SLSC scooped a bag of recognitions in 2023 at the Sydney Northern Beaches Awards of Excellence. Nic McGibbon won Youth Lifesaver of the Year, Josh Bryden won Lifesaver of the Year, Rod McGibbon was awarded Distinguished Service by Branch and Matthew Lloyd won the Cupcake Award (first President to lodge report to Branch).
In 2021 Rod was awarded the National Medal – First Clasp - 25 years service, for his sustained service and commitment to Surf Life Saving.
National Medals are awarded to those individuals who risk their lives or safety to protect or assist the community in enforcement of the law or in times of emergency or natural disaster.
Established in 1975 as a military recognition award, the National Medal has since branched out into government and voluntary organisations and is now Australia’s most awarded civil medal.
The National Medal is awarded to individuals on behalf of the Governor-General of Australia, and recognises long and diligent service in organisations that are dedicated to protecting life and property at a degree of risk to their members.
In 2024 the Youth Surf Life Saver was awarded to Eloise Love, Bungan Beach SLSC at the Branch Awards. That year Bungan Beach SLSC also nominated the Barker/Bungan SLS program in the Community Education Program of the Year category, Matthew Lloyd as the Bungan Beach Trainer of the Year, Bungan was one of 6 nominated for Club of the Year, their Humanitarian Pilot Program as Innovation Of The Year, Isabella Ball in the Surf Lifesaver Of The Year recognitions, Jess O’Bryan as Youth Volunteer of the Year and Rebecca Woodman in the Volunteer Of The Year category.
Fellow club member Tyson Dulieu was recognised in the same category and was Youth Lifesaver of the Year in the 2020 Branch Awards, the same year the Matthew Raymond Brown Radio Operator Award went to Sacha Dawson of Bungan Beach SLSC and Bungan's David Sams was named a Life Member of the SLS SNB Branch.
Clearly Bungan Beach SLSC members are going above and beyond, as they have for decades.
Stating 'there must be something in the water' at Bungan Beach SLSC would be an understatement.
Congratulations Nic, a well-deserved recognition of an outstanding and tireless effort to serve your community, surf club and fellow members through all you have done for years.
'Abdul' and 'Oggy', 2025.
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History Photographers of Early Pittwater: William Applegate Gullick – August 1st 1881 Visit by Princes Albert and George to Pittwater on Day Barrenjoey Lighthouse commenced to light the headland
Warriewood wetlands: Purple swamphen
Warriewood wetlands: swamphen mum and bub (hiding behind sticks)
Warriewood wetlands: baby swamphen
Warriewood wetlands: white heron and spoonbill
Narrabeen Lagoon entrance: council dredging works
Narrabeen Lagoon entrance near bridge: dredging works and kayakers
Photos by Joe Mills - more in this week's Pictorial
On Tuesday October 21 the NSW Government announced the Northern Beaches Hospital’s shift to public ownership is nearing its conclusion, with in-principle agreement reached with Healthscope’s receivers on a $190 million payment for the transition.
The milestone marks the final phase in the Minns Labor Government’s promise to rectify one of NSW’s worst privatisation experiments, while minimising the impact on taxpayers.
This follows months of negotiations between the NSW Government, Healthscope and its receivers, and will see the hospital move to the direct control of the Northern Sydney Local Health District by mid-2026.
Under the agreement:
- The entire 494-bed hospital will return to public ownership
- All clinical and support staff currently working at Northern Beaches Hospital will be offered jobs by NSW Health at the facility, and
- Staff entitlements will transfer across from Healthscope to NSW Health.
The Minns Government stated it will now finalise the legal and commercial arrangements required for transfer, including workforce transition.
It will also consult closely with clinicians to determine future clinical services and an operating model, including the role of private services in the hospital footprint.
''Elouise and Danny Massa, the parents of two-year-old Joe Massa who died at the hospital late last year, have been tireless advocates for the facility being brought into public hands.'' the government stated in a release
''Their efforts led to the passing this year of Joe’s Law, a legal commitment by the NSW Government to prevent any future attempts to create public-private partnerships at acute care hospitals.''
Independent MPs Jacqui Scruby, the member for Pittwater and Michael Regan, the Member for Wakehurst, have also been strong campaigners in their local community for reversing one of NSW’s worst examples of privatisation.''
Elouise and Danny Massa speaking at the community forum organised earlier this year by Pittwater MP Jacqui Scruby and Wakehurst MP Michael Regan. Photo: Michael Mannington OAM of Community Photography/PON
A report by the Auditor-General this year found that the former government’s privatisation model did not allow Northern Beaches Hospital to deliver adequate health services. It found it:
- Prevented Northern Beaches Hospital from being properly integrated into the public health system, impacting access to services for patients in the area, and
- Created tension between profit motives and health outcomes.
Northern Beaches Hospital was one of six hospital privatisations attempted by the former Coalition. The five others – Maitland, Wyong, Goulburn, Shellharbour and Bowral – did not go ahead.
The Minns Government still retains the option to use its statutory powers to terminate the Public Private Partnership unilaterally if Healthscope fails to conclude the deal on fair and reasonable terms.
Premier Chris Minns said on Tuesday:
“We’ve reversed one of the worst decisions of any NSW Government, where a private hospital model was foisted on the people of the Northern Beaches.
“Our state’s acute hospital services that provide lifesaving care to the people of New South Wales should not be privatised and thanks to this decision, no hospital in NSW will be.”
“Because of Elouise and Danny’s courage and persistence, Joe’s Law now ensures that no future government can repeat the mistakes that led to the Northern Beaches Hospital privatisation. Their advocacy will leave a lasting legacy for every patient and every family who relies on our public health system.”
Entries have closed for the 80th running of the ‘Great Race South’, the Rolex Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race, with an elite fleet set to face the starter’s cannon on Boxing Day.
The Cruising Yacht Club of Australia (CYCA) announced that a massive fleet of 142 yachts have entered the iconic Australian race, 38 more than faced the start line last year. It is the second biggest fleet this century behind on the 2019 race that celebrated the 75th edition of the event.
The fleet includes a host of world class yachts and sailors, all set to take on the 628 nautical mile epic alongside a 121-year-old marvel, and 13 boats from overseas including from Germany, Hong Kong, Netherlands, USA, New Caledonia, New Zealand and Poland.
Highlights of the entry list include:
- last year’s Overall winner Celestial V70, skippered by CYCA Commodore Dr Sam Haynes amongst five past Overall winners (Celestial V70, Love & War, Unicoin, Wild Oats XI (now Palm Beach XI) and Wild Oats)
- 2023 and 2024 Line Honours victors, Christian Beck’s LawConnect
- six 100ft maxis, led by LawConnect and including Master Lock Commanche (Matt Allen & James Mayo), Wild Thing 100 (Grant Wharington & Adrian Seiffert), Mark Richards’ Palm Beach XI, Bill Barry Cotter’s Iuxury cruiser Maritimo 100 and Hong Kong based international star SHK Scallywag
- 11 female skippers, including Elizabeth Tucker leading an all female crew aboard First Light
- 2025 Noakes Sydney Gold Coast Overall winner, Smuggler, who also claimed the 2024 Audi Centre Sydney Blue Water Pointscore
- 20 Double Handed entries
- 121-year-old classic Maritimo Katwinchar, owned by Bill Barry Cotter and skippered by Michael Spies
- the return of the IRC Grand Veterans and Veterans divisions featuring yachts like Maritimo Katwinchar, three-time Overall winner Love & War and Windrose
- the introduction of the IRC Cruiser/Racer Division - where cruising comfort meets offshore performance – featuring the stunning Oroton Drumfire
Palm Beach Motor Yachts Takes the Helm of the Iconic Wild Oats XI
Richards, with his entry Palm Beach XI, which was formerly Wild Oats XI, is sure to set tongues wagging as he returns to the race after a two-year hiatus. Palm Beach XI (RPAYC/NYYC) was confirmed as a starter just an hour before entries closed. Under Richards’ helm, Wild Oats XI claimed nine Line Honours and two Overall victories in the great race. She also claimed the Merlin Trophy in the 2015 and 48th Transpac, her first venture into this famous yacht race, with Richards again Skipper.
Palm Beach XI under the new ownership of Pittwater based Palm Beach Motor Yachts, will relaunch with major modifications for the 80th Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race.
On Friday October 24, Palm Beach Motor Yachts, subsidiary of Grand Banks Yachts Ltd., announced it has become the new owner of one of the world’s most legendary offshore racing yachts, the 100-foot Supermaxi Wild Oats XI. Reborn as Palm Beach XI, thismultiple Sydney to Hobart line-honours winner will serve both as a symbol of the company’s passion for technology and innovation and as a proving ground for performance and design excellence. It will also become a defining catalyst for Palm Beach Motor Yachts, strengthening the company’s global presence, amplifying its competitive position, and reinforcing the brand’s reputation for engineering and performance leadership.
The announcement will be followed by an international press event at the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show on October 29, where Palm Beach Motor Yachts will unveil striking renders of Palm Beach XI’s new state-of-the-art appendage package. These extensive upgrades feature a new deeper keel fin and bulb, upwind daggerboards, and impressive C-foils, all engineered to optimise lift, minimise drag, and keep Palm Beach XI at the forefront of marine technology and international ocean racing.
For more than two decades, Palm Beach Motor Yachts Founder and CEO Mark Richards has shared an extraordinary and special relationship with the Oatley family, skippering Wild Oats XI to numerous ocean-racing victories. Now, he takes the helm as both an owner and skipper - a full-circle moment in modern ocean racing. The timing is especially meaningful as it coincides with the 30th anniversary of Palm Beach Motor Yachts, founded by Richards from humble beginnings in Pittwater and built on the same spirit of determination, precision, and innovation that has defined his racing success.
“This is our DNA and a strategic direction shaped with the board of this great company to build brand awareness, strengthen marketing, elevate the customer experience, and drive innovation,” said Richards.
“Opportunities like this don’t happen without the support of an extraordinary team. With 1,200 people worldwide - sales, service, design, engineering, production, management and shareholders - we’re proud to demonstrate our shared values on one of the world’s most visible stages.
I’m deeply grateful to the Oatley family for their amazing support and friendship over the past two and half decades, together we made Wild Oats XI a benchmark in global ocean racing. It’s an honour to carry that legacy forward under the Palm Beach Motor Yachts name. Whether it’s a 100-foot Supermaxi or a Palm Beach Motor Yacht, our principles never change: maximize strength, minimize weight, and pursue performance without compromise. Running a race yacht is like running a business, build a cohesive team, focused on a goal, work together with discipline and precision.”
The late Robert Oatley and Mark Richards
Haynes, who last year became just the third sitting CYCA Commodore to win the event, is aiming to become the first to win twice while in charge of the world-renowned sailing Club. He also claimed the Overall title in 2022 with his TP52 Celestial.
Last year, Haynes and Celestial V70 claimed the George Adams Tattersall Cup for the Overall win by 9 hours 44 minutes and 42 seconds - the largest since Rani's victory in the race's first edition in 1945.
The 2025 State of the Beaches Report, released Wednesday October 22, states the water quality of swimming spots has improved, due to a year of average-to-below average rainfall across NSW.
The current government has changed the way the State of the Beaches reports are tabled, with just an overall and minimum snapshot of what's happened where on a webpage, instead of the previous years reports where you could access all the data, beach by beach, in reports separated into regions. However, you can access and download the data, as the news service did for the July 1 2024 to June 30 2025 period, at: www.beachwatch.nsw.gov.au/Monitoring/waterQualityData
For the Beachwatch - Sydney Coast region - Beachwatch states 56 swim sites are tested monthly from May 2024 to September 2024 and weekly from October 2024 to April 2025 and 41 swim sites tested weekly from May 2024 to April 2025.
As in 2024, Pittwater beaches remained the best of the best with Palm, Whale, Avalon, Bilgola and Bungan Beaches all rated 'Very Good', although Whale Beach did register a 150 [Enterococci (cfu/100mL)] in one count. Of the Pittwater estuary swim spots, The Basin and Great Mackerel Beach also are rated 'Very Good'.
There has been a change in Elvina Bay which is now rated 'Very Good' as well.
Bayview Baths had one high count of [Enterococci (cfu/100mL): 2600] in the July 1 2024 to June 30 2025 dataset the news service downloaded from BeachWatch, and remains 'Poor' in the ratings.
Residents have been complaining of raw sewerage runoff into the southern end of the estuary for some time now. Unfortunately no water samples are taken at Winji Jimmi Bay to confirm their citizen scientist records of dates and photographs of incidents.
The remaining estuarine swim spots, at Barrenjoey (Station Beach), Paradise, Clareville, Taylors' Point, and North and South Scotland Island, retain their 'Good' rating despite Station Beach registering a 200 in one count.
Of the ocean beaches in Pittwater, Mona Vale was the only which showed any worth noting pollution levels, registering [Enterococci (cfu/100mL): 120 and 100] in two counts, with Warriewood and Turimetta registering a 9 and a 49 respectively in comparison, and being the site for the Warriewood sewerage treatment plant outfall pipes.
The rating downgrades Mona Vale from last year's uptick to 'Very Good' due to improved microbial water quality, to 'Good', although no source for the increased pollution, newly introduced or of old, has been cited.
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Mona Vale beach has been downgraded from 'Very Good' to 'Good.
Both Birdwood Park [Enterococci (cfu/100mL): 790 in one count] and Bilarong [Enterococci (cfu/100mL): 3200 was highest on dataset list for this spot] in the Narrabeen Lagoon swim sites remain 'Poor' with the data showing dangerous Enterococci levels in the water.
Davidson Reserve, rated as 'Fair' in this report, exceeded that in one count; [Enterococci (cfu/100mL): 4300], which is considered a very high count, indicating a significant faecal contamination risk in the water. This year's rating for this site is an improvement on previous reports.
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Profile of the Week Avalon Sailing Club - for 8 to 88 years Avalon Sailing Club's Try Sailing Day is Saturday 15th November. It's an opportunity for members of the public to visit the club, explore the facilities and try sailing on a yacht or dinghy.
Helena van de Linde, Commodore of Avalon Sailing Club, said:
''Sailing is a sport that can be enjoyed by people of all ages and at all levels.
At Avalon Sailing Club our purpose is to foster the love of sailing on Pittwater and we have members aged from 6 to 87 sailing in dinghies or in yachts.
So if you have ever considered trying sailing on that beautiful body of water bordering our peninsula then come to Avalon Sailing club on 15 November between 10am and 12pm.
You will be able to speak to members and experts about ways to get into sailing and sailing opportunities at Avalon for all ages and we will have volunteers assist to get you on a sailing vessel.
You can register you interest here: avalonsailingclub/events/321427
About
Avalon Sailing Club is a a family oriented sailing club, sited at Clareville, on Pittwater. We are known for our friendly and relaxed atmosphere with our purpose to foster the love of sailing on the waters of Pittwater. We are particularly proud of all those children who first learned to sail at Avalon and continue to enjoy our sport, along with those who have gone on to represent Australia at the Olympics, Americas Cup, Admirals Cup, Sail GP and other world class events like the Sydney to Hobart and Fastnet races.
The Centreboard division includes training and racing. Our classes are Manly Junior, Open Skiff, Flying 11, Spiral, Laser, Waszp and Puffin Pacer. Avalon Sailing Club is a Discover Sailing Centre starting with Children around the age of 7 or 8. Find out more about our Learn to Sail program here.
Our Yacht Racing Program is designed around three inshore and two offshore series allowing members to race between one Sunday to every Sunday a month during the season. Find out more about Yacht Racing here.
Avalon Sailing Club Website: com.au/avalonsailingclub/home
History Narrabeen Lakes Amateur Swimming Club By Life Member Maureen Rutlidge OAM + North Narrabeen Rock Pool: Some History
RPAYC Commodore Rob McClelland, Hansas Jackie Kay and Chris Mitchell and RPAYC Vice Commodore, Julia Hornsby. Photo: Alex Dare, Hansa Worlds 2025, hosted by Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club, Newport, and held on Pittwater
Profile of the Week Beryl Driver OAM, at 92 Years Young, is looking forward to her 29th Variety The Children's Charity Long Drive in the Australian CountrysideOn Monday October 13 Beryl Driver OAM, a former ‘Mermaid of Palm Beach’ and a Variety the Children’s Charity participant in the B to B ‘bashes’ since the Brickpit to Broome Bash of 1999, held a function to raise funds for her March 2026 4WD Bash.
The Club Palm Beach (Palm Beach RSL) room was dressed in red and gold to celebrate the 50th year of Variety in Australia (gold) and red for Variety’s big heart. Over the last 50 years, Variety - The Children's Charity, has touched the lives of over 2 million children in need, raising over $700 million for children and their families across Australia.
This week a few insights into the long road and lasting passion for looking out for and after Australia's children
Photos: A J Guesdon
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