President Update - Feb 2026

A chat with the Pres!
 
Hello again members and what a whirlwind start to 2026 with so much happening on all fronts. Lets just quickly go through some of these events and if your head isn’t spinning by the end, I’ll buy you a beer!
A big thanks to everyone that has contributed over what was an extremely busy period with State and Australian titles very quickly creeping up on us. Check out the below which doesn’t include our weekly Surf Patrol Commitments or Social Sunday, Club hire events we’ve also hosted.
 
December 2025
 

• 14th December - Our club mourned with the rest of the nation after the Terrorist attack at Bondi targeted members of the Jewish Community.
• 20th December – President Stretch and DOY Peter K presented flowers to the shrine at Bondi Beach on behalf of our club and joined the massive turn out of members showing support to Bondi and North Bondi Surf Clubs and recognition of the Bondi Tragedy
• 20th December – Our newest Bronze Squad joined the club
• 21st December – At our Nipper Christmas breakup and fantastic nipper family paid tribute to those lost at Bondi and again to our sister clubs affected by the tragedy
• 21st December – Our IRB Santa Photo fundraiser successfully concluded. A big well done to our IRB team for this initiative!
• 31stDecember – South Maroubra SLSC held our New Year Eve BBQ dinner

 
January 2026
 

• 9th January – We became a movie cinema for the night showing the ‘Chasing the Gold’ movie in the Horizons lounge.
• 2nd January – Our lifesaving team including Ben our UAV drone pilot, Noah and Alicia joined the search for a missing Coogee swimmer.
• 7th January – Our club hosted the farewell wake for retired Detective Sergeant Peter Meagher, a victim of the Bondi shooting.
• 8th January – 70 of our Senior Club and Nipper competitors spent a morning having fun at UrbnSurf Sydney Olympic Park
• 9th January – A number of our talented beach competitors were selected for ‘The Australian Interstate Championships’ at Maroubra Beach.
• 17th January – Our Competition Team participated in the Shaw & Partners World Open Series at Manly
• 18th January – We ran our annual ‘Remembering our Members Day’ – paying tribute to those members that have past. We also christened our new Johnny Marks Express 2 club bus.
• 22nd January – We participated in the National Day of Mourning for victims of the Bondi Terrorist attack plus our members participated in the Beachstormers Round 4 at Manly.
• 23rd January – Aiden, Dan and Riley flew our club colours at the Murphy Homes Maroochy Classic, a televised lifesaving event.
• 24th January – Our Competitors headed to the ‘Weekend at the Roy’ Collaroy carnival where they enjoyed success.
• 25th January – Our Nipper family made a return after their Christmas break.
• 26th January – We celebrated this great nation of ours during our annual Australia Day Celebration.
• 26th January – President Stretch and Vice President Linda received the Randwick City Australia Day Award for Community Service (Group) to our community.
• 30th January – We hosted day 1 and 2 of the Sydney Branch Carnival. Big effort by a small band of club volunteers!
• 31st January - We welcome 4 more new bronze squad members to the club

 
February 2026
 

• 1st February – We ran our very successful Sportspersons Day where we enjoyed great speakers, food, refreshments and of course mate ship.
• 1st February – Our lifesaving team again swung into action after a snorkeler went missing at the south end of our beach around the rocks.
• 2nd February – The search for the missing snorkeler continued by our lifesavers until the morning of the 3rd when the missing man was located near Mahon pool having drowned.
• 7th February – The Branch carnival continued this time over in the Shire with plenty of success for all competition areas. Well done to you all.
• 7th February – A group from our lifesaving team lead by DOL Simon headed over to Garie Beach to support that club’s lifesaving efforts.
• 13th February – The second largest boat competition kicked off at Wanda and continue over a 3-day period with South Maroubra boaties in fine form.
• 13th February – We hosted our fantastic club sponsors and supporters during our Annual Sponsors Lunch in Horizons. Our small way of saying thanks.
• 13th February - Our Nipper Trivia Night was run and won with DOY Pete and Mary thanking those that supported this important fundraising event.

 
So, my fellow members there you have a short recapping of the last month or so, and what a period of 6 weeks it has been…
 
What’s coming up soon you ask?
 
State Championships at Swansea Belmont kicked off 2 weekends ago with Nippers just finished today.  We enjoyed the ASRL Boat carnival last weekend at Wanda, Aussie Titles in March so to those going make sure you get your flights and accommodation booked. Our Social Sundays continue each Sunday so be sure to pop on down. Our Club Function Room hire is on fire with most Saturdays and some Fridays getting booked by members and non-members (don’t delay with your special event, check out our website and or give Jen a call in the office 93140070). Don’t forget we have now opened up our Footie Season tipping comp led by Tracey. More details in this newsletter on how to join, we encourage you to join this social group for the off-season.
 
Special thanks to all of our Lifesavers during what has been a testing time. Our Red and Yellow army are just so important to our club and as our Instructors commence the final Bronze course for the season, a big thank you to each of them for your time and commitment to growing and improving our lifesaving capability.
Finally thank you to my fellow Board of Management Team that have been flat chat along with our Office staff and Coaches as they prepare members for the major competitions of the season.
 
See you all during Social Sunday where everyone is welcome.
 
Paul ’Stretch’ Fownes APM OAM
President.