The Shag Islet Cruising Yacht Club (SICYC) have been meeting every year at Shag Islet in the Gloucester Passage (Whitsundays area of North Queensland) for a number of years now and the annual gathering of members is affectionately known as 'Shaggers'. There is an amount of irony in that name considering the beneficiary of their annual get-together fundraiser. Their nominated charity? Prostate Cancer research. The 2015 Shaggers muster saw a veritable migration of 700 yachts northwards for the rendezvous and Skipr.net and the Women Who Sail Australia Face book site were full of communications about sailing progress to get there in time and of course, how much fun they were having once at their destination. Some didn't quite manage to get there but have pledged to be there next time. The numbers are swelling year by year. One of the marine magazines, Afloat, featured an article about the success and generosity of this club of yachtie/cruisers who impressively, since embracing this cause, have raised in excess of $250,000!
Image sourced from Afloat Magazine.
For us, September has been more that just an 'awareness month', it is now THE awareness month. September is when The Bloke was confirmed to have prostate cancer - a bit if a 'bummer' and hence our being detained in Sydney for the time being. It's a testament to vigilance and over a decade of monitoring, that this incredibly common condition was picked up, since in this instance, it was totally asymptomatic. Lucky indeed are we, to have access to the some of the best diagnostics, Doctors and treatments in the country and luckier still, to be sitting this 'life storm' out in the waterway playgrounds of Sydney and Pittwater.
The Spit to Manly Walk is quite well known and is going to feature strongly in The Bloke's recovery from surgery. From the short part we have already sampled, it WILL definitely qualify as boot-camp!
Visit www.prostate.org.au for more info.
THREE FACTS ABOUT PROSTATE CANCER
In Australia, prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in men.
More than 3,000 men die of prostate cancer in Australia every year.
More men die of prostate cancer than women die of breast cancer.
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