WE’VE got the magnificent Western Port waterway and ready access to Anderson Inlet and all points east to Iconic Wilsons Promontory. Job done!
Well, not quite. At the busy times of the year, popular boat ramps, especially the heavily patronized Newhaven Boat Ramp, can be a nightmare for boaties.
But, a major upgrade to our boat-launching facilities; courtesy of the State Government, Better Boating Victoria and the Bass Coast Shire Council, is on the way.
They’ve completed the new boat ramp at Rhyll, at a cost of $4.5 million, and after a couple tweeks, in consultation with boating fraternity, there’s been universal acclaim for the improvements there.
Now they’re heavily into the revamp of the Cowes Boat Ramp, with officials from the contractors, Bridgewater Marine and Better Boating Victoria, saying the project is on-track and on-budget for completion in Spring, hopefully in time for the busy Melbourne Cup Weekend, but if not, well and truly up and running by Christmas.
“We’ve got the sheetpile wall for the cofferdam substantially complete,” said Rohan Joyce, a director of Bridgewater Marine.
“We’ll do our testing, get the engineers to sign off and then we’ll pump the water out and get started on the concrete footings.”
It’s a major undertaking, extending and raising the ramp to obviate the problem of the ramp continually getting covered with beach sand.
“We’re not going to completely eliminate the problem of the sand build-up, but we will reduce the need for regular clearing,” said Katherine Grech, a director of Better Boating Victoria.
“That’s been the main issue, the constant sand clearing.
“It’s not going to be an all-tide ramp. It’s simply too flat here. But the ramp will get a lot more use because of the reduction in the build up of sand.”
Ms Grech acknowledged that the work at Cowes was part of an overall upgrade of boat launching facilities in Bass Coast, to meet the rising demand from boat owners.
“We know boating registrations are going up, year-on-year, by 2.5% so there are a lot more people wanting to get out on the water. And who wouldn’t want to get out into Western Port and local coastal waters from here at Phillip Island.”
As well as Rhyll ($4.5m) and Cowes ($2.8m), work on the all-new boat ramp at Mahers Landing was just about ready to start ($4.2m) and design work was almost complete on Inverloch’s new boat ramp ($2m).
“We’ve also putting a concept plan together for upgrading Newhaven as well, hopefully making it deeper with increased capacity.”
But, Ms Grech insisted that Mahers Landing would become the pick of the local boat ramps, providing sheltered launching and retrieval on all tides.
So, will Bass Coast be the coastal boating capital of Victoria? It certainly looks that way where launching facilities and the best fishing are concerned.
