I mentioned recently to a friend of mine, now living interstate, but who is well acquainted with Douga, that our Club Night on 23rd June, 2010 featured a talk by Dugga Beazley. “Well that’s an evening with a National Living Treasure,” was the response, and I believe along with others I know, that is an apt description of the man.
Douga who was accompanied by his wife Frances, simply stood up and said,” I don’t know what you want to hear” and with a totally modest delivery kept us rapt for the next hour and a quarter.
From a lifetime in wooden boats and fishing the Bay, we got glimpses of his extraordinary knowledge of geography and conditions affecting the Bay.
Of dangers faced, being tipped over with son David, swimming through freezing water for 90 minutes to the only marker and being picked up by a fellow fisherman, who had worked out that it was the only place to look for them in those conditions.
He spoke of his determination, allied by son David, to aid the preservation of Couta and Net boats on the Bay. The “Boatyard on the Pavement” outside Grandad’s, is known to some.
There was so much more to this evening than I can attempt to record here. Whether we can get Dugga back again in the future I have no idea, but if it occurs make sure you are there to hear this “Living Treasure”!
Alan Chinn