sailing motivation.

Always the dreamer I am, in my quieter moments, prone to doubting whether NY sailing escape will ever happen. 

Like many successful voyagers I read about ( are their any books written by unsuccessful voyagers?), I began sailing when I was quite young. Perhaps I did frequently emerging fascination with boats initially, my first boat was thrust upon me. I had no real contact with boats before then, just surfboards. But learn to sail we ( my brothers and I) did. But we eventually wore out the aged plywood dinghy, and I returned to surfing fulltime. 

It was not until after I began working that I got the bug. I'd bought cars, motorbikes & surfboards, & wined & dined my girlfriends, & finally I was looking for fun further afield. Around this time I discovered that owning a yacht moored on the lake, was not a rich man's prerogative. In fact they were within reach of anyone in full time work. 

My first purchase was a Princess 18; an award winning design trailer sailor. With twin centreboards housed in the bunk sides, she was relatively spacious below and towed like a dream. It was normal for me to sail the lake on Saturdays and Port Stephens on Sundays. The fact that my little sister Jenny or then girlfriend had to be with me to help raise the mast, became a bugbear. I was working shift work & wanted to sail alone on weekdays.

The saiiing bug was quite deep by now, and weekend daysails & occasional overnighters were not enough to feed my appetite. I actually began building a "Spray" design in steel by Bruce Roberts. Despite still sailing the Princess, working full time, studying part time & keepingvup with my girlfriend, I actually though I had time to build a steel monster from scratch. At some point a local sailmaker convinced me to shelve the project & go for a Top Hat. In hindsight it was pretty good advice & soon after I ordered a hull & deck in GRP from Form it Fibreglass, Wyong. Still with other commitments I somehow found a higher level of functioning & juggled my responsibilities as well as completed the fit out.My skills in assembling the mast, making and installing timber trim, plumbing & deck hardware, were all self taught mostly from books & magazines. 

She was launched on around my 25th birthday & in a whirlwind period I became a single, unemployed live aboard sailor. With a Navik windvane I sailed north from the lake, to Newcastle Harbour. There i set up base to do sea trials offshore. From there I was off, Port Stephens, a sea anchorage off Seal Rocks, Crowdy Head, Coffs Harbour & Yamba. This proved to be a port made for me, a choice of two well protected harbours, small local towns & good surf. I added free diving to my resume & frequently added fish to the menu. Still a novice at coastal sailing, my experience as a surfer, youthful energy & positive attitude, saw us enter dangerous barred entrances with little fanfare. Finally reaching the Whitsunday Islands off the central Queensland coast, I felt I had arrived. The weather was hot, the sea blue anchorages aplenty & majestic coral reefs to dive upon. But, truth be told, I found the navigation among so many islands & reefs to be daunting. I felt claustrophobic , locked in & afraid. But sail home we did & in good time & a little more safety. Back in Newcastle ostensibly to upgrade my craft to something  larger, I fell into work, surfing & sailing. Something deeper had been bugging me though; loneliness. I felt it most acutely when i visited the most picturesque anchorages. I wanted someone with which to share the experience. 

The wisdom of three decades' experience reveals that loneliness is a diminishing element when selecting a mate. Although my chosen mate voiced pleasure from sailing during a second trip to the Whitsundays, it proved fleeting & my joy of sailing was tarnished by her sourness towards sailing & the normative life styles of thirty something men.

The tide of the oceans, though repressed, still flowed within me & a series of small craft fed my hunger. Kayaks, canoes, beach cats & surfing eased my hunger as normal suburban life, i increasingly came to despise. Good parents sacrifice all they have for their children, I was a good parent. My partner eventually proved not to be & early on I was called upon heavily. For my children m, i willingly gave & can. proudly say that apart fromwads of cash, there is little I did not offer them. 

As with many old sailors, I am surrounded by "projects"; a dinghy cruiser, kayak, Wharram Tiki 21 being refitted & so on. Prior to the eventual breakdown of my marriage, I enjoyed refitting a tired Folkboat. Whole there was no headroom, her seakindliness was remarkable. A casualty of the separation, she left a void not yet filled. 

As I look ahead, the Tiki may become a fun estuary & coastal cruiser. A financial boon next year, when I am aged 63, will allow me to buy a solid & well appointed cruising yacht. At this stage I am looking towards a H28 in GRP. I am aware of the design's space below decks as well as her strong seagoing heritage. It offers a " walkup start", but I do hope my energy & health stay with me long enough to see it through. God knows, I've served my apprenticeship.