 |
|
We
are the People that are FREE! |
|
|
From
The Coastal Passage, issue # 18 |
|
Fast Bikes and Slow Boats!... I have
been astounded at the number of yachtie/ex bikey types that I
have come across on the water. Course, Sharon and Tony only partly
qualify because their 40 foot Grainger/Chincogan isn’t what
you would call slow and the current bike is a Harley... OK, so
it’s a fast Harley (contradiction in terms?) But I know
Tony’s dirty secret as he was pro Aussie superbiker! Still
just as competitive. NO MERCY! Shaz and Tony make T’ville
the home port these days, so if you see em out there... sheet
in and hustle or get out of the way! |
|
A Californian gone bad! Dave took a
wrong turn off the freeway one day and wound up in the south
pacific... somewhere.. good thing he hasn’t been in a hurry.
I asked him where he had been and he pulled out his “chart”
and said, “according to my precise navigation and calculations,
we are about here, which means I used to be there and I’m
heading that way.” Can’t argue with that can you. |
|
HEY BOB!! I was at the Bowen Yacht club
when I got the hoy. It was John, Maria and Luke and the last
time we had crossed paths was for that magical time at Lizard
Island in late 04 for “the games.” Just another cruising
family doing their best to be in the right place at the right
time and going well! |
|
Seven years, five months and four days!!!
Says Kerry when I catch up with her at the marina. She gazes
in a way that implies nervousness about where she is. “All
this time and now we are here... water all around the boat! It’s
a bit strange to take.” I was wondering where the new kids
came from that were scooting around the marina on their little
skate scooter things. Not that I mind a bit. The kids were cool
and I like the action. The Alexanders had moved aboard a friends
motor boat while the last bits of work were done on their cat.
The house in inland Moranbah where the cat was a backyard fixture
all that time was sold and gone. Jim and Kerry both worked full
time, built the bloody boat and ... had a couple of kids that
never knew life without the ‘project’ in the yard.
Now seven years sounds like a long time and it is but with a
project of this magnitude it is amazing that it could be accomplished
at all. So the launching drew the family, friends and accomplices.
In the centre on the main photo, that’s Aaron standing and
Brendan below. They were help for the fairing and other bits,
then there is Jim at left, with Thomas and Kerry at right with
daughter Molly. So what now, I ask? “Ah... circumnavigation,”
says Kerry but she said it like it was a question... then smiled. |
|