Boatless in Brisbane

Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron
Racing Spectator Stand

Bar/cafe area

It has been over three months that we have been living in Australia, and we seem to be settling in pretty well. However, a few things are missing in our lives here: family and close friends, of course, skiing, but then again we have swimming in the ocean, and sailing. You might think that getting out on the water would be easy in Australia, but we have yet to go sailing. One reason is that we’ve been so busy exploring. Another is that we haven’t figured out childcare, so we’d have to bring Erik Ole along. Finally, there are so many choices and decisions: dinghy, keelboat, sport boat, or cruiser; big club farther away or small club close to home; one design or handicap. It’s all a bit overwhelming, so we are in kind of a holding pattern.

I’ve put my name on a crew list, so we’ll see if I get any calls. I’m also thinking of joining the neighborhood club that has boxy little teaching boats that I could take Erik out on at least for this season. Plus, it would be conveniently close if Mark starts working Saturdays again.

Unfortunately, the club that offers the most competitive racing is out on the coast 45 minutes to an hour away from our house. This is pretty hard to fathom considering that we lived 5 minutes from Shilshole, where we kept our boat in Seattle. Nonetheless, Mark is starting to tire of hanging out at the beach and building sand castles every weekend, so on our New Year’s Public Holiday (Jan 2nd), we went to the Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron to watch the Australian National Lasar Championships and check out the club close up. (We had driven by during our trip in August). The facilities were very extensive, in Mark’s estimation, bigger (but not necessarily better) than Saint Francis YC. One feature that impressed me was the spectator viewing area out by the break wall. The whole idea that people would actually watch yacht racing was pretty cool.

At some point, I’m sure we’ll get back into sailing. Kids can start lessons here at age seven, so Erik will be good for next season. Maybe we will at least own an Opti!