“We wanted to share with you our transition from Motor Boat to a Yacht. For the most part of our lives we lived in Melbourne where opportunities to learn to sail or be on the water in a vessel were limited. Our boating experience was limited to a flat bottom punt with an 8hp motor which we used on the Murray River to go fishing.
10 years ago we moved to Sydney on the Northern Beaches and loved the ease of access to the waterways around the harbour and Pittwater. Life in Sydney was busy so we wanted an escape and somewhere to relax. With encouragement from boating and yachting friends, who both were pitching at us the benefits of motor versus sail, we purchased a motor boat as we didn’t have a clue how to sail so it would have been ridiculous to purchase a yacht. We loved spending weekends and holidays with our friends and family on the water, in fact so much so that some years later we purchased a larger motor boat to be more comfortable! We were loving the water but we weren’t finding it as relaxing as we notice our friends with the yacht were.
Over a bottle of wine or so one night, these lifelong yachties once again pitched to us the benefits of sail over motor! We decided to take up their challenge of learning to sail at the ripe ages of fifty something! We went out on the Pittwater and had some lessons with them on their yacht. It was initially overwhelming learning knew terminology, for example apparently ropes are called sheets on a yacht, we thought they only ever went on a bed! Learning to read the water, the wind & sails was a new challenge but interesting and we soon were enjoying the new knowledge and skills we were learning.
In November we made the choice to purchase our Jeanneau, Sun Odyssey 379. We love the space and openness downstairs, the top deck is open and airy, there is no noise or petrol fumes, just water and wind rushing by. Once the thought of putting up sails was scary but now we love to read the water and wind and work together communicating between ourselves the best way to trim the sails.
We now have found the relaxation and peace we were looking for on weekends, yes sometimes we have a sneaky motor along, but now we can also sail and yes we can now relax but we can also get a thrill sailing when the knots pick up!
Thanks Ron and Damien for your assistance and guidance which we have called on quite a bit! Well, if any of you see us out on the water our yacht is called “Ki Bend”, come and say hi, we are always gathering tips from all you yachties.”
Warm Regards,
Ron and Michelle Watson