00:00I think I was probably about three or four.
00:04My parents saw a place for sale in a national park.
00:09We moved to Elvina Bay in Pittwater in 1981
00:13and it was a run-down, one-bedroom shack.
00:18My wife and I were very excited about it.
00:22It was frontier land over there.
00:26It was like a little island.
00:28Rain, hail or shine.
00:30To get anywhere, you've got to get in a boat.
00:32To get to school, to get to the mainland, to get to the shops.
00:36So it really forces you, especially as a kid, to be quite independent.
00:40Just sort of crossing a piece of water on your own
00:42can be a big thing for a young child.
00:45It put me in an environment where every single day I was on the water.
00:51It took a little while to understand it, but as soon as it clicked...
00:56It was just like freedom for me.
01:02You know, you could go fast.
01:04You were using the wind.
01:08And then at probably about 11,
01:09the neighbour was throwing out an old wooden dinghy.
01:12A little sailing boat.
01:13And so my dad and I and my sister grabbed it,
01:16we pulled it off the rubbish pile, took it home,
01:18and then we repaired it, painted it.
01:20Dad said, hey, you know they actually race these things over on the mainland.
01:23We should just go over and give it a go.
01:25And so we sailed over the mainland this one weekend.
01:29You know, it was an old wooden boat.
01:30We'd repaired it, but sails, you know, just old sails, rusty and that.
01:34We pulled the boat up,
01:35and instantly this sort of group of kids came around
01:37and started really just making fun of the boat, ridiculing it.
01:40The old man came over and he said,
01:42look, don't worry about what anyone else says.
01:44You guys, you've built this boat.
01:46Just go out there, do the course and see what happens.
01:47So we went out.
01:56Crossed the finish line, and a gun went off.
02:00And we'd won the race.
02:02They won the first race that they ever sailed in, in that boat.
02:09The same group of kids came around, but they weren't laughing anymore.
02:11If it wasn't for that, I mean, there's just no way.
02:20I'll be sitting here talking to you about sailing.
02:22I'll be sitting here talking to you about sailing.
