Learning the ropes
With limited sailing experience, bar our amazing 5 day sailing course with Paul at Adventure Sailing, we had a steep learning curve ahead of us. No better way to learn than to get straight into it.
Fortunately for us, we were able to secure a pen at Hillarys Boat Harbour until the beginning of February. This enabled us to wet our toes (pardon the pun) with a few day trips to and from Rottnest when the conditions weren’t too testing. The first thing we learnt during these little excursions was that the journey would not be quick. On average, and depending on the wind (which would fluctuate and be inconsistent with the predicted forecast), a one-way trip would take between two and a half and three hours. The Rottnest ferry it was not, but the serenity and sense of freedom you get from travelling under sail can’t be beaten. Anyway, what’s the rush? For the first time in a long time, we didn’t need to be anywhere in a hurry.
Day trips gradually became weekends, and weekends became weeks and fortnights. Learning how to cater for our needs whilst living full-time on the yacht was a continual work in progress. Simple things like the weekly food shop, doing the laundry, managing our waste (kitchen and personal, for those of you who were wondering) and learning about our water and power needs were just some of things we needed to get our head around.
Our time at Rottnest was very social. Having friends stay over to experience life aboard has been lovely. Also, with Rottnest being the holiday island that it is, we experienced plenty of chance encounters with friends from different parts of our lives (Port Hedland and Broome, as well as many of our Perth friends that we hadn’t seen in a while). We’d literally be sitting out on the back deck and see someone paddle by on their SUP, “Hey, Steve, is that you?” We hadn’t seen Steve since we left Broome in 2002 and there he was paddling right past us!
Many a sunset was spent chatting and getting to know many of our neighbours who, like us, have been living the catamaran / yachtie life, some for more than ten years. It’s been so refreshing being able to spend the time listening to, and learning from, the experiences of others without that annoying and persistent voice in the back of your head reminding you of all the things you have to prepare for work tomorrow. If we wanted to, we could literally spend the whole next day reading for pleasure - which we did on more than one occasion.
Spending time on Rottnest this year was significant for us as it has been 20 years since we lived on the island as a family. Funny how life seems to have come full circle.
