Blast from the Past -Life member Richard Bowler

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Blast from the Past -Life member Richard Bowler

29-May-2009

The story of Richard Bowler's involvement with SWD

I had the radio on as I was driving home but wasn't really listening the way you do.

When someone mentioned sailing, suddenly I was listening intently. Sailing was a long held passion of mine and the parkinsons was affecting my chances of becoming permanent crew on an ocean racing yacht. So what I heard was exciting - someone wanted to put together a crew of disabled sailors for the 1994 50th anniversary of the Sydney-Hobart. Here was a chance to take part instead of standing on South Head wistfully watching the fleet head south. Since I only listen to the radio when I'm driving and there were paper and pen on the passenger seat and I'd just pulled up at home when they gave the phone number, I thought it must be my lucky day.

Several phone calls and a number of weeks later I heard a boat and skipper may have been found - could I make it to a meeting? Wild horses won't keep me away I thought to myself.

The boat turned out to be a beautiful slender and elegant Adams 15, appropriately named Carpe Diem, that the skipper had built himself. I was impressed. The skipper was a quietly spoken guy of about my own age who, with his deep tan, curly hair and beard and chunky build looked the epitome of a sailor. He looked thoughtful as if wondering what he was letting himself in for. I was wondering how a group of people that included paraplegics, blind, deaf, missing legs and arms, and a few problems that I had not heard of were going to manage to wind winches, pull ropes, haul sails and generally run a yacht while at an angle af 30 degrees and having large buckets of water dumped on them. I was to learn tenacity and ingenuity could well be their watchwords.

I was surprised to learn that having started sailing in my teens with dinghies, a couple of seasons round the buoys yacht racing and two ocean races, (the Pittwater to Lord Howe Island and Sydney to Southport) I was one of the most experienced potential crew members. That first year was a steep learning curve for everyone. Learning about our strengths and weaknesses, disabilities were turned to abilities and a bunch of disabled misfits slowly became a crew and then sailors.

The first year I participated, I think, in every ocean race we did - the Sydney-Southport, Mooloolaba-Airlie Beach, Hamilton Island race week, Hog's Breath Regatta, Pittwater-Lord Howe Island and finely the grand prize, the Sydney-Hobart race.

For the next five years I took part in most sail days, race day, training days, maintenance days, kids' days and ocean races, although I only did three Hobarts. My last race was also my first and only race on the new boat, January 2001 Pittwater to Coffs Harbour, which we won. It was a hard race, twenty to thirty knots on the nose the whole way and made me realise the parkinsons had advanced to the point where I no longer enjoyed the sailing and couldn't contribute to the running of the boat. It was time to hang up my sea boots.

In the six years I spent with SWD as an active member I had a great time - thanks to David Pescud and Peter Draney for making it possible. It was the silver lining of the parkinsons. I have many great memories, some good friends and a better understanding of people and disabilities.

Do I miss it; do you miss a hole in the head, do you miss having a cold wet sail dropped on you when sleeping, being told you're wanted on deck when you've only just divested yourself of layers of wet weather gear and rolled into your bunk after three straight watches, or hanging by three fingers from the lifelines with my feet flailing - trying to find a deck to stand on after we had been laid horizontal by a line squall that appeared out of a dark clear night and turned our "big yellow" masthead kite into a bloody big sea anchor. Yes, I miss it!

I miss the camaraderie, I miss the friendly inquisitive dolphins, the seabirds effortless soaring among the waves, the silver path of the full moon on a clear night, the first warming rays of the sun, feeling the boat come alive when you hoist the sails, the exhilaration when you surf a wave, the high octane adrenalin rush of a race start, the hiss and splash of the ever-changing sea as we slip through it, the silver pearls of phosphorescence that dance in the bow wave and mark our passage on a dark night.

During those six years I tried my hand as secretary for one year and treasurer for three years. I also had the opportunity to help David Pescud the skipper (who I now know isn't always quietly spoken) with the radical plastic surgery of changing the stub keel and dagger board of Carpe Diem for a lift keel with a lead bulb.

Since we moved to Port Macquarie in 2000 I've traded my sea boots for gardening boots, and now wonder whether a plate of beer will really keep the snails off the lettuces, instead of which way to move the genoa car to improve the twist of the genoa. The parkinsons hasn't become any worse for the last two years, thanks to the discovery of Glyconutrients which I take as a natural health supplement. I'm well, still have my drinks shaken not stirred and am looking forward to the next challenge.

Richard Bowler