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Crew Biographies

Ron Montague

Howdy, my name is Ron Montague and I have been sailing with Sailors with disABILITIES since February 2001. Before this date I had never sailed on a yacht before.

I grew up in the bush, on the mid north coast as a son of a son of the soil; my dad was a dairy farmer. At the tender age of 11 we moved to the "Big Smoke" and I have lived here since 1965 with the exception of my-good-self heading to Tamworth to live with my Grandparents for a year in 1966.

I am multi-skilled, I have two trades under my belt, I am a compositor, and worked as a comp for over 26 years at John Fairfax & Sons, publishers of the Sydney Morning Herald and Daily Sun newspapers. When I finished up at Fairfax, I spent 3.5 years studying horticulture and earned two certificates in horticulture and now have my own gardening business as a qualified horticulturist.

I came to SWD in 2001 a couple of months after having had my right lower leg amputated as a result of an accident I had 28 years previous.

I consider myself very lucky to have had my leg last these 28 years...... On the day of the accident the doc said to my mum that they will probably have to take my leg off to save me, but the chance of me making it through the day were very slim. So mum said, "If you don't reckon he's going to see the day out don't worry about taking his leg off."

So they didn't take it off and it lasted me for 28 years, not without problems a plenty though.

When it all turned "pear shaped" in 2000 and the doc said that the leg has to come off, the good news was that it would be a below the knee amputation, which is whole lot better option then at the hip as it would have been 28 years previous.

When I joined the Amputees Association in December 2000 the secretary told me of a sail day with SWD that was coming up in February and I said, "Sure, pencil me in."

After that sail, skipper Dave Pescud invited me to come down for a sail anytime, I was there the following Wednesday and I've been sailing with SWD ever since.

I usually only sail in the summer twilight races, because I work in a garden shop on the weekends dispensing all sorts of horticultural knowledge, but I have managed to squeeze in a winter Short Ocean Race, and a couple of other days when there has been a desperate need for crew on special days.

Because I work for myself I often manage to have a day during the week where I crew on days out with the kids with disabilities on the harbour or if not the kids it's with the corporate types out on a corporate sail around the harbour. Either way it's just the best way to spend a day in Sydney, with a bunch of great people out on the best harbour in the world.

Like I said at the top of this article, I had never sailed before and I have learned a lot about sailing from David and the rest of the great bunch I get to sail with. I like to be involved, so most of the time I'm on board you will find me operating the winch for the mainsail and more recently I have ventured out from behind the winch and have a hand full of "main sheet" learning the fine art of main sail trimmer.

One of my favourite things about being a member of SWD is that I get to know the harbour, I can name most points, coves and bays, and I've actually been overboard, not off Kayle, but out of an Elliot in an SWD small boat regatta, and spent a short while bobbing around the harbour like a piece of driftwood before being plucked out of the water.

So now I consider myself a very lucky sailor boy.

Bill Silvester

Bill Silvester was a keen windsurfer in the UK. He moved to Sydney 5 years ago and started to sail J24s. After a year or so, he started to look for a crew spot on a larger boat when “Roger, from Pacific Sailing School, introduced me to Dave, who hasn't been able to get rid of me since!” His first impression of SWD was a “Bunch of friendly people with a nice boat”.

Bill is an active crew member for the short course and ocean races. He organised and crewed the Northern Campaign and tries to do as many Kids Days as possible. "Work has been full on lately, so don't have as much time for twilights and corporates as I would like".

What’s the Northern Campaign? SWD take our boat ‘up North’ to the Whitsundays, usually around the end of July. The boat then works her way down the Queensland and NSW coast and gets back to Sydney in October. Up to 500 disabled and disadvantaged children will have had a taste of the ocean on our 55ft, ergonomically designed yacht. The crew are specially trained to consider special needs and, with the off-shore safety liferaft off, we’ve even got room for 5 wheelchairs.

Bill’s other claim to fame is his commitment despite being a sufferer of sea sickness. "The worst time is the middle of the night", he says, "when you're sitting on the rail with a bunch of layers on against the cold, and suddenly you have to change a headsail. That really causes your body to heat up, and that's the most common time to get sea sick. Not a lot to do about it really - I've tried just about every drug made, I’m keeping my fingers crossed that a special order of patches from the UK will have a better effect".

Christopher Warren

We call him "WazzA" - he is a 22-year-old BSc student at the Australian National University in Canberra and lives at home with his parents – where they call him Christopher Warren.

He sails every Saturday in the season at the YMCA Sailing Club in Canberra unless he’s with SWD “in Sydney doing the yacht thing as a general rouseabout doing almost anything (they don’t let me nav thou, for good reasons)."

WazzA sails with SWD “because the people involved took me on as a rookie, taught me a whole bunch of stuff, and are willing to share what they know with anybody. The people involved are great! and the obvious enjoyment on the faces of the kids on the kid’s days is more than enough to keep me enthused."

Before he stepped aboard for the 2002 'Northern Campaign' he’d sailed his 5.2 m catamaran in Canberra for about 5 years, done a few Bird Island races, the Sailing South Regatta and a Hobart-Sydney delivery. Now he’s sailed on KAZ for two Sydney-Hobart races and deliveries, he has done a complete Northern Campaign (2002) and helped in 2003. WazzA has also has done numerous kids and corporate days over the past 4 years, constantly juggling his love for sailing and the need to pass those silly University exams, which has recently reduced his availability to sail as much as he would like, especially on KAZ.

Kirk Watson

Member Kirk Watson is virtually addicted to sailing. He sailed up and down the East Coast of Australia as a child and has owned and sailed his own boats most of his adult life. Kirk is visually impaired; his sight has been affected by the degenerative disease Retinitis Pigmentosa. Kirk's guide dog Tiller helps him get around (yes that is like a Tiller on a boat) and she loves sailing too.

Kirk was introduced to the Sailors with disABILITIES organisation by Mark Thompson, who knew Kirk would really enjoy sailing with the crew. Mark was right and Kirk has done many miles with the boat, including four 'Hobarts'.

"The attitude on the boat is great, the focus is on sailing the boat and it really is about what you can do. When I'm out sailing I feel like my disability is left on the shore, as being on boat is a familiar place and moving around becomes second nature," says Kirk.

"Through Sailors with disABILITIES I've had the opportunity to sail with a lot of different sailors, and to learn from their experiences."

Kirk also helps out on kids days, when he can. This is always fun and inspiring. "It's good to see the kids have such a great time, to see their interest in sailing develop."

Of course Tiller is always popular with kid and adults, because on the boat she is off duty and gets to run around free, but she always keeps a watchful eye on Kirk. When preparing for the last 'Hobart' Kirk volunteered to be the swimmer in the man overboard practice drill. Tiller whined and howled from the moment he jumped overboard until he was safely back on the boat.