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| Our Life Story in a NutshellHello! Our names are Dennis and Annette Ford and we are currently living in Darwin, NT. We sailed here from Perth in 1982 for a 3 week visit and we are still here. Our roots are in North Queensland. Dennis was born in Bowen, then lived in Mackay before studying and lecturing at James Cook University (JCU) in Townsville. Annette was born in Brisbane, but moved to Abergowrie near Ingham with her family in the 1950's then down to Townsville to also study and tutor at JCU. After marrying and having two children in Townsville, Dennis, Annette & family relocated to Melbourne in 1974.
In 1978, a rather unexpected career change involved a move to Perth, where Spindrift III was completed at Maylands Slipyard and launched on the Swan River in January 1979. For the first year we moored near South of Perth Yacht Club. However, Rottnest Island then became or second home, so in 1980 we joined Fremantle Sailing Club and relocated Spindrift III to Pen C25 at FSC Marina. |
Following some local cruising to Rottnest Island, Mandurah and Busselton, our first long cruise on Spindrift III was to the Abrolhos Islands in Dec/Jan 1980-81. After five pleasant weeks in the islands, we tackled the windward return journey to Perth. The heavy west coast seas caused major damage to the yacht's keel on the first leg between Geraldton and Dongara. The trip to Perth was completed by low-loader. Not to be deterred, we effected repairs and headed back to the Abrolhos Islands for three months in January 1982. Continuing north, we spent one month in Shark Bay, 2 weks at Ningaloo Reef and 2 weeks in the Monte Bello Islands, before cruising through the Kimberley for 3 months en route to Darwin. Plan A was to return to Perth after three weeks in Darwin. Plan B, which we didn't know about at the time, was to spend the next 28 years in Darwin, Cairns and around the "Top End" of Australia. After some exciting local trips around Darwin Harbour, to Bynoe Harbour, the Tiwi Islands and Port Essington, we sold Spindrift III in 1987 and became yachtless until 1997. Retirement - How Has It Affected Our Cruising? For us, retirement was not really a choice. It was not quite forced upon us, however, a voluntary redundancy in early 1997 gave us the opportunity to reassess our lifestyle. We were tired of the city, the commuting, the traffic and the pollution. Our view of retirement was that it should be about freedom to travel, to explore, to relax, to take up new pursuits and effect changes so that life is simpler and more fulfilling. Our options were working part-time, as consultants, or quitting the workforce. We We bought a Farr 11.6, Farr Star, in 1997 and “cruised” for over 10,000 miles, including two Darwin to Ambon races, a 4 week cruise to the Kimberley in 1998, and a season cruising the Queensland Coast in 1999. We then sold our house in Cairns and joined the ever-growing band of cruising grey nomads. In 2000, we sold Farr Star and purchased Second Innings, a Grainger SC 1120 Catamaran. Second Innings was 11.2m long, with a 7.2m beam, a 1m draft, a 16m fractional rig and was powered by two 9.9hp Yamaha 4-stroke outboards. During seven seasons of cruising on Second Innings, we covered over 14,000 nautical miles including one year on the Queensland coast, a 6 month cruise from Brisbane to Darwin in 2001, 5 months in the Kimberley in 2002 and 4 month cruises in 2003, 2004, 2005 & 2006. We reluctantly sold Second Innings in September 2007 to spend more time travelling overseas and on land by 4WD & TVan. | |
This page was last updated 17 February, 2010
In wet and cold Melbourne we bravely undertook the really challenging task of building our first yacht, a Roberts 29 named Spindrift III.
