Saturday

As the annual windswell lizard island trip loomed I was still in doubt as to whether I would attend or not.  The previous year I had been aboard as part crew, part punter, but alas this year I knew I wouldn’t have the funds to do the same. 

JN team rider and my house mate Kyle had already secured his position as boat bitch/ deckie and put in a strong case for me to go as a deckie and of course bang out some pictures. In classic Bretto fashion I was informed of this at approximately 3 pm the day before we left. This may not sound so bad, but when you are going to be isolated on a ship for the better part of a week it’s a struggle to figure out what to pack to just cover the basics, let alone enough kiting gear for conditions that could range from a glass out to a solid 40kts. Not to mention cameras, lens, flash cards, waterproof housings, pelican cases, batteries, chargers, hard drives and VHF radios so I could fulfil my roll as photographer.

That arvo once we’d started loading up the boat, a few familiar faces and accents start to appear dockside, without having to turn around, the phrase ‘’ello big guns’ signalled Hayden and the lads had arrived and it was time to start making space for the copious  amount of beer that would needed to be stored. 30 something cartons of Coronas later, our skipper Pete didn’t look too pleased with the amount of glass we were about to freight into the Great Barrier Reef Marin Park. This started an on-going issue of where to store the empties. After loading up the last of the supplies and a few final checks it was off to the pub to catch up and bullshit to the newcomers about what lay in store on the days ahead.