Simon McKeon and the Kiss Goodbye to MS team
A friend rings. “Do you have a boat licence?”
she asks me.
“Of course,” I reply confidently.
I own my own yacht after all.
“Have you ever driven a power boat?” “Of course,” I replied, not so
confidently. I have actually driven a powerboat, but only about four times. She didn’t ask that. But really how hard can it be?
“Great. Do you mind ferrying Simon McKeon out to Kiss Goodbye to MS for a photography session this evening?” She was very enthusiastic.
How can I say no? “Sure.” I said with absolutely no idea what I was letting myself in for.
So it came to be that just on dusk, I found myself being introduced to “the” Simon McKeon, this year’s Australian of the Year, record breaking yachtsman, philanthropist, prominent businessman and all-round nice guy.
For someone with such a vast and prestigious pedigree on the web (yep – I’d checked) I was surprised. Dressed in a suit, he looked almost normal apart from a mane of wild curls, slightly too long to conform to
corporate conventions.
“Hi” he said shaking my hand, not looking at all nervous as my friend introduced me as his ferry-boat driver for the trip out to Kiss Goodbye to MS, moored for the purposes of the evening just outside the marina.
Ian Law, crew member and the main driver behind the concept of Kiss Goodbye to MS, immediately took over as official host, reassuring Simon that they had some more appropriate sailing gear onboard that he could change into for the photograph opportunity as we boarded the bright yellow,giant plastic bathtub which was the club runabout. Unfortunately, he said, this gear did not run to size 11 shoes.
As I introduced myself to Michael Kai the photographer who was joining us for the jaunt, my partnerPeter immediately assumed the role of driver, alleviating the need for me and everyone else onboard, from finding out exactly how far one friend will go for another when she needs a favour.
Simon on the helm of Kiss Goodbye to MS
We quickly transferred Simon to Kiss Goodbye to MS, then puttered around while they completed crew introductions, raised the sails and took off like a shot out into the bay.
Despite being well into Spring it was unseasonably cold and windy, and given the speed we had to maintain to keep up with the mean, lean ocean racer and the well-oiled machine which was her crew, we were soon ploughing into some very wet waves.
Michael, like the professional he was, simply wedged himself into a corner and did the paparazzi thing, changing lenses, protecting his camera from the spray when he could, politely directing Peter to get closer, further away, in front and behind, all the time calmly clicking away while the boat bucked and reared underneath us.
As we alternatively sped up and ploughed through the chop, then slowed down and bobbed around like a cork in a bucket, I hung on and enjoyed the moment, wishing I was brave enough to risk taking photographs with my own non-waterproof mobile safely tucked inside one of my few dry pockets.
Kiss Goodbye to MS skimmed majestically through the waves in front of a sprawling cityscape in one direction and the bright orange streaks of a setting sun on open ocean, in the other. I was surprised at how difficult it was to keep up with her. Even with her headsail looking under-utilised she was still travelling an easy 9 knots or more.
When they weren’t setting sails the crew sat on her edge dangling their feet over the hull, looking and acting like a bunch of sky larking larrikins — their antics infectiously funny. Hard to believe that each and every one of them is a successful business owner or senior executive.
By now both Simon and Ian had changed into the Kiss Goodbye to MS polo shirts and vests and integrated seamlessly into the crew, with Simon even taking over the helm at one stage.
As the light faded we joined the tail end of the yachts returning to the marina after their Twilight races. The Spring wind had taken its toll with one boat sporting a twisted spreader and another needing to be towed into its pen.
After lots of final handshaking onboard with the crew, Simon, Ian and Tony, the boat’s owner, jumped back onto our overweight little bathtub and we returned them to the pier.
Despite not actually doing anything that I’d signed on to do for the evening, I felt inordinately proud of my involvement with this special project and its community, but more especially proud to be even loosely associated with the amazing foot print being left on the world by two amazing men bound by the one disease, Multiple Sclerosis.
Lauraine McDonald
Great story!