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Our Passion

Our Passion

For Shauna and Martial Peter, it has been a whirlwind romance with their boating lifestyle, being completely swept off their feet by the lure of the beauty and relaxing atmosphere of the Gold Coast waterways. Martial expresses their zeal for Our Passion.

 

For us, we just love the calming lifestyle of boating. It is the one place where we least talk about work. And as soon as we are on the water, we both feel it – the calm just washes over us.

Our favourite time is definitely the evenings. We make sure the back of the boat is facing west, so all we can see is the water, the trees and the sunset. One night, while we were anchored at Tipplers, enjoying the sunset with wine, cheese and crackers, the moment of truth came to us. We knew we had made the right decision in buying the boat. The next morning, while having our coffee, we were visited by dolphins. When you get that as a morning greeting, you know you have done the right thing.

 

Current Boat

Just a couple of months ago we upgraded our Riviera model from our old M370, to our new 40-foot M400, named Our Passion. We are relatively new boaties, having bought our first boat a couple of years ago, so we wanted to stick with the Riviera brand because they have such amazing after-sales service.

We just love the boat’s flat, open layout. The main cabin is where you spend most of you time, so you want it to be roomy enough that you are not always stepping around each other. We also went with the hard top instead of canvas because we are not really sun people. The hard top keeps it cooler in the sun, and it is always comfortable, even if it is blowing a gale outside. We could not be happier with our boat.

passion our boating life boat gold coast riviera m400

 

Favourite locations

We are still finding our feet on the Gold Coast so we have not ventured too far yet. But we absolutely love anchoring at Tipplers and Wave Break Island. Even though we have been to those spots plenty of times, it still feels like we have not seen all they have to offer.

For us, boating is not about constantly doing new things – it is about relaxing and fishing. We had our first real test with the boat last week when we took the kids to Couran Cove Island Resort at South Stradbroke Island, and it couldn’t have gone better. We had accommodation there but we barely used it – the boat was more than enough. The kids had a brilliant time fishing and relaxing with us.

 

Boat buying advice

If you want a bargain, you have to be prepared to travel. We did a lot of looking before we ended up buying in Newcastle. When it comes to price, obviously you want to negotiate it down as much as possible. But it is also essential to set aside 10% of the purchase price for initial fixes and maintenance. Even if the boat is in immaculate condition, there will be little things that need doing.

We also find that it really helps to buy through a reputable dealer. Even if you have to pay them for their time, a professional boat dealer is invaluable to come on board and do a separate check from initial survey.

 

 

Close call

The scariest moment we had on the water was when we were doing 18 knots. I turned to say something to Shauna and suddenly we were heading into dangerously shallow water, which could be really scary. No one had warned us about how quickly you could get off course. It really caught us by surprise.

 

Local thoughts

The main reason the Gold Coast is so popular is because of the great protection it offers the boaties. Obviously, the Broadwater provides a huge amount of protected water. But all the way up to Jacob’s Well and beyond provides so many scenic and safe waterways. That is why we moor the boat in Calypso Bay because it is so protected, even though we live up in Brisbane.

We find the Gold Coast to be really safe as well. The only thing we can say is watch out for the jet skis. We had one guy jumping his ski in front of us but then he came off the ski, and I had to power off because I could not see where he was under the water.

Some of the places in summer can get quite noisy with parties, especially when you are trying to relax. That is one reason we prefer boating in winter, as it is not as busy on the water.

 

Martial and Shauna both work in the financial services industry and are based in Clayfield, Brisbane.

 

Interview by Narayan Pattison

 

/Sep-Dec2017

 

 

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