Photos by Caroline Strainig and Tony and Karin Bright
CAROLINE STRAINIG catches up with a couple who have traded in the corporate world for a live-aboard lifestyle on their classic Van De Stadt yacht.
Going for a social sail with Karin and Tony Bright provides a glimpse into a world many of us can only dream of, one where work and life aboard a yacht have merged, and sunrises and sunsets on the water are the norm.
The couple moved onto their Van De Stadt 34, Moondance, eighteen months ago and now live aboard full-time at the Moreton Bay Boat Club marina at Scarborough, just north of Brisbane.
When the couple made the decision to live on the water, Karin had already retired from real estate and Tony was working in corporate recruitment. However, he was lured back to the marina industry four months ago to manage the nearby Newport Marina.
Today the Brights have the best of both worlds. They are on or around the water almost 24/7, and the marina manager job is giving their retirement savings a welcome boost. It’s also something Tony really enjoys.
“Even though most of my working life has been in recruitment, many years ago I managed a large d’Albora marina, Pier 35 in Melbourne, for two years and I am qualified in marina management, so it’s returning to something I know how to do well, but on a more relaxed scale up here,” Tony said.
The decision to live aboard is a lifestyle change the couple adore, and even their 10-year-old golden retriever, Nellie, is coping with it well.
BUYING MOONDANCE
Part of the reason they could make the move was Tony’s love for scrolling through boat-for-sale websites, which is where he came across their Van De Stadt, Moondance, three years ago.
At the time, they were happy with their Holland 25 and weren’t even looking for a boat. However, the 34-foot Moondance sounded too good to be true and the couple couldn’t resist buying her.
“We kept thinking there must be something wrong with her at that price, but there wasn’t,” Tony recalls. “The owner who built her in Geelong, and his wife, had been smashed with bad weather off Sydney, and the owner’s wife said she had had enough. He just wanted to sell her quickly and we happened to be in the right place at the right time.”
A MODERN CLASSIC
Built in 2002, Moondance is a composite hull and a best-of-both-worlds design, with the sheer and lovely lines of a classic Van De Stadt but built using modern materials. She is big enough to live aboard in comfort, with plenty of room for the couple and their lovely old dog.
Prior to their lifestyle change, they used to race Moondance in Saturday-afternoon social sailing but, when they moved on board full-time, with all their personal belongings, packing up “the house” every week to go sailing was not feasible, so they now restrict themselves to the occasional short series.
Weighing in at only four-and-a-half tonnes and with a three-quarter rig which is very easy to tune, plus a large sail wardrobe, Moondance is very competitive when racing, and won her division in a recent Moreton Bay Boat Club Sunday eight-race series, and the overall club championship for 2022.
THE KEY TO RACING TOGETHER
For some couples, racing together can cause added stress, with competitive skippers snapping out orders under pressure, without thinking of their crew’s feelings. Tony, an ex-semi-professional surfer and long-time yacht racer, acknowledges he used to fall into that trap, albeit mildly, because he is so competitive and a compulsive sail trim “tweaker”, but he has worked hard to improve.
Karin agrees that he is more mellow than he used to be, and she credits the change, in part, to advice from an old salt.
“He told us to be grateful that you have someone who wants to go sailing with you because if you aren’t nice to them, they won’t want to come. They are words that really resonated with us,” she said.
Today, sailing together is a pleasure and each appreciates the other, with Tony crediting Karin for having a special feel for the helm.
Often, they take along extra crew when racing but sometimes go out by themselves. When shorthanded, Karin tends to do more helming while Tony manages the sail trim and sail changes.
THE NEWPORT MARINA
The Newport Marina is a private marina situated in a residential canal area of Newport, a few kilometres south of Scarborough.
Facilities include water, toilets and showers, a laundry, clotheslines and barbecue area.
Tony’s biggest tip regarding visiting a marina? “Don’t be afraid to ask for help, if you need it, when you are bringing a boat in, so someone is there to throw a line to,” he said. “It’s not worth risking it trying to be a hero.”
LOCAL ATTRACTIONS
When Tony is not working, he and Karin love taking Moondance out to experience the attractions of Moreton Bay. These include Bribie Island, Tangalooma, the Sandhills, and further south, Peel Island and Stradbroke.
One of Tony and Karin’s favourite outings is to Redcliffe on the eastern side of the Scarborough peninsula, where there are markets every Sunday and dozens of restaurants to choose from.
“You can even anchor there overnight if the wind is light with no easterly in it, although you can also tie up to the jetty for a few hours,” Tony said.
SAILING MORETON BAY
While idyllic at times, sailing Moreton Bay is not without its challenges. There are many shallows and in windagainst- tide conditions you can get some steep, sharp waves. Sometimes the forecast can also reflect what is happening at Redcliffe on the eastern side of the peninsula instead of the wider bay.
Tony’s advice is to go out and stand on the breakwater off Scarborough, and have a look, before venturing out. “Yesterday for example, the forecast for Redcliffe was 12 knots, but out here it got up to 25-30 knots,” he said. “And even if going just up to Bribie, you can experience strong wind-against-tide conditions.
“That said, the trade winds over summer can be almost consistently really great, especially when you have those 15-knot nor’easters.”
THEIR HAPPY PLACE
For both, the on-water lifestyle is something they adore and wish they had more time to experience when younger. Long-term they would like to cruise the east coast and also explore the northern rivers of NSW. But that’s in the distant future. At the moment they are more than happy with their lives as they are. “On the water is my happy place,” Karin said, when asked what she loved about sailing and living aboard. “It’s where you can breathe. You can take a deep breath and realise you have been holding your breath for such a long time. But you come out here and you drop your shoulders and you breathe.”
“It’s just a lovely thing for both of us to do,” Tony added. “Whether it’s a day like this with a light breeze or hammering along at seven knots in a 20-knot breeze, it’s amazing. And waking up to it every day is our world now. We are so very lucky.”
And a final tip for those who dream of following in their wake and giving up the 9-5 life for an on-water one? “Get a nice mattress if you are living on a boat,” Tony said. “The money you spend is well worth it.”
Published in print January-March 2023
