Meet a WWSA: Deborah Hunter

Vessel name and type:

SV Back Friday, Beneteau First 42s7 (year 2000).

How long have you been sailing and what lead you to start?

First started sailing on Twofold Bay, Eden, on a Hutton 24 in 2001 with my father and husband, Bryan. I thought it would be a fun thing to try.

Where have you sailed?

I’ve sailed up and down the east coast from Eden, NSW, to Cairns, FNQ, four times since 2015. I’ve also enjoyed the calm waters of

Pittwater in between these times.

Who do you sail with (family/pets)?

I sail with my husband. When we are back at our wonderful club, KMYC at Cottage Point, our Westie, Robbie, joins us.

Favourite location(s):

I have so many favourite locations... ranging from Smith’s Creek around the corner from Cottage Point to inside Hinchinbrook Channel, and so many in between!

What do you find the most challenging about sailing/cruising?

The most challenging aspect of sailing is my deafness. I can never decipher what is being said over the radio, so have to rely heavily on my husband to be my ears.

Another challenge is getting the weather right.

What do you find the most rewarding?

The most rewarding aspect of sailing is the amazing destinations only accessible by boat and all the fabulous people you meet.

Best wildlife encounter you’ve had on the water:

Of course, having whales breach close by and dolphins playing alongside the boat while cruising up and down the east coast has been an amazing experience. But I think the best wildlife moment for me on the boat was capturing on camera fish running on top of the calm water being chased by a shag at Smith’s Creek.

Most essential item (other than safety equipment) on board:

The most essential item on the boat is “Henry”, our auto pilot.

Funniest thing that has happened to you while cruising/sailing:

One of the funniest things that has happened to us while cruising was after carefully planning our trip from Cottage Point last year, we discovered four hours into our 60hour passage, that we had left our very reliable outboard motor for our dinghy sitting safely at the club house. Believe me, it wasn’t funny at the time!

What do you enjoy or find helpful about being a member of WWSA?

I was approached by a member of WWSA at Yamba in 2015 about becoming a member. I felt I didn’t deserve to be a member, as at the time this was my maiden voyage north, and I had only relatively little sailing experience. She assured me I would be welcome and how fabulous it is for friendship and wisdom. How right she was, thank you Sharon Lienhert!

Women Who Sail Australia has three degrees!

“What?” I hear you ask. “WWSA has been to uni?”

No, not that type of degree. The navigational kind.

We know WWSA has l’attitude, well now we have longitude too!

But how does one obtain a degree of longitude?

Lisa Blair has been a key member of WWSA since the inaugural Women Who Sail Australia Gathering on the Bay (GOTB) in 2016. Lisa amazed us with her plans to sail solo around Antarctica the following year, the audience enthralled by her enthusiasm and energy.

By the time the 2017 GOTB rolled around, Lisa was deep in the Southern Ocean and most of us were glued to our computer screens awaiting daily updates on her progress. Lisa spoke to the 2017 Gathering attendees via Satellite phone – broadcast via microphone to the room. There was barely a dry eye as she chatted cheerily from those remote and frigid waters to us in balmy Port Stephens. Two days later we awoke to a phone call relaying the devastating news of her dismasting.

Those who know Lisa were not at all surprised that she managed to jury rig Climate Action Now and get herself and her boat safely to Cape Town, South Africa, for repairs before completing her solo recordbreaking circumnavigation.

The enormity of what Lisa experienced and accomplished during this time was evident when she showed us her video footage once back home. To many of us, Lisa’s dismasting and consequent handling of that situation cemented her reputation as one of the most capable sailors on the globe. All the more remarkable considering she is from a nonsailing background, grew up inland, and was once turned down for a deckhand position on a charter yacht in the Whitsundays!

Safely back in Australia, Lisa’s feet barely touched the dock before she embarked on an east coast speaking tour, prepared an allwomen team to compete aboard Climate Change Now in the 2017 Rolex Sydney to Hobart Race, skippered the all-women team aboard Dove-Defi des filles in the exhausting six

-day PONANT Groupama yacht race in New Caledonia, and set off on another recordbreaking solo circumnavigation – this time nonstop around Australia.

Amongst all this, Lisa somehow found the time to write about her Southern Ocean experiences in her debut book Facing Fear.

She also found time to attend the 2018, 2019, and the recent 2023 GOTB events at Port Stephens (and was on track for 2020/21 but of course the pandemic had other plans for us all).

Having heard Lisa speak on numerous occasions I know her story well, she is a remarkable woman, and it came as no surprise when she told me she was planning a second circumnavigation of Antarctica, determined to complete the journey non-stop and to break the speed record (which she was ahead of at the time of her dismasting in 2017) set in 2008 by Russian Fedor Konyukhov.

So where does a degree of longitude fit into this story?

Always thinking outside the box, Lisa came up with a novel way to raise funds for the upcoming circumnavigation. Sponsors could ‘purchase’ a degree of longitude!

WWSA members are always keen to support Lisa in any way we can, so we combined our pennies and bought three degrees of longitude. As Lisa reached our degrees on her circumnavigation there was much celebration!

Of course, Lisa and her vessel Climate Action Now are safely back on the east coast of Australia after not only breaking, but smashing, the speed record by 10 days.

If you’d like to read more about Lisa’s voyage, go to Lisa’s webpage ‘Lisa Blair Sails the World’. While you are there, be sure to snaffle a copy of her new book Facing Fear, available at good bookstores or from www.lisablairsailstheworld.com.