Long story short, neither would return to the deep fryer or the chopping-board, as life in the re-opened ‘outside world’ was, literally, a breath of fresh air. With RQYS boatyard business on the uptick, Shaggy would learn to drive the Travelift, and Tony resume his ‘other-professional’ and natural interests around the environment of the Squadron’s scenic precinct. Tony’s phone chortles on the table by his elbow; it’s 6.50am and CEO Karen needs his ‘green thumb’ input on set-up for a big event later that day. Last of the cuppa skolled, out the shed and over to the Club. Meanwhile, in the boatyard’s ‘ops office’ in the old Marina building, Graham Rock and Shaggy Green are evaluating the day’s timeblocks and activity taskings on the monitor-feed’s screen, with at least one eye on the tides and forecast winds. “Westerlies can be trickiest,” Graham says, “with the two tight, right-angled turns to get a boat into the arms of the Travelift piers, and it’s always important if we can have a really good chat with the boat’s skipper or owner ahead of time to work out the plan — especially if it’s their first time at RQYS.” “Yep,” agrees Shaggy — clearly a keen student, and you’d swear his eyes were twinkling cheekily behind his reflective sunnies — “take your time and no yelling on the day.” Graham cracks a small smile. “Most people who own a boat are pretty friendly and pretty happy,” says Graham, when asked about the upsides of the job. (His dad owned a sailing boat for 20–25 years and Graham grew up on the water, so he clearly knows the definition of “B.O.A.T.”) Hospitality figured in his background, too, and Graham joined RQ “around Expo’88” (1 August in that Australian Bicentenary year, to be precise; thanks, Wendy!), as did TAFE, and a navigation and boat-handling course which hooked him back to life by the water’s edge, supplanting games of beach volleyball at The Plantation with a keen interest in windsurfing today. “Wrangling boats is, relatively speaking, the ‘easy bit’ of the job,” Graham reckons; “it’s more about the people skills, putting skippers and owners at ease, so they can focus on getting their pride and joy safely in and out of the slings.” Now, it’s Shaggy’s turn to smile. In ‘the old days’ of the Club’s initial Manly boatyard establishment, remembers Graham, a ‘big boat’ was a 40-footer; now they’re half-as-long again, up to a Travelift capacity of 35 tonnes. “Back then, long before the Trades Shed was built and the onsite services began to expand, we’d have the tradies in and out all day in their utes, and things could be pretty hectic around the yard.” There’s a 55-footer in the slings and, as workers complete the final antifouling touch-ups to acrow and tripod spots, Shaggy’s off to have a chat with the owner, who’s made a special trip down for a visual confirmation check before the return-to-water and the skipper’s careful extraction from the slings. Tony Denhoed enjoying a quiet cuppa in his ‘indoor office’ at 6.30am and contemplating his workplan for the day ahead … before the phone rings. Crunching the numbers on Tony’s ‘outside office’ (a.k.a. Squadron grounds) reveals some interesting findings: yes, more than two-thirds of the almost 82,000 square metres of RQYS land is paved or built upon, but the other 30% (around 24,200 sq.m!) is his to maintain and cultivate for the amenity of everyone: Members, visitors and guests alike. Over several weeks’ on-foot research, your editor tallied-up Tony’s ‘office contents’ … GARDEN BEDS • 63 Defined by clearly bordered (rockery, kerbside, structure, etc) edges TREES • 392 + Counted by individual trunks and/or collective roots, depending on type PLANTS • 1,125 + Individual shrubs and bushes, with co-located root branches conjoined as a single hedge counted as one unit 48 Little-known longevities Mainsheet 2024 Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron Yearbook
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy Mzg4Mjk=