New chapter

Those of us who were there will never forget the extended celebrations following the epic ’97 Sydney to Hobart line honours win.

Subsequent owners the late Andrew Short and Jim Cooney continued to uphold the Brindabella tradition of a highly competitive but inclusive racing ethos.

Now the ‘ol bus is about to embark on a new role.

Purchased by Adelaide sailors John Hilhorst and Brigid Dighton, Brindabella is about to embark on a new a new life and narrative in South Australia.

Based in Adelaide the maxi will offer a new type of charter experience as John explains in a recent social media post:

“We have acquired arguably Australia’s most famous Maxi Yacht, the people’s maxi, Brindabella!

“Ok so Johnny turns 49 years old tomorrow, this isn’t a mid-life crisis, it’s a full-blown business venture and we need you our friends to help kick things off so please read on.

“She is 80 feet long, 14 feet deep and stands at 105 foot above the water so we think her scale warrants this long post.

“It all started around three years ago when we spent a couple of nights in our studio completing a values elicitation session (thankyou Julie), basically really understanding what we both want and value in life. We filled a wall with this sprawling mind map with the main themes being creativity, our love for the ocean, our environment, family, the community, social justice and inclusion, hospitality and a longing to own and run our own business.

“We didn’t know exactly what we wanted to do however this set the foundation of our search. We kicked off our side hustle creative studio which has brought us great joy.

“We had been thinking about how to plan to buy a yacht for a while, maybe when the kids are older and we were conflicted about wanting to start a new venture too.

“One night last October when we were laying in bed surfing ‘boats for sale’ online, we came across her. I grew up watching her every Boxing Day leaving Sydney heads as many around our age did. I couldn’t actually believe she was for sale. I suggested jokingly to Brigid that we buy her and what a cool family cruiser she could be. For whatever reason we could not get her out of our head, she could never be a family cruiser.

“Mid-November the penny dropped: this would be our new venture! Bring the people’s maxi to the people! Sailing experience charter out of Adelaide, high end catering, community outreach it was all there and made so much sense.

“It has and continues to be a rollercoaster of excitement and disappointment, working through so many issues and getting some great wins along the way too. We have had her since May and she is still in Sydney having her rigging replaced before we sail her home to Adelaide, hopefully in September.

“You can read more about our venture at our website, but most of all we would so much appreciate your help in getting our venture out there. There will be opportunity for family and friends sail days for sure.

We have Facebook, Insta and Linkedin accounts all under BrindabellaSailing. Please like, follow and share our pages, past and future posts as much as you can.”

brindabellasailing.com.au