Hi, I am Mick and I have been around boats all my life. I was born in Newcastle NSW and my family was into sailing. As a teenager, I built my own VJ and sailed with our local club on Lake Macquarie with my two brothers and dad.
I hold qualifications as a Mechanical Engineer, Marine Engineer (MED III), Master Class V and Coxswain.
Yacht racing and power boating - fishing with my good mate Peter
Moved to Hervey Bay in 1987 and married Sue in 1989
Offshore cruising, club races and the Tin Can Bay to Hervey Bay Trailer Sailer Yacht Race was a must every Labor Day week-end.
Coast Guard and Air Sea Rescue took up a lot of my spare time. It was worth the loss of personal time to see the appreciation on the faces of those we were able to assist back to safe harbour.
Whale Watching Cruises, fishing and diving charters
Sue & I helped start a club called the Hervey Bay Boat Club Power Boat Squadron to provide a social outlet and training to help recreational boaties learn the basics in safe navigation and boat handling in the early ninties. We recognised the need for prevention and the lack of services for the regular boating community. We started doing boat licence courses and had 113 people attend. This stunned us and the Queensland Transport, Boating & Fisheries Patrol and Water Police Officers who helped conduct our early courses.
When the Regulations changed in 1996 and a formal provision for Accredited Marine Training Providers was instigated by Queensland Transport, we applied and were approved to become Accredited Recreational Ship Master Licence Trainers. My wife, Sue, started our small business and we conducted courses locally. As demand increased we expanded in to other regions, starting with Maryborough, Biloela and Bundaberg.
We worked hard and were soon able to purchase our first training vessel 'mv Dorsal'.
Dorsal has proven her worth over the years. She is a 5.4m Orca. This very stable, safe platform is ideal for the inexperienced and can handle a fair bit if rough weather and rough handling by learner drivers. The upgrade to a 75hp 4-stroke Honda outboard dramatically improved the vessels' performance, our training conditions (less noise than a 2 stroke) and significantly dropped our fuel bill.
Of course we needed a new car to pull her around the countryside and a second hand Rodeo was added to our new 'fleet'.
We have continued to expand and are now training and guiding new people into the industry.
