MulletMan
15-02-2005, 09:26 AM
After seven years in the volunteer marine rescue business, I have finally decided to call it quits and exit stage left from my Unit at Victoria Point. When I first joined it was a decrepid old building, couple of old boats, little or no equipment and a few grand in the bank albeit with some great dedicated members who worked wonders with what they had and a proud tradition to uphold. Now we have a healthy bank balance, three as-new boats capable of anything, anytime, anywhere, top class safety equipment for the boats and crews and a name in the industry. The road has been long, hard and taken its toll but I can leave with no misgivings seeing the bunch of members who have already decided to take #up the challenge and keep the tradition going. It would be very easy for me to go out cussing, damning and throwing rocks at Government and even at some of our own representitives for the blindness of decision making or the total lack thereof. But that is sour grapes and I have bigger fish to fry (betcha!). Since I gave up drilling holes in the skies in long bits of aluminium some seven years ago, the Unit has been enormously rewarding for me and hopefully VMR Vicky Point will continue for many, many more years under sound leadership and solid training. This old body now has to do what is what was born to do -KILL FISH AND EAT 'EM!! :) I wanna be like I used to be - dirty, unshaven, T'shirt and Boxers, cold, miserable, wet, stinking of bait and eating a sanger with pilly-covered hands while waiting for the scream of the reel! So well you may ask; what was my best moment with VMR441? Nah, not the big new $220,000 Stingray 8.0 rescue boat, nor the well known high speed Gemini squiriting about with its 135 4-stroke Honda on the back. Money? Nope! Recognition? Nope! Give up? The day I took one of our lady-would-be-skippers out for a final assessment and she came back with a smile plastered from one side of her face to the other after having passed with flying colours! From the day I sent my student off on his first ever solo flight in a little Cessna at Archerfield through all those years to saying to a trainee Captain, "OK, you can take her home from Honolulu and I'll sit down the back with the passeners", seeing people achieving and being thrilled to bits with the event has always meant more to me than the material things! Keep on supporting us gang and next time you see a guy or gal from any volunteer marine rescue squadron out on the water, remember they are doing it to help you out, get nothing for it, no recognition and love every minute of it! Look out fish, here I come!