Not Plain Sailing: Three Years that Changed my Life

A Memoir by Lesley Brydon AM

I’ve always thought my love of the sea had something to do with my birth sign, Pisces. But it was probably inevitable that a kid growing up in a place like Gladstone would be drawn to the ocean.

While sailing was in my blood, it was not until 1974 that I found my feet in the world of offshore racing. I was in the right place at the right time to be chosen to crew Ballyhoo from Gladstone to Los Angeles for the 1975 Transpac.

Then, later that year, I was invited to be part of the first all-female Sydney to Hobart crew, on the beautiful Huon pine sloop Barbarian.