Jill stayed on her yacht at the HBYC marina for a good while,we got on very well and she was a welcome visitor to the local TBA meetings,when Jill and her black cat on Cooee finally departed,in what was posted as a strong south wester,she got a full gale and was forced to put into Saldahna and ended up taking Cooee out of the water at the Club Mykonos marina to have the entire hull re-caulked,pictures,I have some but where!
Once I saw a mermaid in the Mooloolaba Yacht Club . It was a Tuesday evening about 7pm and a line of thunder storms dark and mean in appearance had approached from the south west.
Like a few other people living on board their yachts I had taken refuge in the Club bar, rather than sit out the chaos of the storm on board. Sitting alone at bistro table number eight in the near empty club I could not help but notice her appearance.
Materialising in a ghost like fashion only metres away, the mermaid then stood at the bistro counter waiting to order. I took in the apparition of this sea creature standing before me. I managed this by stealing discreet glances whilst pretending to read the wine list. No polyester fashion here. No pretension with expensive Sperry boatshoes or Henri Lloyd togs. The legendary sailor was wearing sandals with an anklet of beads or shells and what looked like silk Thai fishermans pants topped with a shawl over a brief shirt. Her long dark hair cascaded over slender shoulders and her spectacles sat upon a wonderfully composed face with natural dignity and grace.
Indulging in all this imagery while she and her companion stood waiting to order their meals, I felt guiltily thankful, that the club service was as usual slower than a Roberts 25. I felt a strong temptation to speak with my mermaid, perhaps ask for her signature on a beer coaster, or just to tell her how much I enjoyed the articles published in the sailing magazines over the years. Alas, I struggled too long with a rare wave of shyness and before long the mermaid went and sat with her friends in the far corner at bistro table number thirteen.
Turning my concentration to the plate of fish and chips and schooner of XXXX on the table before me , I began thinking of the day before when I had discovered COOEE anchored up stream with about twenty other cruising boats during a nice morning sail in my dollar dinghy.
The old yacht which I had read about for the best part of twenty years looked fabulous at anchor. My blood had stirred with the romance and sensation of the moment. I get particular enjoyment from looking at yachts that are renowned in sailing circles and there in the Mooloolaba pond, COOEE looked a pearl of great lustre among common pebbles. I jillied around COOEE in the dollar dinghy a few times and then took my leave from the anchorage.
Buoyed by the sight of the old classic yacht and feeling a strange exuberance I broadreached back to the Yacht Club in the light nor westerly. I celebrated my good spirits by sailing under the Minyama Island bridge with only centimeters separating my mast tip and the bridge span. Life is a gas when things are going well and never more so than for sailing types.
My inspection of COOEE that bright warm Queensland winter morning followed by my furtive glances at the mermaid herself later in the yacht club, confirmed the impression formed in my mind over the years of reading her articles. The impression being that of the perfect symbiosis of a beautiful old vessel and equally beautiful and surefooted lady skipper.
As I remember, much of what stood out about her writing was how she related tales of humanity and personal feelings along with practical elements of ocean travel. I had really wanted to speak with this most alluring sailor but at the club I could see her enjoying the company of her friends so I was reluctant to intrude.
I wanted to ask about her writing as I had heard she had completed one novel and was working on another but alas, I lacked the power of enough XXXX to boost my confidence.
To finish this offering and complete my sharing with you the fruits of a vivid imagination I have this to say. Whilst I tend to dwell on the romantic, moral and spiritual side of things, I do not accept fate as the only lever of my destiny.
Before the week’s end I would have made the acquaintance of COOEE’S skipper, for when the mermaid appeared in the chandlery shop where I worked, I summoned all the chutzpah in the world and greeted her with a smile and the keenest of attitudes.
My willingness to help find the clevis pin missing from the bronze shroud terminal she held in her slim brown hand led naturally enough to a lengthy and enjoyable conversation about yachts, writing and sailing people. My mermaid also bid me to hail her should I ever be sailing past COOEE again.
And that, if it comes to fruition, may be the seed for another story.
Jill Knight is the mermaid of my story. She is a doyenne of the Australian cruising yacht fraternity and well known for writing of her sailing adventures aboard her old gaff rigged yacht Cooee. Her musings and photographic images , published in sailing periodicals for the past two decades have inspired multitudes of sailors to live the cruising life.
Navigating the Edge is Jill Knight’s first novel published by Harper Collins.
Order Jill’s novel
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